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2/11/2008

Greening up

Lovely and patently persuasive Lotus has initiated "Project Support Beauty in Nature". To the extent that those of us who continue to be buried in snow can participate, I encourage you to do so. This is what I am doing: My son Zachary is attending a school where the students are required to perform a certain number of hours of community service in order to graduate. Zach has been volunteering at the Library in town, and has performed certain functions for political candidates on a non-partisan basis. I have gained approval from the school for Zach to work with me on a 'Road Adoption' project in which he and I will clean and maintain the cleanliness of 1 mile of a local, highly traveled piece of road in our community. Our first whack at it, this last Saturday, netted two of those big, black construction bags of garbage. We would have gotten more, I'm sure, but the snow and ice hid a lot of what's there. We were half froze to death by the time we got done - plenty of hot chocolate, however, assisted in the process of thawing out. I'm pretty sure the first time we go down that road after the snow melts, we will wind up with WAY more garbage than that.

Thank you, Lotus, for inspiring us to get off our duffs and do something positive. I thank you, my community thanks you, and the Chocolate Industry thanks you, as well.

16 comments:

Momisodes said...

Aww, what a great idea! I guess it's better to get it all now while frozen than wet and stinky later ;)

Great job and stay warm!

MommyTime said...

This is great. I love that you got your son involved too -- and that he's getting credit for it. That might inspire some of his friends into similar projects, no? I went for an indoor green project, since we're in a deep freeze here too. I started moving us over to using all green household cleaners. But every little bit helps, right?

Unknown said...

Sandy: Like I told Lotus - hot chocolate.

Mommytime: Yes, every little bit helps. Zach isn't too keen on the whole thing yet - he'd rather sleep in on Saturday mornings. But he does like the notion that it counts for his Community Service time.

Anonymous said...

That's awesome!
Seeing those full trashbags at the end is very pleasing, no?
:)

Elizabeth said...

I love the idea of having to perform community service in order to graduate. I think that is something that more (if not all!) schools should adopt.

Jill said...

believe it or not, picking up trash on the road is FUN to me!

Julie said...

Wow the two of you cleaning a mile of road -- that's pretty impressive. In snow and ice no less...Wow.

Unknown said...

Nicole: Yes, it is. Even Zach wound up with a smile on his (frozen) face.

Elizabeth: I agree. Absolutely. And on their own time - not school time.

Lil Mouse: Wait 'til the weather warms up. Maybe then it'll be funner.

Julie: Zach will do almost anything for some Cadbury Hot Chocolate. It's good stuff. Will buy more when we go to London in March.

BenefitScroungingScum said...

Wow, that's really impressive, and so great that Zach gets credit at school for such positive projects. Bendy Girl

Unknown said...

Bendy Girl: The school was very cooperative about it. And like I said, the promise of Cadbury's Hot Chocplate will motivate Zach to do just about anything.

Lotus (Sarcastic Mom) said...

YAY! I'm so freaking impressed. Way to go with cleaning even though it's "colder than a witch's tit" (why did my parent's always use that phrase?) and getting your son involved, AND doing it in a way that he gets credit for.

EXCELLENT!

And shoot, how can you not do something that's a good excuse for hot chocolate? I LOVE hot chocolate.

You rock, Lou! :-D

frog ponds rock... said...

Great idea Lou.. A lot of the rubbish on the roadside here is from Mcdonalds or kfc..It annoys me that much that I wont buy their junkfood in protest..oh and it helps that it tastes awful as well. hehehe

be careful on the road...

cheers Kim

Anonymous said...

Great job, that's so awesome. My surroundings are pretty spotless, I'm blessed.

Anonymous said...

Well done on a great job!!
A fantastic idea... it would be a great school project!

Unknown said...

Lotus: Because they were parents - and it's something you're supposed to pass along to your youngun.

Kim: At one end of our stretch of road there is a MacDonalds - thus the trash.

Siobhan: Yes, you live in the Goddess' country.

Elissa: I agree. I think all schools should mandate community service as part of the qualification for graduation.

imaginary binky said...

Hot chocolate solves almost all problems. I think the UN should serve it when they meet.

Yay for cleanin' up!