The more we consume, the more we pollute. In this era of the human race, consumerism has skyrocketed and wherever one goes, they see remains, waste, garbage and other byproducts that are harmful for the environment. The ocean especially is being polluted and the main source of this pollution is beach. Since so many beaches are commercialized, people who visit the leave behind tons of waste. I have seen this myself and feel it is a very concerning problem. Hence I chose to do this activity of beaching cleaning as one of my CAS experiences. I, along with my friends, cleaned a local beach of the city I live in, while celebrating world beach cleaning day. We worked with the SMC(who organized this event) to eradicate land pollutants present on the beach. Our group worked hard for the morning hours of the day and were successful in picking up 2-3 bags of waste which was later disposed off by the municipal corporation in sustainable ways.

LO4(Show perseverance and commitment in CAS experience)-

The beach was pretty huge and even though a lot of people volunteered, the amount of trash spread across the beach was too much(due to local shops also being set at the location). We had to clean up fast and had to show our perseverance and commitment towards the task so that it is completed in the time allotted to us. However, we took the amount of garbage as a motivation to clean the beach efficiently so that it doesn’t harm the ecosystem more than it had already done. It was important to be committed during the task which me and it was not hard for me and my friends because we worked together.

LO5(Demonstrate skills and benefits of working collaboratively)-

As mentioned before, we had to work together to get the task completed in time. We had to show collaboration, which we did by dividing roles. Some of us would pick up plastic waste like disposables and the others picked up miscellaneous items, while 1 person stood with a bag to collect it all. We worked briskly without any obstacles because being friends, we understood each other and didn’t have a difficult time getting along in a collaborative effort like this.

LO6(Engagement with issues of global significance)-

This global issue of improper waste disposable is a problem persistent in India with the fault being more of the citizens. I had seen this issue all around India and even in my family when people throw waste on the side of a road, or the beach in this case, claiming that others have done the same. I wanted to switch things around to people cleaning the environment and stating the reason that others are doing the same. This experience addressed that with the cumulative of citizens gathering to save the environment. This also helped attain the SDGs: Climate Action; Life Below Water; Life On Land.

LO7(Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions)-

The ethics of “littering just because others do so” was questionable for me to understand. I was, and am, strictly against pollution. This experience has helped me enhance that motto and inclined me towards further taking part in such ethical activities for the environment and society as a whole.

 

This reflected the following learner profile attributes while my experience:

Communicator- Communicating with the municipal corporation and my peers for an overall effective and beneficial cleanup.

Caring- Caring for the environment and my surroundings that I live in. Caring for the Earth so that we don’t have to find another planet to live on.

Reflective- Reflection on unethical actions of pollution an littering done by the public, and acting to clean up the mess left behind by the others.

In the end, the activity of beach cleaning was a beneficial act to the environment and to the people who took part in it. The experience was enlightening and working with my friends made it even the more fun. We took this experience as a responsibility towards this Earth, rather than a chore of cleaning. Seeing all the trash on the beach opened everyone’s eyes and pushed people to take action, generating a sense of unity that was felt throughout the crowd.