Location: Grant Park
Date: Sunday, April 7, 2013; 8:30 am-1:30 pm
“What has four wheels and flies?” “A garbage truck of course”
“Now, what has three wheels and flies?”
Having done three projects in one day, I knew the challenges, especially the physical toll that
it takes. So I was aware of what was in
store this day as I rushed from one project to another with minimum
respite. Plus, I had come off of two
projects the previous day and knew that by the end of today I would be
exhausted. Despite that I was as excited
as anyone this Sunday morning and couldn't wait to get going. Wilson was also going to be present at all of
the three locations and had thus offered to drive me from one project to the other. The previous night he wrote an email
outlining where he would be and how we should contact each other after the
race. Wilson was representing the Red
Cross and was on standby for all emergencies.
He said he would drive me to our next location as long as certain things didn't happen. Then he went on to list the most awful calamities that may befall
us and which would have made Roland Emmerich proud. When I wrote back saying some of these were
unlikely to happen, he replied that one must always be prepared for the
worse. At least he hadn't put 'Alien
Invasion' as one of the causes for me missing out on a ride, though I’m sure he
has a plan for that as well!
 |
| My destination |
My first stop was a One
Brick event and our job was to be the members of the ‘Green Team’ at the post-race party at Chicago’s annual 8K race,
the ‘Shamrock Shuffle’. As a part of that, we would be assisting
finishers correctly recycle and compost products such as water bottles, beer
cups, banana peels and other food items.
This was an opportunity to help reduce the events carbon footprint. There was some confusion where I had signed
up for the event through One Brick and then we were informed that One Brick was
pulling out. This led to me applying for
the position as a Course Marshal and no sooner had I been accepted for that,
than One Brick informed us that we were back on. Nevertheless, as I left my building that
morning and started walking toward Grant Park, I could see many people clad in
green and decided to just follow the crowd.
I had underestimated the number of people that would show up and it
became clear as I approached Grant Park, that managing garbage for so many
people was going to be as challenging as anything I had done.
I had arrived on time, but had some difficulty in finding the location of our volunteer
tent. I reached there at the same time
as our Event Manager, Meghan. I
checked-in with her and soon other volunteers arrived, Gary – whom I knew by
now - Anne, Sylvia and Peter. We were
joined by our liaison at the race, who was also leading the ‘Green Team’. She handed out the green vests that we were
supposed to wear throughout the event, a jacket similar to what we see
construction workers wear on roadside projects.
She took us to the breakfast tent, where we picked up some granola bars
and coffee. She then gave us a cheat
sheet of what constitutes compost, recyclable material and garbage. Finally, we were given replacement compost
bags once the others were full. Armed
with all of this, our group started toward the Buckingham Fountain, where we
were to be stationed. On the way, Gary
mentioned that just the previous evening he had been at Millennium Park to
participate in a ‘Pillow Fight
Championship’. Yes, it is exactly
what it sounds like. I was curious on
how this would work and how a winner would be determined. Was it like a ‘Sumo Wrestling’ fight with a circle? Were we to use foam or feather
pillows? Could I get my NASA developed ‘Tempurpedic’ pillow which packs a
wallop? Whatever the rules, I think the world needs more eccentric events like these!
 |
| My job |
We arrived at the
fountain and they wanted us to spread out and position ourselves at each of the
garbage can locations. There was a
regular green container, a blue one for recyclable stuff and our compost bag, that needed to be stretched and fitted on its stand. It was a windy day and the compost bag kept
coming off. It would help to have
something in it as weight. I was
assigned to the north side of the fountain and had to manage 2 green, 2 blue
and 1 compost containers. That was a lot
to keep track of and really, my main objective was to keep the compost clean by
ensuring only organic stuff went in it. I
stationed myself and had my hands full with the wind and the flimsy compost
bag. However, the post-race activities
were starting and a lot of people were making their way to our area. This meant the garbage was staring to pile
up.
I started guiding the
people towards the right containers but wasn't successful all the time. Some asked where they should put their
garbage, some mistakenly put it in a wrong container and apologized; and some just didn't care. This was after all a party and
there’s nothing like day-drinking to get people going. With amount of traffic I was getting I tried
my best, but at the end of the day it was all damage control. Many times I had to fish things from the
compost bin and transfer to either trash or recycle. People kept coming and trash kept
piling. It was getting chilly and I
tried walking around. I checked on
Anne’s station and since she was the Event Coordinator, she took some pictures
of me standing next to the garbage cans.
Never thought that this day would come!
It was getting towards
the end of my shift and Wilson came and stood next to me. We talked about his morning with the Red
Cross and thankfully none of the things that he had mentioned in his email had actually
happened. They asked us to collect our
compost bags and deliver to a collection location. Our ‘Green
Team’ had done a commendable job and had collected plenty of bags of compost. This had been my first ‘environmental project’
and it had been a learning experience.
Today was a lesson in just how much garbage we generate, how careless we
can be. It takes all of us to take care
of our planet and every little bit helps.
Sure, sometimes it may cause us some discomfort, but future generations
are sure to thank us for our efforts.
The other day I was walking through the lobby of my office building and
two women were accepting pledges for people to follow the ‘Earth Hour’. What that
meant was that on Saturday the 23rd of March, at exactly 8 pm, you were
to switch off all the lights in your residence for one hour. They were persuading for me to sign up and even gave
me ideas on what I could do. I said that
I was definitely going to participate and was prepared to sit in the dark for
an hour and try not use any power. They
said that I didn't need to do that and I could just leave and go to a pub. I shook my head and said, “If I do that, it wouldn't be much of a
sacrifice then would it?”
“No, really. What has three wheels and flies?” “Why, a plane, silly.”
“Thank you ladies and gentleman, I will be
playing here all weekend.”
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