To all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.

Jesus in Matthew 25.29 (NRSV)

I used to pooh-pooh collecting litter in green-spaces because of its being an elementary activity of environmental stewardship. Maybe it’s because I remember doing it as a Boy Scout. Or maybe because it doesn’t take a diploma or degree, or even a certificate, to do.* For a variety of reasons, sometime last winter I began to appreciate its significance as a basic building block if a person or a community that they’re a part of wants to take on complex ‘secondary’ and ‘post-secondary’ environmental concerns in a green-space.

Have you considered organizing a group of your friends, perhaps starting with ones from your faith community (e.g. school, church, campus club, house group) to collect trash in a green space near you? If you need help doing so, let me know.** I enjoy exploring the region’s green spaces and touring people through them. I especially explore the ravines of the East Don River and Taylor Massey Creek, since they’re within walking and running distance of my home and neighbourhood church. So I can lead you to many of the caches of litter to be found there, either personally or by giving you GPS coordinates (geocaching for trash can be fun!). But if it’s in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), I’ll travel to meet you!

Sometimes I find treasures, like this old brass door handle, for which I recently found a good home (a friend who builds furniture from wholly reclaimed materials), or little ones like the smily, pink sand bucket pictured above that I found this morning when running a remote–for Toronto!–trail (there’s no need to be concerned that I’ve brought an unknown child to tears!). It isn’t a brass door handle, and it probably cost only a toonie at a dollar store, but my daughter is very pleased!

So don’t be like I used to be–in confession, less than a year ago–and pooh-pooh the value of collecting litter as an important part of caring for the environment. There’s good trash to be had! You’ll be richer for it. And so will our home in Creation!

City of Toronto Councillor Janet Davis, me and members, of which I’m one, from the Anglican Church of the Resurrection (The Rez) standing proudly in front of the litter members of The Rez collected at Taylor Creek Park. Councillor Davis blessed us with a surprise visit, and enormous enthusiasm! The only pop cans were 288 ml ones (superseded in the mid 1980s with the current 355 ml cans), so our efforts were almost three decades overdue.

The litter we collected. In less than two hours!

*Having at minimum, though, standard first aid and CPR when working with volunteers is important and, depending on the group, even adequate liability insurance. Check both with your municipality or other land owner (e.g. land trust, provincial government) with what’s required and then your institutional community about what it has.

**I can be reached by messaging me through the GTA A Rocha Facebook group. If you live in another part of Canada, please send an email to ontario@arocha.ca.