Mike Lyons

How can you educate others or raise awareness about this group or social issue?

Looking at the trash in the New River, I think that the most effective way of spreading awareness about this social issue would be to remind others, within reason, that littering does not only hurt the environment but also those who care for and have to clean the environment. Leading by example and picking up trash in more natural areas like parks, lakes, and rivers upon sight would be an effective way to demonstrate to anyone that the environment is not a trash can for anyone, including those who are too lazy to find a real trash can. When more ReNew the New events occur, it would be a great gesture to make people aware of the events and also of the purpose of the events.

Do you see benefits of doing community work? Why or why not?

Concerning ReNew the New, there were multiple benefits of volunteering. I see the people who run ReNew the New like I see the Lorax: they speak for the river, for it has no tongue. While having a fun morning kayaking or canoeing and bonding with others, we were able to clean a historic landmark to further restore it to better condition. Not only does a cleaner environment better serve the community as a model of pride, but it also makes a lot of people and organizations who care for the river very happy.

What institutional structures are in place at your site or in the community?
How do they affect the people you work with?

At the New River, I wouldn’t say that there are enough institutional structures. If there were, there wouldn’t really need to be ReNew the New projects in the first place; if people made the right moral decisions and didn’t litter in the river, there wouldn’t be anything to clean up. In a way, the institutional structures (or lack thereof) have given reason for the ReNew the New events to occur. On the ReNew the New website, it is mentioned that “The group has already spearheaded a push for making penalties for littering more enforceable.” This is telltale as to highlight that the group who organizes the cleaning of the river is acting for its protection on more than one front. Not only are they directly fixing the cause, but they’re also making things happen to prevent further harm to the river. Though it may be bad that the lack of institutional structures cause ignorance, they are good in the way that they have caused a group of people to stand out and act against the lack of them in order to better the river.

What did you do that seemed to be effective or ineffective in the community?

In my opinion, the nature of this service project made it very easy to find ways to be effective. Being effective in this context would really mean finding trash, which Matt and I were somewhat able to do. We did not leave anything that we saw in the river because the goal was not to find the most large trash but rather to find as much as you could. What seemed to be ineffective was surprisingly our desire to find things to be taken. I often lost focus on rowing and would turn our canoe the wrong way because I was so intent on finding things to gather. The amount of looking we did slowed us down and as a result we did not find as much trash as I had hoped for; we instead took a lot of trash from other people that they were unable to carry due to the size of their kayaks.

What are the most difficult and satisfying parts of your work? Why?

The most difficult and satisfying part of this project was the making of my decision to literally get my feet wet. I did not know that we’d actually be going in the water looking for trash, so I wore my running sneakers, which happened to be high quality, expensive, and relatively new; I was mindful of this. Near the beginning, I found a couple tires that were filled with concrete, with poles extending outward from the concrete; those poles were connected by a chain, which all formed and appeared to be some kind of old swingset. As I sat there dry and clean in my canoe, watching people with water up to their chests fixing the problem that I had found, I asked myself what I was doing. After about a minute of selfish consideration, I realized that what I was doing was wrong to me; keeping my shoes dry and un-muddy was not what I wanted to remember that day. I wanted to remember myself half drenched with water, covered in mud pulling a swingset out of the water; because, at least to me, not having that experience and not doing that for the people running this event would have been much more costly than potentially ruining any single pair of shoes. The best part is that I now have both that experience and the same pair of running sneakers, which are currently dry and clean.

How are your values expressed through your community work?

Through this community work, I believe that my values of teamwork, understanding, and selflessness were demonstrated. By working as a team at several points along the river, we were able to identify and flag some garbage that may have been left behind because of a single person’s physical incapability to move something. Before this event, I could not say that I had gone out of my way more than once to attend an event that primarily concerned the environment. I believe that understanding those who were truly concerned with the river’s wellbeing helped add to my experience and give me more of a reason to be present. As I explained in the previous question, I believe that my selflessness came through when I decided that the sacrifice of my new sneakers was much more worth my while than missing out on wholefully ReNewing the New.

Complete this sentence:

Because of my service-learning, I am reminded that people are not only concerned with helping people, but also with helping the physical environment in which we live and that a cause is more important than walking away clean.