MUH botany class tackles litter
July
8, 2005
In exchange
for the complimentary use of Butler County Metroparks,
the class of Field Botany 155 agreed to pick up and
remove any litter the students encountered during
their field work.
Although litter was not easily seen in the lush vegetation
in some of the wild areas, the students, Rhonda Baker,
Amber Cummins, Joe Desmond, Jessica Huntington, Travis
Riley, and Laura Weingartner, enthusiastically rose
to the challenge. They collected enough trash during
their six weeks of class to make a positive difference.
Collected during class were 35 aluminum cans, about
25 glass bottles, 6 plastic drink bottles, a tire
and rim from a truck, a large motor or compressor
mounted on the lid of a 55 gallon drum (weighing about
70 pounds), a plastic molded tool case (empty), and
a pile of miscellany, not easily classified. Both
of the large and heavy items were found at the bottom
of a steep slope, which required some heavy lifting
and stamina to get them to the top.
According to their instructor, Richard Munson, this
won’t be the last time for trash collecting.
“Based on the success of this effort, litter
collection will be a part of every Field Botany course
in the future,” he said. “It fits very
well the old 70’s slogan, 'Think Globally, Act
Locally,”’ he added.
