Most people head to the lake in hopes of catching a fish. CFACT Collegians showed up hoping to catch some trash.
Nearly thirty students from the University of Florida, Eastern Maine Community College, and Thomas College gathered at their local lakes this week for afternoons of magnet fishing, cleanup, and hands-on environmental stewardship. Taking turns casting magnets into the water, students set out to see what metal debris might be hiding beneath the surface of the lake. Others pulled on their gloves and tackled litter pickup along the surrounding shorelines.
Florida students peer over the edge of the dock to see if their latest cast reeled in any trash.
Despite being separated by more than 1,000 miles, the three groups shared the same goal: leave their local waterway a little cleaner than they found it.
At the University of Florida, CFACT Collegians Lena Zizza and Luke Kent started off their event by addressing the group and discussing environmental stewardship and the role individuals can play in protecting the natural spaces around them.
Lena and Luke emphasized that when it comes to the environment, it’s the small things that matter. Making a difference does not always require a government mandate or regulation.
Florida students show off a bag of trash collected during their cleanup at Newnans Lake.
Up in Maine, CFACT Collegians Aidan Hoffses and Robert-Joseph Reed shared a similar message, emphasizing that events like this also give students an opportunity to actually enjoy the natural resources they’re working to protect and maintain.
“CFACT recognizes that whenever you let bureaucracy handle an issue, there’s an inherent tradeoff you make,” Robert-Joseph explained to his group. “As heralds of nature, we can take that initiative on for ourselves and clean up for ourselves.”
In Florida, no long-lost treasures were recovered through magnet fishing. Newnans Lake was still swimming with surprises, though. Students spotted a small alligator cruising through the water. That was one find the group wisely did not reel in.
CFACT’s Maine students had much better luck with their magnet, recovering a chair and other large pieces of scrap metal that gave Collegians a firsthand look at what might be underneath the surface.
Maine students watch in excitement as one student lifts a folding chair out of the water.
Florida students had a successful dry-land cleanup, with many breaking a sweat trekking through swampy lakeside growth and tangled branches to collect as much litter and junk throughout the area as possible. Even then, students had to really search for trash, a good sign that Newnans Lake was already relatively clean.
From Florida to Maine, CFACT Collegians recognize that conservation does not have to be complicated. Sometimes all it takes is a group of students willing to spend a few hours getting their hands dirty and leading the way to a cleaner environment.
At the end of a successful day of putting environmental stewardship into action, students rewarded themselves—Florida had Pub Subs. Maine had Dunkin’. Naturally.