It’s been a few weeks since Earth Day, but in the “EVERY day is Earth Day” spirit, we have one more story to share, this one — accompanied by the art shown above — from students at West Seattle’s Tilden School:

As is our tradition, Tilden School students spent time on Earth Day cleaning up garbage around the neighborhood. This year, all classes together gathered about 15 large garbage bags full of trash. Several students found it encouraging that this was less than they found last Earth Day! Students who collected near the Junction reported cigarette butts as the most common item; students who collected north on California reported more candy wrappers and beer bottles. Some of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders wanted to share their reflections on the experience:

Adrian: When my class and I went to pick up trash … it was horrible! There was garbage everywhere!!…

Mallih: … On Earth Day, Tilden School went out and about to the post office, and oh, my, there was so much trash in one little parking lot!…

Sam: It was a dim day, and the sky was full of gray clouds. We mostly picked up cigarette butts and pieces of paper. I mainly collected plastic and rubber. This year there wasn’t as much garbage as last year. In my opinion, people are thinking more about the environment…

Jensen: We found lots of peculiar things that I didn’t expect to see, like particle board and receipts, but we also saw common litter like rubber bands, wrappers, and aluminum cans..It took about a half an hour to gather about three massive bags of trash.

Carson: First we looked at Hiawatha Park. There were bags, cans, and paper. Then we went near the high school. There were candy wrappers and beer bottles up in the bushes and some still had beer in them. I think I found medicine in a bottle. Clara and I found a coffee cup and we dumped it out. It was like a stream. There was a bush that had everything: bottles, chips, paper, and wrappers. We had to dig in the bush to get the stuff out. It took us five minutes, and we still did not get all of it out.

Fletcher: Some of the gross stuff was already-eaten gum, beer bottles, a full coffee cup, squished food, and liquids that I don’t know the names of..

Ahna: We picked up a lot of garbage on our way back from P.E. on California Ave. Right on our way back, I found a beer bottle full of juice that smelled like seafood; that stunk up my whole bag..When we got close to a gas station, I found about ten cheese-stick wrappers in a bush! Close to the station, I found a box full of liquid. After we were past the big “garbage street” and almost to school, I found a sock!…

Jacob: Things I saw on the ground were chip bags, soda cans, tissues, glass bottles, tinfoil, coffee, candy wrappers, string, and lots more. I thought it was a fun, gross activity, but sometimes there were things I didn’t want to pick up.

Genna: There was so much litter! There’s not any more, though..We spent a half hour picking up other people’s litter!

Erica: When we set out to California Ave., we found so much litter, most of which was plastic or glass. Some litter can be very dangerous to our environment. For an example, I found a lighter that may have had lighter fluid inside. Dana and I found a beer box behind a bush.

Dana: I found many things. One thing was a Gatorade bottle. It was empty. The place I found it was under a pine tree! I was surprised it was there. Under a bush by 7-Eleven, we found so many things. Erica found a lighter. I found a Nutter-Butter bag. Farther ahead, behind a sign and under a tree, there was a box that used to have beer in it.

Caprial: One thing that I picked up was a beer bottle that was still half-full of beer, and of course I dumped the beer out before I put it into my bag..The thing that I found the most was probably wrappers from candy bars, and snack bags like the ones Sun Chips come in.

Jasmine: Everyone picked up unusual things, even though I didn’t think the litter in my bag was very amusing..There were many things to collect, even though we couldn’t pick up everything.

Vivian: One of the things I found the most of was candy wrappers, such as Hershey Kisses, Trident gum wrappers, chewed-up gum, and a gigantic Three Musketeer packet. My class also found a lot of soda cans, cups, and straws. I think everyone should stop polluting..

Gian: I couldn’t believe all the junk. It was in bushes, on grass, on sidewalks, and in people’s yards. I felt a change in our neighborhood after we helped.

Bellie: The most common thing to pick up was cigarette butts..When we got to the post office, we did not even need to search. We could just walk anywhere and find garbage. The post office had piles and piles of garbage! It looked like people do not care for the Earth, because there was so much garbage. I think that we did a good thing, but people need to be more careful.

Fletcher: The whole school helped clean up West Seattle to make it a better place to be. Most of the trash was in the post office parking lot. There were lots of cigarette butts, and only in the parking lot, I found twenty-one butts. The most common thing I found was probably glass or cigarettes. I hope people will stop littering, so that in the future, there will be a clean universe..

Jackson: ..People litter because they think it is cool. I think it is bad for the Earth..

Amelia: .I think that I should get together a group so that we can go all around the city, collecting garbage and trash, so the environment can be better for everyone. I never in my life would want to be the person littering..

Lia: I was not that happy, because people think it’s okay for them to throw garbage on the ground or in the bushes and get away with it. I think it just makes our neighborhood look messy. When new people come to Seattle, they might think that we don’t take care of our environment..

Sophia: I think that people throw glass and cigarette butts on the sidewalk because they don’t think about the planet, they only think about themselves..

Henry: Most of the trash were catalogs and wrappers. The most common piece of trash was the cigarette butts..

Ellis: ….We ended up with about 500! cigarette butts. People found the most awkward things like socks and ripped-up rugs. I thought the people who threw the stuff on the ground were thoughtless.

Kaleb: I think people litter because they’re too lazy to get up and find a garbage can.

Emma: In the alley, I could spot trash very easily. I didn’t have to search at all, because it was scattered all over! I felt that the people who did not throw their trash away in a garbage can were thoughtless. I bet they already saw that there was lots of trash on the ground in the first place! I think that other people need to learn a lesson from our hard work!

Wyatt: I hope people notice the little things that we did. Many little things can make a big difference.