New York Street Cleaning Project
Did you know where thegarbage produced in New York goes? Some of them go to other States of America, such as Virginia. And some of them are shipped all the way to South American countries, they say…
Because the garbage amount is so huge in NY, they cannot handle it on their own. The situation like this, however, cannot be kept forever; otherwise, you would soon see trash everywhere no matter where you go in Manhattan. I am not exaggerating… In reality, if you walk, now, a few blocks away from a place like Times Square, you’ll see a lot of trash around the streets in spite of the city’s efforts of keeping it clean.
A sunny Sunday in March 2007, the third time of the project called “Shine the Big Apple! Create A Happy Heart!!” held around Bryant Park in Manhattan.
Before starting this project, I was not courageous enough to stand for it, and I was just hoping and waiting, like others, for somebody coming someday to do something good for betterment of the society. When I faced the reality, however, the feeling “I want to do something.” welled up from my heart and moved me to plan it… Thanks to my friends’ strong push, I was able to make this happen, and have been holding this project successfully. So far, I have twenty five volunteers participated in my project.
The project is very simple:
go out to the streets, pick up trash and clean up. The Sanitation Department of New York City helped
and provided some garbage bags and gloves. Previously, Starbucks Coffee gave us the bags and a space for garbage collection.
We wanted to give participants an opportunity to raise their awareness of the environment issues we face today, specifically, the garbage situation in local areas. It is my belief that this creates a possibility of getting people seriously consider about starting establishing a zero-garbage-emission society.
It was such great learning experience for everyone. “I feel so fulfilled and uplifted after I finished it,” said one participant. “Cleaning is great not only for environment, but also for spiritual training, like Zen practice.” “I will quit smoking because so much cigarette debris I found on the streets made me so guilty.” “After finding so much litter on the streets, I now realized that I was one of those who litter the city!”
As you see from the above comments, cleanliness also created serenity in people’s minds. Cleaning up the streets can purify your mind and make a happy heart.
http://nysouji.seesaa.net/