Pangaea Green Wave Project - Goodbye to Garbage
As trash and garbage is a big problem which today's society has to face the second Pangaea Green Wave dealt with this topic.
To follow the new Green Wave concept there was this overall topic but different actions related to it all over the globe because a beach clean-up might be necessary in Argentina while in Germany it is important to clean up city parks.
The actions of this Green Wave ranged from YEP-Meetings in Innsbruck (Austria) and Stuttgart (Germany) to school projects in Thailand, Germany and Poland or a huge clean-up organized by the Argentinean Young Explorers.
Read about it and be amazed how the third Green Wave went around the globe tackling environmental problems and raising awareness.
Read about the previous Pangaea Green Wave Projects:
Pangaea Green Wave Project - June Solstice 2011 - Tree Planting
Pangaea Green Wave Project - September Equinox 2010 - Earth Clean-Up Day 2010
Innsbruck, Austria
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written by Sophia Paul (Pangaea Mongolia Selection Camp YEP) and Ansgar Fellendorf (Pangaea Nunavut Canada Expedition YEP)
The YEP Meeting in Innsbruck was connected with the current Pangaea Green Wave and its theme ‘Goodbye Garbage’.
We decided to first have a picnic without producing any trash. Hence, we went to the local market hall and bought bread, cheese, sausage and fruits, always asking the merchants to give it to us without any wrapping. They first looked a bit startled but agreed on it. To store the food we had brought plastic boxes which you can reuse. We didn’t buy anything to drink because that wouldn’t have been possible without a bottle. Instead, we had filled up our own water bottles at home.
The whole group of ten people sat down in a park and after a short introduction round we started eating. You enjoy the food much more when you don’t produce any waste. In the end, only the peel of the melon was left.
We stayed in the park and tried a little garbage experiment: we put a half-full cola bottle (trash) onto the ground next to a bin. Then we sat down nearby and watched how people would react. Most of the 320 people we counted just walked by and didn’t even look at the trash- bottle that was lying right in their way. Some took a glance but didn’t act at all. Few pointed on the bottle, two people kicked it under the nearby dustbin and only two picked it up and threw it away. Five times we stood up and asked why people had acted that way and not another. The men who threw the bottle away said that recycling is important because it saves resources and money and that they wanted the city to look clean, especially for the tourists.
The most used excuse for not bending down to the bottle was time. “We are in a hurry; we need to go to a wedding.” Well, it takes you a maximum of 30 seconds to pick up that bottle!
Again: Two out of over three hundred picked up the garbage to throw it away!
After having some ice cream we started collecting garbage in the downtown area. In a tourist city like Innsbruck we thought we wouldn’t find a lot of trash. But as a fact we didn’t have to look for long. After the fiftieth cigarette we had to give up on those, but focused on big trash like empty bottles, plastic pieces and rotten food. We were surprised by the amount of garbage in the city centre!
While waiting for the TV team to arrive, we painted chalk footprints on the ground that led to the dustbins. We also added some writing like “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”. A lot of passing people talked to us and asked what we were doing, which we used to hand out some flyers. Mario and Ansgar were interviewed and then we continued the clean-up, this time with a cameraman jumping around us in Moose- style to get the best shots. We also came to the river Inn, where it was especially dirty.
Some of the interesting things we found: an undamaged beer glass, visiting cards, paper plates and even a baby sock! In the end we had four garbage bags filled with collected trash.
The Green Wave Action in Innsbruck was a great success and we reached out to many people!
Organized by: Mario, Sophia and Ansgar
Pictures by: Ansgar, Stephanie, Mario, Sophia, Diana
Participants from Austria:
- Ansgar Fellendorf (Pangaea Nunavut Canada Expedition YEP)
- Diana Paul
- Mario Löscher (Pangaea USA Selection Camp YEP)
- Martin Heidinger
- Sophia Paul (Pangaea Mongolia Selection Camp YEP)
- Stephanie Adelwöhrer
- Thomas Heigl
Participants from Germany:
- Magdalena Gründl (Pangaea Mongolia Expedition YEP)
Participants from Switzerland:
- Tiziana Gees (Pangaea Himalayas Expedition YEP)
Participants from Canada:
- Harold Schaefer
YEP Meeting in Innsbruck Cleanup
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Gochsheim, Germany
written by Theresa Krause (Pangaea Nunavut Canada Selection Camp YEP)
On Wednesday, 21th September, some 6th graders of the secondary school in Gochsheim, a village in the middle of Franconia, Germany, had very special afternoon lessons: They got to be a part of the Pangaea Green Wave “Say Goodbye To Garbage”!
