On Saturday, October 23, I spent my next two and a half garden hours helping the Muhlenberg Gardening Club and the Allentown Environmental Advisory Council clean up the garden at 401 Cleveland Street. The staff members of this organization had a big conversation about littering, its environmental impacts, and that they put down big boulders to limit parking space as a way to preserve the environment. They also had us ask residents who lived in front of the garden to come up with ideas on how we can occupy the space at the garden because there is mostly grass and shrubs and the land is pretty barren. During the event, we spent the entire time picking up trash and dumbing them into white buckets and black garbage bags. While helping everyone pick up old pieces of trash from the garden, I learned that helping others shows that you care about the environment, and that by picking up trash, you are taking an effort to advocate against littering. This is crucially important for upkeeping a garden as well because in order for a garden to grow, there should not be trash or other unnatural objects all over the place. I also remember thinking to myself while cleaning up that I have never actually seen a nature preserve or natural site without pieces of trash on the ground. In conclusion, helping the Gardening Club and the Allentown Environmental Advisory Council taught me that it is important to pick up trash you find and avoid littering in order to upkeep a garden, and many gardeners take efforts to recycle and advocate against littering.
