Across Welland residents have whisked out their brooms and mops to begin the ritual of spring cleaning. But for a group of local children, spring cleaning has taken on a new meaning.
“We went to play in the forest and all we could see was garbage,” says Dakota Lamb, 9.
Lamb and his friends like playing at Woodlawn Park, but they don’t like the pile of garbage they have found.
“We found lots of garbage in the forest and in the water,” says Megan Goupil, 9. “It is really disgusting and dangerous for the animals. We have to be careful when we play there.”
Besides common trash items such as coffee cups and fast food wrappers, nine -year-old Jaevin Spero says there were some surprises.
“We found a couch,” Spero says. “And pots, pans (and) broken bottles. We even found a smashed up shopping cart.”
The children are concerned because they discovered many toxic items harmful for the environment and animals living in the forest.
“We found about 3 cans of paint,” says Lamb. “And bottles of oil and other toxic things. It could all leak into the ground or water and kill the wildlife.”
Owen Gomm, 7, is also concerned about the animals. “ I wanted to clean up the park because all the animals can get sick,” he says. “We saw some Canada geese, a male duck and a female duck in the pond in the forest. They might die from all the garbage and if the oil gets onto their feathers they won‘t be able to fly.”
Woodlawn Park is surrounded with trees which provide seclusion for people to dump their unwanted items and garbage. Most of the items the children found could be recycled or disposed of for free during regular garbage pick up days or special toxic waste days offered by the region.
“Everyone has a blue box,” says Goupil. “They could just recycle all of their bottles and stuff at home instead of dumping it into the forest.”
Spero says he wants to get more neighbourhood kids involved with their “clean-up crew” and they “are going to clean up every day after school until it is clean.”
Woodlawn Park is a popular place for skating during the winter and the forest provides people with an opportunity to observe nature and wildlife all season long. At one time a playground was available for children to use, but now all that stands is a swing set. The “clean-up crew” hope that after they clean the forest up that maybe a playground will be returned to Woodlawn Park.
The least they hope to get is a garbage can.
Welland Tribune ~ April 20, 2010
www.wellandtribune.ca
No comments:
Post a Comment