TIMELINE/Logs
REFLECTIONS
SABRINA'S REFLECTION:
This project made me realize that recycling is even more important than I initially thought. I never really recycled before this project because it seemed inconvenient but it is actually not as time consuming as it seems. This project was meant to encourage others and also myself to start recycling. There were many places me and my group member went to pick up recyclables. We went to el Cariso park, Layne park, veterans park, and would walk up and down our streets looking for trash to pick up or recyclables. There were times where we would only find a few recyclables, and other times that we were able to fill a grocery sized bag full of bottles and cans. The most impacting thing I experienced was when me and my group member were at veterans park and a squirrel came up and as I was watching him he picked up a price of trash and was trying to eat it. Land and sea animals suffer everyday from people littering and most of that trash can be recycled and reused. It was surprising to see that the amount of people that said they did not recycle did not match up to the number of people who said recycling was not important. People still knew that recycling was somewhat important but still were not recycling. Many people also said they recycled because they received money in return. I think it is good that people are rewarded for recycling but people should be doing it to help save animals and help keep their communities clean. This project was stressful in the beginning because I only had one other group member so we each had a lot of work to do. As time went on the project became less stressful because I actually started recycling and doing this project because I genuinely wanted to. I enjoyed encouraging others to recycle who normally do not. Family and friends recycled and showed us that they really did start recycling. In our survey we asked why they believe some people did not recycle and many people said because they did not have time and it was inconvenient. A few of those people did get involved and agreed that it was not very time consuming at all and they felt good that they were doing something to help. I felt that I really was making a difference and it made this experience worth it. I will continue to recycle and pick up recyclables and trash from the floor.
RODOLFO'S REFLECTION:
At the start of this project I was very confident that everyone would enjoy recycling and helping our environment. I have learned that not many people had a positive outlook on recycling because their outlook on it was unnecessary and unimportant. People believed that a single plastic bottle in the street had no impact, which is when I realized that me and my peer had to initially provide facts and data to those who didn't care about recycling. A wide majority of those who did not recycle or care about it were wowed when they were educated about the amount of trash that is affecting our environment that could have been recycled. So much trash that isn't recycled has affected our environment. After providing those who didn't care about recycling with this information and more they gladly helped recycle when they had time. I was shocked, I didn't realize that people weren't aware about the harm of littering and not recycling had on our planet. Through out this project we also had a great difficulty reaching a huge amount of people to send the message of the importance of recycling. We had originally wanted to post our posters on doors to fast food restaurants, since many people go there; but we had no luck as we weren't allowed. While doing this project I felt good, as I knew I was helping the environment and giving back to the world, by keeping it clean and doing the best I could to ensure a better future not just for me but the entire world. If I could do this project again I'd be sure to attend popular events and places like the beach, despite the long distance in order to have a greater effect on society. I would have created big posters and although it might seem impossible, being on the news with posters would have reached a huge amount of people, not just locally but nationally. Something that was really effective was encouraging others to raise awareness. Something I noticed was that this was most effective when I asked people whom I had strong connections with to raise awareness of the importance or recycling or to encourage others to do so as well. Another thing that I did think was very beneficial to our project was conducting a survey to see peoples' original outlook on recycling was. We saw what motivated people to recycle and why some did not recycle. This allowed us to develop ways to approach certain people in order to encourage them to recycle or inform them of its importance. On the other hand something I would definitely do differently is that I would have teamed up with more people. The reason I said because the amount of work would have been enough to allow each person to dedicate themselves fully to completing but the task. Not only that but it would have also allowed us to reach a wider range of people. The fact that I was able to be a part of a change that I know will benefit not only the future of the future of the world but of future generations is amazing. I actually cared about this cause, as it was something me and my partner knew will help the world. I hope everyone is impacted by our project and does their part to recycle for a better tomorrow!