On April 22, you may feel the overwhelming sense to go recycle all the bottles in your trash can. Maybe you’ll even head down to the Lone Pine Recycling Center to drop off all those newspapers you’ve been saving up for a project and are finally willing to part with. When you’re done with the recycling, you’ll even probably feel pretty good about yourself. Why would you feel this way on the 22nd of April? Well, that’s because it’s Earth Day!
Now imagine another scenario – this one you can pick the day of the week, the time of day, heck , I’ll even let you pick the month, and at the end of the day you still get to enjoy that overwhelming sense of satisfaction of doing something great because you have. This doesn’t have to be just a hypothetical. This can be a reality, and I’ll tell you how.
Often when you drive through Springfield, and even through Galloway Village, you will see trash scattered along the path. Empty bottles, papers, wrappers, etc. Head down to Sequiota Park and you will find this same image along the trail, throughout the stream, even along the trees. Believe it or not, it’s not just there for decorative purposes but in fact it shouldn’t be there at all.
Fun fact: the presence of litter in a community decreases property values by 7%. As per a recent survey, 40% of homeowners think that the litter reduces the value of homes by 10-24%, and according to 55% of real estate agents, property value decreases by about 9%. More than half of property appraisers will reduce the assessed value of homes if it is littered.
If you see trash while enjoying our gorgeous trails, pick it up! If you notice a wrapper stuck in a branch at the park, throw it away! That garbage in your car? It doesn’t need to be thrown out your window, it needs to be tossed in the proper trash and recycling containers.
Your Galloway Village Neighborhood Association adopted the section of Galloway Creek that runs through our beloved Sequiota Park in 2019. If you are interested in doing more in your very own back yard, join us at the Sequiota Park Adopt-a-Stream Cleanup, sponsored by the Galloway Village Neighborhood Association July 16 and Aug. 24.