The Rest of the Story

This afternoon, in a bit of frustration, I shared pictures of some of the needles that I found washed up along the banks of Newton Creek by the ponds in Stewart Park. It's one thing when people just throw trash on the ground all over the city. That can be picked up with a bit of work. But it's really frustrating when it gets thrown in our creeks and rivers, or left in camps next to these streams that then it all gets washed away when the water levels rise. Eventually it makes it out to the rivers and gets deposited along the banks and covered with sand. It's exasperating. I should have waited to post because ultimately posts like that aren't very helpful unless there is a better ending. They tend to encourage others to be frustrated and that's not helpful. The rest of the story is that the garbage all over the park was picked up and disposed of. My kids and I were at the park with Brandon Dold to take photos and videos of the wildlife and walk around the park. Brandon and I decided to pick up trash while we trekked around. It was a lot of fun. We had an awesome nature hike, saw lots of birds and even saw evidence of a beaver working hard in the creek. The kids were laughing just about the entire time. It was awesome. I think the most helpful way to address the issues in our community is to know about them, and then act to make things better. Action encourages and inspires and gives hope. Anyway, I just wanted to share with you the rest of the story. We had a great time and the park ended up cleaner. 🤙