In Idaho we have many different streams. They look really pretty. But looks can be deceiving. Many of these creeks have a secret. That secret can be dangerous. What is the secret? These creeks are polluted. That surprised me to find out. Why is that? Growing up a suburb girl, I didn’t know anything about water pollution except what people threw in a creek. I spent many Campfire Girl outings cleaning up crap from creeks, streams and rivers. Pollution in a non- agricultural area is different than pollution in a farming or agricultural area. Little did I know that the pollution was coming from animals and chemicals that were being put into the streams by two and four legged creatures.
Enter PCEI. What an awesome organization. They do such great things to help Mama Earth. I love going to their site and am totally jealous of the classroom with the flowers growing on its roof. PCEI does a lot with my school. Along with the kids, I have learned about the environment and ecosystems. Today was no different. It was fun to get out and be in nature. It was eye opening to look at this creek and think that it was polluted enough to warrant a grant to clean it up It was educational to get my feet wet and smell like gasoline mixture that was used to run the weed eater. I got to use a, “big boy” weed eater and that was fun, too. There is nothing like a good, “Samurai weed eating” to make me smile!
What did I learn from today? Cooperation. We had to work together. We needed each other to get the job done. We had to make sure that the weed eaters didn’t spew stuff at us. We had to watch out for the machete people who were getting down with their hacking. The water people were also a group that I was aware of. And we did it. We were able to take all this stuff into an area that was small for our numbers and work together. It was like a well-rehearsed play. Everyone knew what to do and seemed to enjoy it. A quote that I like is, “Many hands make light work.” This really hit home today. With all of us pitching in, we made an impact. For us, it was not much. For the creek, I hope it was helpful. Thank you, Matt for setting this up. It was really fun!
That quote is my classroom helper board Carolyn- I like it too and use it to teach my kids that when we all work together our "chores" get done much faster and we are all a family who take care of each other much like today - I was surprised how much we did with our late start combined with the heat - being a city girl before I moved here I never thought about pollution in the creeks like you said I thought it was just littering , there is always something new to learn. There is a bug guy who works for the tribe who comes and talks to the kindergarten classes and part of his job is to spread these bugs who eat the noxious weeds so they are a natural weedkiller and you can get a free cup for every 5 acres - weird huh?
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