This week I have worked with my husband and two children, as well as three other residents and their combined four children. As we cleaned we were in awe of the type of things we found and the amount of trash we found. The kids kept asking why people litter and were eager to find as much trash as they could. With the current, wind and such trash can be carried downstream. We were lucky to have many folks willing to get right along the water's edge and clean up debris that was stuck in the muck and tangled in branches. Between all three groups that went out we collected over 100lbs of trash. It was fulfilling and well worth our time, effort and scratches earned!

I recently visited the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary where I picked up native seeds to plant here at my home. I also have a friend who shared Blue Indigo seeds with me to plant. I have been more conscious of using native plants since my formal education, realizing how invasive species can be a detrimental to an area. 

I can use my social media post to encourage others to join me in caring for our environment. I do not follow anyone on social media to admire what they are doing, however I have a friend who is consistent in posting about her organic gardening techniques. Her doing this encourages others and demonstrates a different way to interact with food more locally - your own backyard. 

I don't usually see water as a free resource, there is always a cost to using something, the cost may just not be seen in $$ signs. To get water to my faucet, there needs to be an intake of water from a source,  cleaning process, sanitizing process and delivery. To get the water from point A (origin) to me it takes energy (fuel of some sort). There have to be pipes in place, there has to be infrastructure for the cleaning/sanitizing. As I stated in previous posts, water is a commodity we take for granted in our great lakes region. It is something that is scarce in some places, not only water but CLEAN water. We need to cherish it and use it wisely. 

Living here in MI most people don't think about water conservation or saving water, it is so abundant. I grew up in Arizona where a drought is always going on and we take water conservation very seriously, every ounce is a gift. I think what needs to change in our region is the way we see water. Rather than an infinite source, we should see it as limited.