Earth Camp Commitment

                My earth camp commitment will be to reduce the Styrofoam plates we use at home daily. All the disposable plates, napkins, cups, etc. I will commit myself to changing this habit because it is plain simple “Evil!” to our planet.

        The experience that motivated me to make this commitment happened while i was playing with dirt, digging up a whole many years ago(:I found this Styrofoam plate buried in there. The first day of earth camp was mainly about lectures and a brief overview of what we were going to do throughout the time here; we began talking about waste, and Styrofoam came up. We classified it as evil, because Styrofoam never degrades and it’s very harmful to the environment. Then it all made sense to me, it was true, that old piece of Styrofoam plate that I found when I was playing, it seemed like it had been buried there forever and that motivated me to make this commitment.

      At my house, the dishes are a big deal. Nobody likes doing dishes and that is the main reason why we use so much styrofoam at my house. I plan on reducing this by setting up an agenda/schedule for dish washing duties and will convince my mom to stop buying the disposable styrofoam plates. I will even go as far as convincing my mom to buy a dishwasher. Which will not only solve our issue, but will also help out our enviornment with a bit less Styrofoam.

I think that the world will be different with my efforts because every little bit counts, even if it's just saving a little drop of water, starting a compost bin or using less styrofoam. Every little thing works towards contributing to our goal of having a better world for a shared planet. This is why I believe that the world will be different with my efforts from now on.

The symbol that I will use to remind me will be a skull and cross bones warning sign.  Considering how harmful styrofoam is to our planet, this would make a great reminder of what it does to our world. Every time I see styrofoam, I will be reminded of the skull and cross bones, and how it is slowly killing the great environment of our world.

Questions & Answers

What did you think camp would be like and did it turn out that way or differently?

 Honestly when I signed up and applied to this camp, I didn’t really know what it was about, it just sounded cool. After researching about camp, I began learning more about it, I talked to some friends, and former earth campers. I really became excited about it. Once I got here, it was more than what I thought it would be. I learned so much here, not only about rocks and layers in canyons and the river, but about plants, animals, invasive species, etc (I can go on and on). It became a great experience, it was not only something that I had never done and wanted to do, like rafting, but a great learning experience and I really enjoyed being part of Earth Camp this year.

What was your favorite activity and why?

My favorite activity has definitely been rafting on the river. For me it was a totally new experience, it was the first time in my life that I’ve been down a river on a boat. It was also my first time going through rapids. This to me was all new and I really enjoyed it; it was an awesome experience. So yes, the rafting was my favorite activity of this trip.

What did we do at camp that impressed you the most and why?

One of the things at camp that impressed me the most was definitely learning how every single drop of water in the Colorado River is being used up. It gave me a clear perspective on how it is being used up, how much we have and why we should really start saving up on it because it is very important. Another thing that impressed me was the trash we produced even though we were trying to be conservative. Those for me were the main things. For me it was a surprising reality.

Who inspired you the most during camp?

             Well, I got inspiration from all the leaders here at Earth Camp. I learned so much from everybody: Sanlyn, Amy, Jacob, Lynn, and Jesus. But personally, I really bonded great with Jesus. I learned so much from him, I learned so much about plants, how to use them, get to know them, basically everything. I was really overwhelmed with all his knowledge about nature. I really connected with him, I was able to ask him questions and he would always have an answer for me. He was of great inspiration, he helped me look at nature in a whole different way, he helped me see the importance of it all. It really inspired me, to be different and take more care of our planet.

Tell me about a time at camp when you saw someone else demonstrate great leadership qualities. What did they do?

In my case, it wasn’t just one person who demonstrated leadership qualities. During Earth Camp I’ve seen everybody demonstrating great leadership qualities. I’ve seen everything from using the mess kit every time we eat, to other things such as taking navy showers. All of us working towards our goal of having a better planet. The past twelve days have been full of leadership qualities by all the campers.

What did you do during camp that demonstrated your own leadership qualities?

I believe that I showed my own leadership qualities by simply following all the rules that we all were given. One example can be “the waste”.  We all worked on separating the waste into five groups. We had trash, compost, plastic film, chicken feed, and recycle. I consider this a quality because I was part of it and this contributes to our goal of having a cleaner world.

In what ways did Earth Camp help you think about your future, e.g. careers or higher education?

During the past twelve days I spent in Earth Camp I was able to do so many things, I learned so many things, I was able to experience new adventures and be part of things I’ve never done before. I really enjoyed being here.  Earth Camp helped me think about my future, and how I can make it not only better for me but for the whole world. It helped me learn how to be a cleaner person, and how to preserve all the beautiful things in the world. Earth Camp was an awesome program and I am really glad I got to be part of it.

Now that you have experienced Earth camp, how do you view water in Tucson and how will that affect your future actions and choices?

Something that really stayed with me was the lesson about the Colorado River watershed. It did a great job breaking up how all the water is being used up throughout.  What really stunned me was how we are basically using every little bit of water in the river. We are using it all up; imagine what will happen to all of the ones that benefit from the river in years of harsh drought. This helped me look at water in a very different prospective; I will change my habits and start contributing to conserving the water that we have left.