Our project started with a short introduction of Mike Horn, the Young Explorers Project and the Pangaea Green Waves. I was so astonished when the students already knew what Pangaea meant and could draw the line to why Mike Horn gave his expedition this name! I also talked about my experiences from the Selection Camp and encouraged them never to lose hope and always to believe in themselves.
Though most of the students already wanted to start to act, it was very important for me to explain the necessity of caring for our planet to them. Hopefully I made them realize that we can’t just leave our earth like a room where the conditions are uncomfortable, but that we all depend on our planet that supplies us with all we need to live. And that it’s because of this fact that we have to act now and change our habits.
We started to act by deciding not to throw our garbage into the nature anymore. That’s already a big step because that way we can protect beautiful landscapes and a lot of animals. But as not everyone in the community thinks of these aspects, there’s still a lot of garbage outside.
We spent about two hours collecting the garbage on a path that lead us through the village and out on the fields. We had four stops where the community had provided us with big dustbins to get rid of the garbage collected. The kids where so motivated to find all the trash that they crawled into almost every hedge. We were so surprised about the amount of garbage we could find. Though most of what we found was glass bottles, cigarettes and plastic, we even found a huge knife, a saucepan and a pair of glasses!
On our way we met some people that were interested in what we were doing. When we explained it to them they were impressed about this worldwide project and thanked us for being active. Getting positive feedback from the people in the community and spreading our message gave us a really good feeling about what we were doing.
Quite tired but still very proud we returned to the school. The afternoon had been a lot of fun and it had been so easy to do something good and make a change! The fact that we had just been part of a global action against garbage made our happiness and satisfaction rise even more and some of the kids already asked me when the next Green Wave will take place!
Thanks to the weather, my mother and all the kids full of enthusiasm we were able to spend a whole afternoon having fun dealing with probably the most important issue we humans have to deal with: environmental protection!
Pangaea Green Wave - Goodbye to Garbage: Germany
Löffingen, Germany
written by Dan CULLUM (Pangaea USA Expedition YEP)
organised with Dan CULLUM and Simon Straetker (Pangaea New Zealand Expedition YEP)
It was on my visit to Simon's in Germany in which I experienced my first Greenwave, the concept of a continuous stream of environmentally focused acts around the world at the same time in each timeline.
After a long day of climbing up the highest mountain in the province, we made our way to the local park where a number of local children were playing. We arrived with our big black rubbish bags and gloves to clean up and sooner after we began the local children began to join in and help us too.
That to me illustrated two very important things. Firstly, our actions really are like a wave. What we do, no matter how small, truly has the power to influence other people. We can talk about what we are going to do all day long, but the real impact comes when we take the first step.
The second realisation that I came to that day was the importance of approaching every opportunity to help our environment like a child. To be unashamed of helping, but bold and confident in the small deeds that together make the large. Often as adolescents we are fearful of what the masses may think, but by throwing off inhibitions and tackling our dreams with the bright ambition of a child will enable us to keep dreaming for bigger and better things in the future.
So that was my first and what I think was successful German Greenwave experience :)
Pangaea Green Wave - Goodbye to Garbage: Schwarzwald, Germany
Kraljevo, Serbia
written by Nadja VUKASINOVIC (Young Explorer from Kraljevo, Serbia)
On 24 of September, a clean-up and action of decorating trash cans took place. It was organized by principal of “IV kraljevacki bataljon” Marina Vucinic and Nadja Vukasinovic.
30 pupils of 6th and 7th grade participated in this action and with them were Nadja and biology teachers Ana Jeremic and Biljana Savic. Unfortunately, Marina couldn’t join us.
Around 11 o’clock, we met in the main school yard, and went to the park near the school. We split in small groups. Each group got a garbage bag, gloves and part of the park that they should clean. During 45 minutes, we collected most of the trash and headed back to school.
