Youth in Action!

Here in Columbia the weather has been rather obnoxious for the last few weeks. When it isn't pouring rain, it is unbearably hot and humid. I guess that's summer in Missouri for you! Although most folks choose to spend these dog days hidden inside, a group of students called "Youth in Action" volunteered to spend a morning literally IN Flat Branch Creek trying to clean up the latest crop of garbage that had washed in off the nearby streets.

Even though we started bright and early, we all had a nice layer of sweat building before we even began. After a brief introduction to stormwater and a quick reminder of the "rules" of picking up trash, we set out from Flat Branch Park along the MKT trail. The students
utilized the buddy system- not so much for safety as for ensuring that garbage and recyclables were properly separated! Even though some of the students didn't have sweet rubber boots like Julia and I, no one hesitated to jump right in- even if it meant wet tennis shoes and jeans!

After scarcely two hours, we had collected enough trash to fill the trunk of my car to the brim! Some of our trophies included an unwrapped granola bar, half a bottle of body wash, a set of car keys (they were covered in algae and beginning to oxidize so we don't think the owner will miss them), a perfectly usable hanger, a barrette (which I wore) and a giant piece of twisted metal that probably weighed upwards of 30 pounds!

The students- as well as myself- seemed pretty disgusted to see how much just a few of us were able to collect over no more than half a mile of stream bank. The number of recyclable plastic bottles we collected was startling; we probably were able to recycle about half the total volume we pulled out. The experience definitely taught us that things are not always as they seem...

And of course that you should ALWAYS put your garbage where it belongs!