U.Va. Sustainability led an Earth Day effort to clean the stream beneath Beta Bridge Saturday. More than 40 volunteers armed with trash bags and grabbers hiked along the stream below the bridge, collecting garbage and hoping to protect the ecology beneath the bridge.
U.Va. Sustainability is an organization aiming to promote the wellbeing of the community and advance sustainability efforts on Grounds, addressing local and global challenges.
A locus of artistic expression and one of the most notable landmarks on Grounds, Beta Bridge is heavily trafficked by students. Because of its centrality, the bridge has become an accessible place for pedestrians to drop trash from the bridge onto the train tracks and stream below.
“It's hugely important to engage students in this process, so that we can become more mindful of our environmental impact when we're crossing Beta Bridge or walking down Chancellor Street on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings,” Brian Cameron, a second-year College student and Office of Sustainability employee who helped organize the event, said. “It's easy to just toss your trash down onto the railroad, but I doubt that anyone who seriously thinks about their impact would agree that it's right.”
Typically, paint, trash and even furniture can be found in the stream, and over the years, the accumulation of debris and garbage has resulted in environmental costs to the Beta Bridge stream and its ecosystem.
Over the course of a few hours, the volunteers collected dozens of bags of trash and recycling.
“There are immediate ecological benefits to cleaning hundreds of yards of the railroad,” Cameron said. “This is an area where infrastructure runs right against the natural home for many animals and critters, so it's important that we steward this space.”
The lead student organizers of the event — Cameron and Sydney Applegate, second-year Engineering student and a student employee of the Office of Sustainability — were extremely encouraged by the interest shown by the sheer amount of students willing to help in the effort.
“We were very fortunate that people were so excited about it, and the word got out,” Applegate said. “We had to roll with it because we had so many volunteers. It was a great feeling.”
In order to run the event, U.Va. Sustainability collaborated with the Dawson Garrod, chair of Water Working Group and a civil engineer for University Facilities Management.
Other partnerships were also instrumental in making the event possible. Buckingham Branch Railroad halted the train line to allow for safe clean-up, Westminster Presbyterian Church provided space for the event, Madison House contributed many volunteers and University Recycling collected the bags of trash and recycling after clean-up concluded.
“I think this event was hugely successful,” Cameron said.
U.Va. Sustainability has similar events almost weekly. In a few weeks, the group is hosting Hoos Reuse, an annual donation drive collecting gently used items during move-out season. In addition, there are a few similar clean-up programs in Charlottesville over the summer.
“If you're here over the summer, you can volunteer with the Rivanna River Association, because they have stream clean-ups every Friday,” Applegate said.
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