2013
Reported by our Site Supervisor Lachlan Milne: We had 13 people help out on the day. Overall rubbish was way down, especially on the road reserve which was a great outcome. There was less ‘gross’ rubbish, that is big piles that are deliberately dumped, and would take a lot of effort, eg the pile of books. Mostly it was soft drinks, particularly energy and sports drinks and McDonalds waste, with less alcohol containers than in previous years which is interesting. Some syringes were found, which is a concern.
Clean-Up Australia Day in Barrm Birrm got me thinking about the social side of Landcare. Landcare is about neighbours, and neighbourliness. Knowing that I'll know at least of few of those who turn up for Clean Up day, and that they will appreciate my showing up, makes it easier to make the effort to be there.
ReplyDeleteThe second obesrvation I'd make is that Landcare is a long-term proposition. It's been eight years now of the annual clean-up, and the amount of rubbish has dropped to these few bags you see in the photo in Lachlan's post. Not long in landscape terms, but a slow change nonetheless, one that requires doing the same thing year after year. Government programs make a lot of the new, new thing, but Landcare often does the same old thing year after year.
The other thing I took note of was the way Landcare circulates local knowledge. Why is there less rubbish in Barrm Birrm? We stood around and pondered this at the end of our sunny, gentle morning. The place is clean, so people respect it more, and leave less stuff behind. Riddells Creek Landcare has been running regular walks to educate people about the area.
Then someone suggested a cause I hadn't thought of - that the environmental program at the local primary school has been going ten years now. Maybe, she said, kids are taking the message of care for the environment home to their parents.
Our conversation circulates local knowledge. moving understanding and ideas around at local level, so more people draw on those understandings. Care for the land isn't only a technical process. Local knowledge emerges within a social ecology, fed by action and provoking action.