By Raeanne Raccagno
Copy Editor
Earth Day volunteers gave their time to a cleanup, organized by multiple environmental organizations, in George Page Park on Tuesday, April 22. The 55th year of Earth Day was celebrated worldwide with different acts of service centering on the theme “Our power, our planet.”
Trenton community members and students from the College participated in a park cleanup hosted by the Outdoor Equity Alliance and the AmeriCorps New Jersey Watershed Ambassadors Program.
“It's invaluable,” Harrison Watson, OEA community stewardship specialist, said about community events on Earth Day. “Helping members of the community understand, especially in communities like Trenton, that environmentalism, caring for our planet, is not something that is just reserved for the privileged few.”
OEA is a nonprofit based in Trenton that’s committed to “empowering marginalized communities,” according to their website.
George Page Park along Lawrence Street in Trenton is right next to Assunpink Creek, the largest stream in the area. As the event leaders started the cleanup, they emphasized the importance of the tributary to the Delaware River and keeping it clean.
Volunteers spread themselves across the park to help eliminate trash on the ground or near the creek. Kids on the playground peeked over the fence, watching and asking volunteers what they were doing before joining the cleanup.
“I always like being out on the water, whether it's beach, kayaking or boating, and I always see trash,” Kai Spinney, a junior accounting major from Toms River, said. “I'm one of those people who, if I walk past it, I just have to pick it up. I guess the way I look at it is, I'm out here, I'm using this, I gotta take care of it and it's nice to kind of be able to help keep the earth nice and clean, honestly.”
Spinney also mentioned the negative stigma that some students at the College may have about Trenton.
“I think it's sort of due to the way negative news spreads,” Spinney said. “People don't talk about, ‘oh, I drove through Trenton and I had a normal experience.’ People focus a lot on the negative aspects, but it's not a bad place. I've been through so many times, it's fine.”
Watson also emphasized the importance of neighborhoods around Trenton, creating a grounded perspective for environmentalism, and how issues starting in one area will eventually affect others.
“It is a matter of love thy neighbor,” Watson said. “We have our silos that have been effectively established…and so it's easy for all of these other communities to kind of shut their blinds to that one part of the neighborhood and say we don't need to worry about that right now, because that's not our issue.”
Trenton faces a vast range of environmental injustice issues like brownfields, lead contamination and more.
Watson also commended other organizations working on waste management throughout the city and mentioned walks incorporated with litter collection that are hosted by Trenton Green Teams and Mercer County.
“I think what these kinds of events can do is at least get people energetic about the idea of cleaning up trash, and then that's something that they can carry on individually on their walks on the weekends in the mornings and the evenings,” Watson said.
Event organizers provided trash pick-up supplies, snacks and water for volunteers. Seven trash bags were filled by the end of the cleanup.
“Neglect does nothing good for anybody,” Watson said. “Doing that kind of grounding work for the environmental movement for communities that historically suffered environmental injustices and to empower as many community members as possible…that’s powerful.”
