Tuesdays for Trash: a community-empowering climate movement
- theearthyouthproject
- Sep 19, 2020
- 6 min read
Meet Sharona and Wanda. Two amazing girls who connected through a common interest in Climate action and environmental activism, and wanted to do more in their communities. They founded while quarantined Tuesdays for Trash, a movement based on the idea that every single Tuesday anyone can go out for a walk by themselves or with their friends to pick up trash.
It has already got worldwide attention, and the movement is growing with more and more people starting to learn more about the disastrous effects of plastic and waste pollution and coming together to advocate for the climate and for positive change. We had the pleasure of speaking with them and learning what inspired them to create the movement.Their story is linked to SGS number 13, Climate Action, and 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities.
Conchita Fraguas (CF): How did this movement begin? What’s the story behind it?
Sharona (S): Wanda and I first met at work, we both work at an apparel store in Portland, US. We were going to the same school at the time but had never run into each other on campus before. During quarantine, we started talking on Instagram, had things to share and ideas to talk about so Wanda recommended we facetime and we realised how much we clicked and wanted to hang out in person.
Wanda (W): We wanted to be mindful of the pandemic, so then I was like “maybe we should go pick up trash one day”, it’s easy to social distance and it can be just around our campus, very chill. Our campus is so dirty, so we filled up a whole bag and then we were like “this is so easy” and we had a great time, but we also felt like it was a nice way to give back to our community, so we thought about doing it every week. And then we were like: “what if EVERYONE did this every week?”
CF: That’s amazing. Had you done any activism before, or was it something that you both were always passionate about?
S: I’ve always had an environmental focus growing up. But it wasn’t till about two years ago after watching one of Greta’s speeches at the UN that I realised how serious the problem was, that I needed to be doing something. Before co-creating Tuesdays for Trash, I did some environmental activism where I would lobby at our state capitol about clean energy jobs and attended lots of climate strikes. And in my personal life I would recommend other people to switch to more sustainable habits.
Once you start thinking about it, it becomes all that you think about. Ever since I started being an environmental activist, I wake up in the morning and I think about how I’m going to save the world today and I go to bed thinking about the same thing. Because it’s our future, everything and anything that we do, wherever you go, the Earth is around us, so Climate activism is definitely a catapulting force that just pushes you towards more action.
"Once you start thinking about it, it becomes all that you think about. Ever since I started being an environmental activist, I wake up in the morning and I think about how I’m going to save the world today ... Climate activism is definitely a catapulting force that just pushes you towards more action."
W: I on the other hand was a bit more low-key. I attended the Dakota pipeline protest back in 2016, and it was a moment that really opened my eyes. I was active in protests for that, and also wrote an article online about it. I feel that [advocating for Climate Change] had always been in the back of my mind, but meeting Sharona and hearing how passionate she was, and co-creating Tuesdays for Trash, it’s like everything came together. Sharona actually was in a lot of initiatives to make our workplace more sustainable, and it opened my eyes [to the work that’s needed] and seeing her [inspired me] and fueled my passion to make a change.
CF: Do you feel that climate activism has helped you be active in other aspects in your community, in regards to inequality, or voicing the values that you treasure and want to stand up for?
S: Absolutely. One thing about [climate] activism is that it encompasses everything; it’s racial justice, it’s social justice, it’s humanitarian justice- the climate is everything in our world. So I think it’s easy to integrate other social justice issues; movements such as Black Lives Matter- it’s definitely opened my eyes to the people in the front lines and those most affected by climate change tend to be people of colour, and how those people’s voices have to be at the forefront of decision making and climate policy introduction and implementation.
W: Just starting the movement, us two together as young females, we have learned so much about grassroots action, how to organise events, run a social media platform…this movement has encouraged us to do so much more in our community. At one of our last events we were able to set up a table to register people to vote, and we got to give food to the homeless… and all of these together create great change from this movement.
“I feel that [climate activism] had always been in the back of my mind… meeting Sharona and hearing how passionate she was, and co-creating Tuesdays for Trash… it opened my eyes and seeing her [inspired me] and fuelled my passion to make a change."
CF: Tuesdays for Trash involves a simple yet brilliant idea: so it’s every Tuesday, wherever you are in the world, and obviously maintaining the latest Covid precautions due to the pandemic, one can just go by themselves or with their friends social distancing they can pick up trash in their local areas. Anything you would like to add?
S: Yes, exactly. We just encourage you to go by yourself or with your friends to go out and make that mental decision to take care of the planet. And mainly, what we are trying to get people to realise is that individual action is just as important as community action, because if every individual around the world is doing it then we can achieve this one great community of people advocating for the climate.
CF: What has been the response so far from worldwide communities to the movement that you have created?
W: The response has been so great. Every time we would explain the idea to people, they were like “how do you say no to this?” It’s such a simple concept, it’s so easy to do and for people to get behind. And every time someone would believe in us, like our boss at work, our friends, our family… and then activist Nikki Reed sharing our movement video… It’s so nice to see and so crazy how far everything has come! And we are so passionate and driven about it, which I feel people have recognised.
“You start wanting to make a difference that is above picking up trash, because you realise that your simple actions can actually change your communities. So it’s actually kind of like a ripple effect that we’ve seen when people start getting involved with us.”
S: I think when you put genuine passion and energy into something, people can really see that, and from the work that we’ve done in such a short amount of time, with such a focus and wanting to connect with other people, it has made a big difference. And the people that pick up trash with us, what I’ve noticed is that the idea becomes ingrained in their brains and they start noticing trash everywhere, and just being more aware of the scale of the problem. And you start wanting to make a difference that is above picking up trash, because you realise that your simple actions can actually change your communities. So it’s actually kind of like a ripple effect that we’ve seen when people start getting involved with us.
CF: Do you have any future plans that you would like to integrate in Tuesdays for Trash?
S: One major goal would be to have community organisers and leads that could host local clean-up events all around the world. But, with covid and also taking into account how early this movement is, it’s a bit difficult to do that now. What we want to showcase with our movement is that it’s not just about trash, it’s about our Earth and also the people that encompass it. We are educated enough to know that when you throw PPE into the ground, it ends up in the ocean, affects marine mammals …. The more connected people start feeling to us and the movement the more hurt they feel by it, pushing them to do something.
You can follow Tuesdays for Trash and learn all about the movement and taking part! Instagram- @tuesdaysfortrash
Email- tuesdaysfortrash@gmail.com
Website- https://tuesdaysfortrash.com/
Their upcoming events are in Portland, US but they are also working on a global virtual "trash dash" running event in collaboration with the organisation DirtBag Runners. This event will take place in mid-October, so keep an eye on their socials for further news!
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