Service Learning in Tacony Creek Park

My name is Nicole Dubose and I organized a clean-up in Tacony Creek Park this month to fulfill a service learning requirement for an environmental science course that I’m taking. We’ve been learning about our ecological footprint, which inspired me to not be the cause of the problem but rather to be the solution. Even though we had the option to choose something other than cleaning the environment, I chose to organize this clean-up in Tacony-Creek Park because it’s in my neighborhood and I thought what better way to start making the world cleaner than to start with in my own community.

The goal of the clean-up was to collect any trash that is affecting the animals that live in the Tacony Creek Park and to protect the creek, which feeds the Delaware River, a source of drinking water for the City of Philadelphia.

It was surprising to see how much trash was in the park, which illustrates people’s disregard for the environment. The health of every organism that lives in the park depends on other plants and animals, and trash from humans makes it harder for these organisms to stay healthy.

During the clean-up, I really enjoyed seeing the plants and animals that I have been reading about in text books and discussing in group sessions. My favorite part of this event was when I noticed a huge tree that was growing horizontally. All the trees surrounding it were growing straight up to the sky, blocking sun light. So, it began to grow horizontally, stretching towards the trail just to get some sun.

This clean-up was my first time exploring Tacony Creek Park, and I look forward to enjoying this space in the future by jogging along the trail and taking my dog for a walk.