Edgewood Park in New Haven was the location of Saturday’s youth cleanup efforts. Members of the New Haven Climate Movement (NHCM), New Haven Youth at Work and the New Haven Park Ranger were on site to help clean up the park.
The NHCM was founded in 2015 as a way to educate the public on climate change and push for policies in New Haven that support greenhouse gas reduction. Prior to the cleanup, Chris Schweitzer of the NHCM and New Haven/Leon Sister City Project spoke about the group working to get the state to invest more in clean energy and solar energy
New Haven Park Ranger Elizabeth Kaplan knows how important the clean up efforts are to the community, especially with everything that has occurred in the past eight months.
“The year has been about being at home, so what better to do than clean up the areas around your home and make it a more livable space,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan says she has noticed an increase in park use across New Haven this year, attributing the increase to the fact that there are restrictions in place for most other things. Because of the increase in use, there has of course been an increase in trash in these areas.
“We have certainly seen in New Haven an increased use in outdoor space, and so for the youth to come out here and help make the space better, what’s better than that?” Kaplan said.
Kaplan said she found the normal things she expected to find during her time cleaning up, including bottle caps, cigarette butts and empty bottles.
Ednarie Maldonado, a New Haven resident and member of New Haven Youth at Work also sees the importance of contributing to the community in these times.
“Not even just COVID, but with racism issues and the economy in general, everything is turning into trash,” Maldonado said. “Being out here picking up trash makes some kind of improvement instead of us sitting at home all day.”
New Haven Climate Movement member Young In Kim also added that this collaborative effort out of everyone is important to making a change.
“Working together is something we need to do. And working together for a good purpose like cleaning up our parks is really important,” Kim said.
An event like this could mean nothing more than just picking trash up off the ground to some, but to others, just being able to be out with others and do good means much more to them.
“It’s good that we’re out here doing something for the community,” Maldonado said.