When I began cleaning up the Nashua River, I pretty much considered it a project. You know... finish this, move on. But really it's become much more than that for me.
Think about your daily life. You do the laundry, take out the trash, etc. Sure some stuff seems like a project, but it's really a process built around taking care of your loved ones.
The river's kind of like that for me. Sure there are selfish reasons for doing what I do - I like to kayak in pretty places, not dumps. But the other side is that I know somehow I'm part of something bigger, and having a positive effect, not a negative one.
So it's that process of change that drives me. I know that no matter how good of a job I do, there will be more to do. So it's a process. I'm not going to be able to stop people from being careless or destructive, but I can do 2 things: 1. accept that I can't change the way other people are; and 2. Minimize the negative impact.
In that way, it's a process for me not only to improve the environment, but also for personal growth.
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2 comments:
Kudos to you for your work. You are acting locally, thinking globally. There is no end of the trash but every load you take out and someone sees you doing it makes a statement.
Questions you should answer: How do you pull the trash into the kayak? Gloves? Nets? Hook? Details, please.
Thanks John! Well I have a laundry basket bungied to the bow which I use to hold the bottles and cans and small items. You know that kids' version of lacrosse? I use one of those sticks as a scoop, but I wear gloves too because I might have to pull out some rusty tires, propane tanks and stuff like that. For those big items, I try to hoist them onto the stern but if I can't, I'll hook on a rope and tow them out.
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