As of September 29th, 2017, the River Dawgz have been slowly, but surely working towards the milestone of a preliminary research outline indicating the organization of our final report, our initial research completed, and the sources explored. The River Dawgz are exploring the problem of waste in national parks and its scope, causes, and consequences. Thus far, we have researched a variety of sources including videos and current event articles. As we progress, we would like to review a textbook or book, and a few literature reviews or journals. As Hunter Beane viewed the video titled “Teddy Roosevelt V: ‘The National Parks Need Your Help,” he took notes and reflected on the content of the video. From this video, John, Andrew, and Bailey were able to stem out into current events that related to our research. We found Teddy Roosevelt V’s (above right) involvement in the environment to be interesting because of the family connection dating back to President Teddy Roosevelt’s (above left) first message to Congress. In this message, he talked about the importance of water and forest conservation. A few years later in 1916, the National Park Service was created “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.” The relative occurrence of these two events in the U.S. Environmental History & Policy reading further proves that science is ongoing, but also that waste in National Parks such as Denali, Grand Teton, and Yosemite are still occurring.
The Zero-Landfill Initiative by Subaru of Indiana Automotive has conducted a challenge that started out plain and simple with the recycling of paper, banding, cans, and plastic bottles with the lead of six park rangers, five park concessionaires, three NPCA members, seven Subaru employees, one park recycling expert, and two journalists. Pilot projects were put in place to try and apply effective solutions to make national parks zero-landfill. The three pilot projects are in Yosemite, Denali, Grand Teton with a focus on environmental issues, waste streams, and how to recycle. Near one of the Schuylkill River bridges, hundreds of plastic water bottles have gathered up. Therefore, we hope to provide classmates, faculty, and the community with information that they can apply in the Schuylkill River Heritage Area to try and limit the use of water bottles on the trail.
Today in our in-class meeting with Dr. Kazempour, we discussed how far we have come in terms of the research project and the service project. As we continue to proceed with the research project, we plan to start our service project next weekend. We plan to connect the Glenside neighborhood to the Schuylkill River Trail. We have completed preliminary research of the area on Google maps and through the Schuylkill River Trail area on city-data.com. The River Dawgz plan to follow President Teddy Roosevelt’s wise words of wisdom as they progress with the EACAP project, “Wildlife and its habitat cannot speak, so we must and we will.”