In small school yard we painted old rubbish bins that were replaced by new ones. A group picture was taken, and that represented the end of our activities.
The action was successful: we completed our most important goals: help kids develop ecological awareness and contribute to cleanness of our park. :)
Pangaea Green Wave - Goodbye to Garbage: Kraljevo, Serbia
Swoszowice, Kraków, Poland
written by Agnieszka Mierska (Pangaea Mongolia Selection Camp YEP and Geberit-Pangaea Kraljevo School Project YEP) and Zuzanna Łukasik (Pangaea Nunavut Canada Expedition YEP)
When taking part in this GreenWave Project, we wanted to make a difference to a place that is dear to us. That is why we have chosen meadows in Swoszowice, where Zuzanna often walks her dog. This place is not only popular among dog-owners, but also frequented by young people from the area, who often organise bonfires there. After such parties there is always a lot of garbage left, garbage that could be efficiently recycled.
At home, we painted a panel with the following inscription: "take your garbage back home" and we installed it in one of the popular spots. We cleaned-up the garbage from around this place and... out of accumulated junk, we created an installation in a shape of a human being. It was a smelly job, but it gave a pretty good effect. The unused garbage was taken home and thrown to its appropriate destination: bin.
We really hope that this 'sculpture' will force young people to stop and think and take responsibility for what they have brought with themselves to the meadows.
Belgium
written by Annelies VANHERCK (Pangaea New Zealand Expedition YEP)
I didn't have enough time to do something big for the Green Wave, but I really wanted to participate, so I chose something simple but hopefully effective to do: I made a big banner with a painting of someone who drops garbage on the street, with something along the lines of "Because the bin is SOOOOOOOOO far away" written on it.
The banner hangs on a fence across the street from a secundary school, so it should reach quite a few young people. I hope it will make at least some of them think.
Middleburg Mpumalanga, South Africa
written by Mikayla BADER (Pangaea Nunavut Canada Expedition YEP)
I cleaned up a street in my town, Middleburg, Mpumalanga, South Africa. It was the street that runs next to our golf course.
I was sad to find loads of plastic bottles and realised that if our town had a system where you could exchange plastic bottles for money this wouldn't happen. Definitely something for me to look into the future with my municipality.
I involved my family and especially my younger brother enjoyed cleaning up our town. I believe that the Goodbye Garbage Green Wave is great evidence that cleaning up is easy, effective and can be loads of fun :)
I have attached another document (picture above) with a picture that was sent to me. This girl, Charlene cleaned up the local park in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.
Pangaea Green Wave - Goodbye to Garbage: South Africa
Annapolis, Maryland, USA
written by Lauren MORRELL (Pangaea Himalaya Selection Camp YEP and Pangaea Borneo Project YEP)
The time of the Green Wave September 2011 was a special time for Severn students in Annapolis, Maryland. It was Spirit Week, a week to celebrate school spirit and class bonding leading up to the Homecoming Football Game and Dance. This means competitions throughout the week, including dressing up in themed costumes each day, rallying food donations for a local homeless shelter, designing a themed banner, decorating the hallway in your class color, performing a musical show, tug-of-war, relay races, and womens’ football called Powderpuff. With all the enthusiasm students devote to the week’s activities, what better time or place to spread a welcome message of RECYCLING?
For my Green Wave project a Recycling Competition was approved by the spirit council as a new competition for Spirit Week. During lunch periods, each class was assigned their own trash bin and recycle bin. The class with the greatest quantity recycling as compared to quantity of trash would be the winner!
This was an effective way for students to be reminded that recycling is always important, and to keep environmental issues on our minds even during such a special time of year. I am proud to say that the senior class of 2012 won the recycling competition every day!
Buenos Aires, Argentina
written by Paula Marina Meloni (Pangaea Nunavut Canada Selection Camp YEP)
action with Soledad Escribano (Pangaea Malaysia Expedition YEP), Martín Añón (Pangaea Mongolia Expedition YEP), Florencia Escudero (Pangaea India Selection Camp YEP) and Paula Marina Meloni
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina (34°28'51.23"S 58°28'55.38"W)
As I sat on the grass facing the river, waiting for the rest of the yeps to arrive and start the clean-up, I overheard a conversation coming from a group of people beside me who were answering a questionnaire about the place. The question that specifically caught my attention was :“how would you classify the cleanliness of this place?”. Waiting for an answer along the lines of “regrettably, although it seems clean from over here, it’s terribly full of trash” or maybe just “very dirty”, I was quite astonished to hear, “well, very clean, I could even say it’s almost impeccable”.
