This past weekend I participated in my second session of community service for Earth Lodge this semester. While it was nice to help out at the William Byrd Community House and I felt that my work was truly appreciated, I feel as though I got more out of the self-directed trash clean up I did for my first set of hours on Belle Isle a few weeks ago.
By going out to Belle Isle and picking up trash, I got a better sense for how people feel about the James River Park System and places such as Belle Isle than I ever could have in a classroom setting. I went there expecting to find tons of trash, and was shocked to discover that the exact opposite was true. Whenever I think about cleaning up trash, I always flash back roadside cleanups I have done on my own street at home or other things of the like. A perfect example of the type of cleanup I am used to doing happened just last year when a few of my fellow APO brothers and I did a cleanup in a park nearby outside of Richmond (of course I forget the name of it now, but it was not in the JRPS). It was a roadside cleanup, and the amount of typical litter (beer bottles, fast-food bags and cups and other miscellaneous items) we bagged up was absurd. At one point, we found so many small bottles buried in the leaves we all became suspicious of what actually was dumped there (Criminal Minds-Richmond episode perhaps…?). The complete disregard for the environment was prevalent everywhere you turned and your eyes fell on yet another item of litter.
This was not the case at Belle Isle. In fact, it was almost hard to find litter at some places along the trail. There were the typical beer bottles and cans and cigarette butts and boxes that I expected, but overall, the trails on Belle Isle were in great shape. It was definitely not the high point of the tourism season for this portion of the park when I visited, but even still, I was shocked at how clean and litter-free the area was. The lack of litter is a clear reflection of how the people of Richmond feel about their local parks and the JRPS as a whole, and it created a sense of happiness and a hope for the future in me, especially given the history of the lack of regard for keeping the James River healthy. It is obvious that the people of Richmond have come a long way in terms of environmentally friendly habits, right down to choosing not to litter in their parks. Getting involved in community service in this way in Richmond has made me wonder a lot about opportunities in my own town, and I cannot wait to check out the opportunities and hopefully make a difference in my hometown.