Peter Caty/The Mirror
This past weekend, LEAF kicked off Earth Week by picking up small vodka bottles, straws, bottle caps and a tire from Fairfield Beach. Yes, a tire.
Fairfield University students piled in to cars together on campus and headed to the beach to help clean the beach environment here at Fairfield.
They used this activity to kick off Earth Week because it makes a “tangible difference locally,” said LEAF member Arturo Jaras Watts.
This “tangible difference” did not go unnoticed. Beach residents, while doing yard work, gave approving smiles and thanks to the volunteers. People passing by even picked up garbage in their path to give to the LEAFers.
Jaras Watts called to attention the issue that was on everyone’s mind: “There is just a finite amount of everything on Earth and if you irresponsibly use your resources, you are going to face challenges in the future…If I were to have children, I want them to have nature to enjoy.”
These “challenges” are not so distant. The LEAF club faces challenges every time they plan an event.
“I’m happy with the turnout… it’s hard to get them to come out to do something for the Earth,” especially on a weekend, said Director of Marketing Gina Caldwell.
The LEAFers have learned from experience that to get college students to step outside of themselves and their own lives can be very difficult.
They had to form a strategy in order to ensure participation. They make their events “easy, user friendly, and use incentives… free mugs or cookies are a good way to get involvement [in order to] spread the message of how to be Earth-friendly” said Caldwell.
While students are lured into involvement and awareness by the smell of baked goods, animals are just as curious about the small plastic things on the beach.
“Little plastic things are a problem, that’s what animals ingest and kills them…we found 2 dead birds,” said Caldwell.
The Fairfield students who volunteered their time for the cause got a new or reinforced outlook on the importance of maintaining a stable and clean environment.
“We should live in a sustainable way and not exhaust all the resources on the planet,” Jaras Watts said after the cleanup.
This consciousness toward environmental issues is what LEAF hopes to inspire in even more students on campus.
“Even if 5 more people learn how to recycle correctly, we made a difference,” said Caldwell.
The LEAFers are determined to make a change because “there is a need for education and awareness” on environmental issues on campus, said Caldwell.
“Everybody can think about the way they are using everything…just because you are not directly paying for it now doesn’t mean its any less important to conserve,” said Jaras Watts.
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