How interesting that this storm swept the country a week before midterm elections. The writer in me couldn't help but see more than one metaphor in the phenomena. But I'll leave speculation to the political pundits.
We've had water over our bridge before. In fact, the experience inspired my first blog post in June of 2009 (http://bonnieblogsgreen.blogspot.com/2009_06_01_archive.html). I rescued Mr. GP, a frequent subject of earlier posts, from the debris that was left on the bridge. And though we had to clear the bridge twice with this October storm--and how blessed we are to still have a bridge to clear--only natural debris was left behind by the water this time.
For the la
ck of human trash, we can thank Cub Scout Pack 752 from Lewisville, NC, their families, and friends. Among the green teens filling countless trash bags were several Crosby Scholars. When speaking with these amazing (and muddy) folks I learned about Scoutings Venturing Program and immediately became a huge fan.
Venturing is a youth development program of the Boy Scouts of America
for young men and women who are 14 years of age OR 13 years of age and have completed the eighth grade and are under 21 years of age. Venturing's purpose is to provide positive experiences to help young people mature and to prepare them to become responsible and caring adults.
The students who participated in the Clean Sweep of creeks and streams may have been earning points toward badges or scholarhips, but I'm betting many of them would have gotten their feet wet for the internal reward practicing environmental stewardship alone.
Mr. GP wanted readers to know he's had a great life since his rescue from the
flood of 2009. He still worries about all the trash tossed along roadsides, but he knows he was lucky to have been one of the rescued and reycled discards. And he's looking forward to trick-or-treating.
As always, if you know of any green teens who deserve recognition, please let me know. You can contact me at http://www.bonniedoerrbooks.com/.
Yay for green teens and the cub scouts troop 752
ReplyDeleteBaby steps, but I've noticed that the youth activities I attend, the students are more into recycling their cans, etc. Now if I can just get them beyond those water bottles.
ReplyDeletecool post-- too bad about your bridge though! I just posted a link to this on FB. there's a creek in the CHarlotte/Matthews community that gets an ENORMOUS amount of junk thrown into it. When my kids were in school they partcipated in a Big Creek Clean up. We wouldn't need these clean ups if people didn't dump their trash in the creeks!
ReplyDeleteActually, the need for creek cleanups is often the result of trash on the highways. That trash washes into storm drains and flows with storm water runoff into our creeks. Of course the big stuff, like tires and furniture, gets dumped right in the streams.
ReplyDelete