How can you promote environmental health awareness through community-based river cleanup events?

River cleanups are great for community engagement because not only do they run on volunteer labor, the results are easy for the public to see. No one enjoys looking at pollution or trash, and therefore a recently cleaned river (or a cleanup in progress) is a fantastic opportunity to engage with passersby and educate them on the importance of protecting our waterways and the interconnectedness of the urban and natural environment. It’s easy to forget that something is a part of nature when you see it only in the context of a city, so any opportunity to highlight the fact that those urban natural features are part of the ecological system as a whole are key to gaining support for conservation projects and educating the public.

Volunteer cleanup groups are a central place to share new ideas and collaborate with your fellow allies in environmental protection. I always have a more successful event when I bring supporting materials such as flyers, maps, and infographics. Small giveaways make a large impact on volunteers, and spreads the message further. Canvas bags with a short educational phrase, or link to your website, is cost effective when ordered in bulk. Try to spend time finding something in common with your audience, then pivot back to the topic at hand. I'll also offer my contact information to volunteers to reach out directly if they have follow up questions or just need a resource at my agency. Be available for them and they will be available for you!

"Stop pollution" is hard. Where to start? Who's responsible? How much of a difference will it make? "Let's go collect trash along Four Mile Run on Saturday" makes it real. River cleanups are simple to plan, have immediate results, and allow us as community members to regain a sense of connection with and stewardship of our precious waterways.

In my town there is a group of people cleaning up trash along roads. they do that once a month. A few years ago I started to clean up a part of a river with a boat. It is astonishing how much rubbish I find. Sometimes I take someone of the voluntiers group. That's more fun than doing it alone.

Several of our south Florida beaches have buckets at the top of the dune for people to use to collect trash along the wrack line and through out the beach. I gives people the incentive to clean the beaches and be a part of the solution instead of the problem. These buckets with their cute logos offer opportunities to those who would not have participated in scheduled events.

Scout the area first. Be legal and courteous - check with landowners and businesses as appropriate - and (especially in urban areas) be considerate of community members who might be sheltering or have camps in the area.

River cleanup participants are often bonded by shared values: service-driven youth groups and environmentally-minded individuals will arrive ready to make a difference. Talk to your fellow volunteers, and invite them to share their knowledge and motivations. Do they have a personal connection to the river? Are they more interested in the social aspects of volunteering?

No matter how much you clean, there will always be more. Fostering personal connections - to the river and to each other - makes the experience more meaningful and will hopefully encourage volunteers to return or pay it forward in other locations. Before you leave, be sure to ask: Who will plan the next one?