The place chosen for our monthly clean-ups is a piece of coast-line in the northern suburbs of Buenos Aires. As a great part of the coast-line, it is lined with trash and debris brought in by the river, but, what makes this place special is that just 10 metres away from this coast-line, and 1 metre higher, that is, upon elevated grounds, there are children’s games and people often gather with friends making Sicigia’s goal for the clean-ups, that is raising awareness, much easier.
Somewhat stunned by that woman’s answer it felt good to start the clean-up and see people’s expressions change after they saw and realised the type of things that could be found in their “impeccable” place, just ten metres away from them.
As usual we were greeted by empty cans, an assortment of plastic containers, and also some interesting objects, such as the casing of a tv, enough lead plumbing for an entire house and even some dead fish with putrid oranges, enough for a good meal.
The “Goodbye Barbage” Green Wave also came with Sicigia’s first anniversary, making the Clean-up an excellent moment to celebrate it.
Finally, after some steady hours of work we enjoyed a round of mates and Sole’s anniversary home-baked cake.
Pangaea Green Wave - Goodbye to Garbage: Argentina
Chiang Mai, Thailand
written by Joanna Krzyzanowska (Pangaea Mongolia Selection Camp YEP) and Nicolette Meyer (Pangaea Mongolia Expedition and Pangaea Borneo Project YEP)
When we entered the classroom, we were greeted by a group of enthusiastic children who were eager to start their lesson with us! It was great to see their willingness to learn and gain knowledge... As this was their first time to learn about recycling and garbage, we had to start off the lesson by teaching them basic vocabulary such as "paper", "bottle", "can" and "glass", and soon the class was shouting in unison these newly-learnt words. Showing them a short video clip about the 3 R's (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle), we tried to present the topic, which is actually quite complex, in the simplest way for them to understand... To reinforce the idea of the 3R's, the students had the opportunity to reuse plastic bottles to make bottle-men. You should have seen the joy on the faces of the children when they saw that they could make their very own bottle-men/women! As time was running out, we had a hard time to tell the children to stop the activity as they were so engaged in their arts and crafts...
It was a real pleasure to teach these children for one and a half hours, as they were unbelievably interested and involved in the topic: if we were all like one of these 8-year-old children, our world wouldn't be facing any garbage problems! During our whole time at Mae Rim, we couldn't take the smile off our faces as the joy of the students was simply infectious...
Pangaea Green Wave - Goodbye to Garbage: Thailand
Wreck Reef, Coral Sea, Australia
written by Saraya D'Ath (Pangaea Kamchatka Expedition YEP and Pangaea Borneo Project Ambassador)
I did my ‘goodbye garbage’ Green Wave Project in a slightly unusual place this year. This exotic place was called Wreck Reef located in the Coral Sea about 250 nautical miles North-East of Brisbane, Australia. I sailed here with my Mum and Dad on our 41ft family sailing boat, we spent a week at Wreck Reef enjoying nature putting on its best show for us.
This Reef is completely deserted no humans, no boats, it’s beautiful! The coral atolls are bursting with marine life and on the Island itself there are thousands of Terns, Masked Boobies, and plenty of hermit crabs.
The reef showed no real sign of damaged from mankind however once we set foot on the Island we found everything from plastic drums, plastic sun chairs, thongs (shoes), ropes, plastic water bottles to aerosol cans, all of this had been washed up from boats and from the mainland (Australia).
It was interesting to note that a lot of the garbage was higher up on the Island and not on the tidal line this because natural disasters such as; cyclones would have swept all of the rubbish inland on the Island, this is where the birds make their nests and lay their eggs.
Every day we would go ashore and do a clean up around the Island it was so sad to see that the birds had integrated the garbage into their lifestyle, we would regular find birds sitting on plastic sun chairs and enjoying tearing Styrofoam apart.
Pangaea Green Wave - Goodbye to Garbage: Coral Sea
