Friday, Nov. 3, ETSU students came together to pick up litter that had fallen into the creek right outside of campus behind Cootie Browns.

From geoscience students to environmental health majors, ETSU students came together to take care of the beautiful earth we love. With the beautiful weather outside, students gave up their afternoons to be in waders with litter pickers. Whether it was for extra credit in a class, or just because they wanted to be out there, the support was beautiful to see.

“This is a super partnership, we’re partnering with the Department of Geosciences, the geosciences club, sustainability, facilities, and then the Boone Watership Partnership which is a community organization that works with multiple partners to try to identify water resource issues and then address those issues,” Ingrid Luffman, geosciences professor at ETSU, shared.

It’s always encouraging to see the community come together to tackle issues, whether it be clean water, or anything else. So often we hear people say there is no planet B, encouraging us to take care of the beautiful planet that we live in.

Photo of Brush Creek with high water levels. (Contributed/Ingrid Luffman)

Luffman encouraged others to take action with the issues around them stating, “Have you ever heard the phrase; somebody should do something about that? … so that somebody is me and you. So maybe one of the lessons that I’ve learned while doing this thing is that I can make a difference, just me doing my thing in how I choose to live my life and how I choose to spend my time.”

While you may not be a geoscience major or work with sustainability, there are so many ways that you can take action to contribute to the overall health of our beautiful town, region and world. It could be picking up the trash you see on the side of the street or possibly encouraging others to be more conscious of their choices.

Needless to say, change can start with you.

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