Post Canyon's annual cleanup day for 2006 was held yesterday, Sep 30th.
(Last year's report (which has a link to 2004's):
http://tinyurl.com/ha8pj)
I'm questioning why I participate in these cleanups. My motivation is to
feel like I'm contributing something good back to the community,
blahblahblah, but if I'm [censored] enough afterward to want to punch the
next douchebag I see toss a cigarette butt out his window, is that good
for the community? Hm. Something to ponder during my next yoga class.
Friday afternoon (the day before the pickup), I was already
gut-wrenchingly angry just *thinking* about picking up other people's
trash. My first ever taste of Framboise at happy hour that evening put me
in a much better frame of mind, but I almost didn't do the cleanup this
go-round.
Not as many people showed up this year. It didn't seem to be as well
advertised as last year - CAMBA (http://www.camba.info, the sponsor) had
nothing about it on their website. I found out about it WOM & had to go
hunting for the date & time.
The trash situation in Post Canyon seems to have improved at least
superficially over the past couple of years. Yay! Progress! After
moseying up the road & not finding a whole lot beyond a couple of pop
bottles, I took a side trail. A few empty beer cans showed that while it
was used as a party place, it was not as popular as some others (probably
because they'd have to *gasp* get out of their car and walk). I dutifully
picked them up & kept walking.
The trail dead-ended in an overgrown clearing next to the stream bed. The
remains of two cars & small piles of tin cans & old bottles covered the
clearing and spilled into the stream bed. (This was all within sight of
the road - although not visible from the road due to underbrush.) I
started filling trash bags with glass & cans, and quickly grew very
depressed. There was just *so much* trash back there. Just as I was
ready to ditch for the day, a wonderful woman named Jackie walked by the
trail entrance and asked me what I'd found. I told her, and she came in
to help me & brought another friend of hers. Together, they dragged out
the cars (paneling, upholstery, springs, etc) and a whole lot of the metal
(I'd forgotten work gloves this year - yes, stupid - so stuck to picking
up the glass.) Having someone else there with me inspired me to continue
working.
My grand total: at least 10 bags (I stopped counting) of mostly glass &
rusted tin cans. The only really noteworthy stuff I discovered this year
was that the bottles that fell on their sides had partly filled with dirt,
and many of them had ferns & small seedlings growing in them. Nature's
terrariums, sort of. I have not lost my ability to find the
dead-animal-in-a-garbage-bag. (Although this time I suspect it was
entrails based on the consistency of the bag contents. Ew.)
gabrielle
---
Stuff to bring if you participate in a cleanup day:
- long pants, preferably denim or Filson tin
- work gloves, washable
- latex gloves to wear under the work gloves
- hand sanitizer
- good quality trash bags. I have some nasty scratches on my legs from a
bag of broken glass busting open while I was carrying it
- shovel & wheelbarrow