I helped plant vegetation for a restoration project. Why does this matter?
I blocked off one of my Saturdays to join a pretty large team of volunteers planting vegetation for different homes. The goal was to plant two different plants along the shorelines of the lake behind the house. There were about three groups split to work on each house, and it took about two hours to plant all the plants that were brought. I got dirty. I got itchy.
There was even a water snake that was swimming right towards us, and the organizers urged us to get out of the water.
One of the kids offered to help me break one of the sticks that had to go in the trash bags. The sticks came from an invasive plant. At least that is what I was told when i asked why we couldn’t just compost it.
I felt kind of like a mom for a second because I assisted by telling them things that they weren’t listening to. One of the students had to be told a couple of times to get out of the water when the snake was approaching him because he must have been entranced by the snake’s wriggling swimming (in instagram video above). I showed the other student how to break the stick.
I do enjoy restoration volunteering because I’m an environmental scientist. This is a lifestyle. I wanted to bring Terra Chibi art to take the picture, but since I did not, I made this instead.
This scene resembles the setting of today’s restoration project.
I was just so happy that I had nothing else to do for the rest of the day because I’ve been so busy this entire week. I didn’t have a chance to sit down and relax, so the rest of the day, I’m eating Phad Thai and resting. I’ve also had 3 Bobas this week as a treat. I can’t seem to stop.
Why does this matter to you?
In short, it really may not matter to you. However, you have to ask yourself what does matter? REALLY? While you are watching Love Island and other Netflix movies, our shorelines and bodies of water are suffering from drought, and habitats are being destroyed. So instead of sitting around and doing nothing, I personally can’t just watch it happen. So even a little bit of time on the weekend helping where I can is a good way to go. Then enjoy the rest of the day if you can, whatever that looks like to you.
Elon Musk and other “elite” members of society are exploiting our resources and students and SERV (Seminole Education, Restoration & Volunteer) are over here planting in neighborhoods and areas vulnerable to erosion and flooding. Elon and his friends make it so hard to even see an impact when you compare the effort of the people and the everyday damage Elon is doing. This individual is just one example. There are more like him. So, this Saturday I plant.
