AU students will collect trash in nearby neighborhoods Oct. 22 as part of the Autumn Litter Pickup, hosted by the Washington Semester Program on International Environment and Development and the Office of Sustainability.
Students will collect trash in areas surrounding campus including Nebraska Parking Lot, Battery Kemble Park, Spring Valley Park and the walkways toward the Washington College of Law and the Berkshire Apartments.
International Environment and Development members Davis Burroughs, Glynnis McIntyre, Yu Nei and Tiyi Brewster plan to enlist student volunteers to help tackle D.C.’s litter.
“[We want] to give them a sense of how their actions that day fit into a larger picture of waste and recycling here on campus and how waste impacts our environment,” Sustainability Coordinator Emily Curley said.
This cleanup event will happen near campus to benefit the surrounding local neighborhood, Burroughs said.
Cleaning up complaints
Community members have complained about AU students littering, especially on well-traveled paths towards WCL and the Berks, Burroughs said.
“[The event will] make it easier for us to push forth on campus expansions [that] AU is looking to do,” he said.
The coordinators wanted to organize an environmentally oriented project that would raise awareness about littering in D.C. and its effects on the local waterways.
“For anyone who visits the Chesapeake Bay or the Anacostia and Potomac rivers, a lot of the litter that goes on the curbside ends up in the storm drainage system, which ends up in the bay and the two rivers,” Burroughs said. “So cleaning up the Chesapeake would be another [goal].”
Introduction to Washington Semester
The clean-up event is part of a service-learning project for the 430 students in the Washington Semester Program. However, all AU students are welcome to participate in the event.
The 17 members of International Environment and Development in the Washington Semester Program, including the event’s coordinators, are required to complete two service projects during their semester at AU.
Burroughs heard about a similar Office of Sustainability event during last year’s Earth Week, which inspired him to start the Autumn Litter Pickup this year.
They chose to schedule the event in October because of Office of Sustainability’s availability and because, “a nice fall, brisk day would be ideal,” Burroughs said.
AU commits time and effort to event
Burroughs’ fraternity Delta Chi has pledged to participate in the pick-up event, and he hopes more greek organizations will follow their example.
“We’re trying to get all of Greek life to come out,” Burroughs said.
McIntyre’s sorority Delta Gamma and the Green Eagles program will also contribute volunteers.
Grounds Operations Coordinator Stephanie DeStefano will supply trash bags, gloves, and litter sticks for the event.
“[It will] make students more aware of how people just don’t care about the environment enough,” DeStefano said. “I think it’s really great they’re going out to do this.”
The Office of Sustainability hopes this event will provide students with an opportunity to learn about their environmental impact.
“We hope that by making a connection between their volunteer action and the larger issue of waste and pollution worldwide, we’ll start to get people thinking about how they can lessen their impacts on the environment,” Curley said. “This is just one small way that students can begin to ‘walk the talk’ of sustainability.”
