On Earth Day (April 22), 2015, I joined the Shoreline clean up along False Creek in Vancouver with Take A Hike and the Vancouver Aquarium. Along with Take A Hike students, various community members and volunteers joined in. The cleanup is part of the larger Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup that arranges the events throughout the year, Canada-wide.
I spent the sunny afternoon with two Take A Hike students walking the shoreline and picking up trash. It was amazing the count the number of cigarette butts (actually I lost count pretty early…) and broken glass. As we cleaned, we talked… about the trash we were finding, and how people behave. The learning was all in the clean up. While the “job” is not the most glamourous, very quickly the task united us strangers in a common effort.
We ended up with a full bag… as did the other groups too!
Kurt Hahn really helped to formalize “service learning” in educational experiences. Through efforts of service, we not only learning how we are embedded in a community, but also accomplish tasks that may otherwise not get done.
A big thank you to all who showed up on Earth Day at False Creek!
