Tag Archives: Texas

coastal erosion, environmental volunteers, Robert Barossi, Texas

Volunteers Rebuild a Coastal Marsh

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P1000687Photo by Robert Barossi

by Robert Barossi

Up here in New England, coastal erosion is a major issue facing many area residents. There’s a long history of people developing and building too close to a coast that has been falling away for some time. In many places, the erosion is accelerating, accompanied by rising sea levels which pose a very real threat to many people and their homes and businesses, not to mention the non-human population. While numerous organizations are working to combat coastal erosion, it’s often volunteers who are working with those groups, doing much of the work, especially since the organizations can’t always hire as many full time staff members as they may want or need. Similarly, many miles away, in Corpus Christi, Texas, volunteers are playing a big part in a major project designed to rebuild a section of eroded coastline. Working with the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program, volunteers have been helping the cause by planting grasses and other vegetation. The article’s author (who is not named, as far as I can tell) ends with an excellent, if opinionated point, saying, “I figure the more diverse and far reaching the volunteer effort, the greater the sense of ownership the project will receive. Perhaps then, visitors will care enough not to trash it.”

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Austin, Austin Parks Foundation, environmental volunteers, Robert Barossi, San Antonio, Texas

Volunteers Clean Up Texas

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big-bend-113099_640(photo by David Mark, courtesy of Pixabay.com)

by Robert Barossi

I don’t often put two different stories in one blog post (maybe I should do that more often), but this morning I came across two great stories which happen to both be from the Lone Star State. The fact that they’re both in Texas is just one important similarity, though. Another is the fact that they both involve college students getting involved in major environmental volunteer efforts. While many volunteers are older, retired citizens, it’s vitally important to get younger people, the volunteers of the future, involved and get them involved at a young age. In Austin, college students are just a fraction of the estimated three thousand volunteers who will participate in It’s My Park Day. The annual event, led by the Austin Parks Foundation, is a city-wide effort to clean up all of Austin’s parks. Ladye Anne Wofford, programs director for the Foundation, says she hopes “students will discover more of Austin’s parks and join our volunteers who work to preserve and improve those parks year-round.” In another great Texas city, San Antonio, student volunteers were involved in a similar major cleanup effort. According to this story out of University of Texas, San Antonio, nearly 100 students were involved in an event designed to clean up the San Antonio watershed. The annual event, called the Basura Bash, was designed to clean local waterways and utilized the efforts of hundreds of community volunteers, including those from multiple environmentally-themed student organizations at UTSA.

If you enjoyed the stories on this blog, check out my eBook, Being Where You Are: How Environmental Volunteers Impact Their Community and the Planet Every Day

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environmental volulnteers, river cleanups, Robert Barossi, Uncategorized, wildlife rehabilitation

Places and People Change but the Story is the Same

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Creek(Photo by Robert Barossi)

by Robert Barossi

In many places, environmental volunteers are performing unusual and unique tasks. There are without question many different roles they can play and a wide range of things for them to do. On the other hand, many volunteers are doing the same kinds of things over and over again, in many different locations. While it would be nice to have problems end so that their work isn’t needed anymore, that just doesn’t happen. And when I’m looking for environmental stories, it’s typically the same kinds of stories I see over and over again. For example, this wildlife rehabilitation story out of Texas, so similar to the work being done by rehab volunteers around he world. Or it might be another great story of volunteers doing anything they can to clean up a local river or waterway, this one in Maryland. While it’s inspiring and exciting to see some of the more unusual and fascinating things environmental volunteers do, it’s important to remember the equally inspiring dedication and passion they bring to the same kinds of jobs, repeated over and over, wherever the work is necessary.