“Would we still have Green Up Day if nobody littered?”
That was a pretty thought-provoking question from a 4 year old who spent time this past Saturday picking up garbage along a Vermont roadside.
“Maybe we could plant flowers instead! And water our gardens!”
How do children learn to care about the environment? They watch what adults do and they follow that example. When you move a turtle across a busy road, admire a spider crawling across your picnic table, gently hold a snail for closer study, or pick up trash others left behind, kids see what care looks like. You don’t even need to discuss what you’re doing; your actions speak louder than words.
This is awesome and we always have tried to get kids into this. I’m old enough to remember the first Green Up Day and it has been tradition I grew up with and passed down. Tragically, however, folks need to be warned that cleaning road sides can be not only toxic but deadly to children these days. Right on the side of the road in front of my child care center (in Thetford) my granddaughter found a used syringe. Luckily she is old enough to know not to touch it. It could potentially have exposed her to fentanyl. Police have also warned of handling soda bottles that could have been used to make meth as. Not only that but most of the trash we are finding these days is thrown out alcohol bottles and cans, which is an alert that a lot of intoxicated people are driving. I believe the efforts you make to bring children back to the land, will eventually be part of the path out of our sad epidemic substance abuse, so I congratulate and thank you for your efforts, but we also have to be aware that more guidance is needed in gathering trash than ever before. I no longer allow children to do the roadside and we pick up our playground. Thank you so much for the work that you do.
Melanie, thank you for sharing this – really appreciate this perspective!