Day 4 - Edward Coltham Park

Date: July 29, 2021

Location: Edward Coltham Park

Garbage (lbs): 2

Recycling (lbs): 1

This was our fourth and final park cleanup in July, which was completed with 2 members (plus one friend who volunteered to help) of our project group. Our initial reaction to cleaning up Edward Coltham Park was that it was a well-maintained, clean park. However, upon closer inspection, it seemed like there were many pieces of trash everywhere and no one bothered to regularly clean up the park. There seemed to be a few explanations for this; the park was located near the outskirts of Aurora, which means the town did not go there often; furthermore, there were few people who went to the park regularly as the neighborhood was smaller than other parks, so few people volunteered their time to help clean. Despite this, we were determined to try our best to clean up as much of the trash as possible. Even though it had rained earlier on in the day, we were able to persevere through the muddy terrain and ended up picking up 1 lbs of recycling and 2 lbs of garbage. The greater amount of garbage we found (the first time in 4 parks) suggested that fewer people here followed littering laws and did not care as much about upholding the community's cleanliness.

One possible explanation for this trend may be that the park was not as important to the community as a whole, thus there was little incentive for them to keep it well-maintained. Although it looked beautiful, there were only a few basic amenities and looking around while we were cleaning, other citizens seemed to be only using it for its basic purposes rather than enjoying the park itself. Also, we had noticed that one citizen was about to litter something, but upon seeing us cleaning, they decided not to. These observations led us to reflect on two key conclusions: one, it is important to educate and raise awareness about the importance of parks, trails, and other natural spaces to citizens. If citizens become more engaged with their surroundings, they would care more about them and not try to destroy them by mindlessly littering. Second, messaging and responsible attitudes are important for the long-term maintenance of environmental areas. When people see others doing the right thing, not littering or picking up trash, they are more inclined to do so out of personal pressure or because they are reminded of their duties as a good citizen.

Overall, today's park cleanup was quite effective as we were able to efficiently pick up a decent amount of trash (despite only having 3 people), as well as take away some valuable lessons about how communities can be better involved in keeping their parks clean.

#CASCleanup2021