What is Clean Up The World Weekend? Simply put, it’s a weekend set aside for people to help clean up our world. More specifically, it’s a weekend for people to get together and clean up all the trash in our world. You can clean up the trash on a city block, in a park, at the beach, in a forest, in a parking lot, or anywhere else you can think of.

Once collected, or even while collecting, be sure to separate the recyclables from actual trash. If any of the items are in good enough condition, you could always use them for craft projects or find other ways to reuse and repurpose them.

In addition to the clean up portion of the weekend, cities around the world are holding events and activities to get people involved. This could range from tree planting, to guest speakers, to educational programs, and more.

To find out more about the big event and if there are any activities happening in your area, check out the official site here!

I will be cleaning up local hiking trails, parks and creeks. What will YOU be doing this weekend?

By Heidi Marshall

Image Source: Flickr. By: NewsHour.

The whole thing started on April 20th, when the Deepwater Horizon rig caught fire and eventually exploded. Right then should have been a clue that something bad (such as an oil spill) would follow. However, it wasn’t until 2 days later that anyone noticed oil was actually leaking from the rig or well—and up to 340,000 gallons of crude oil per day!

It is now May 12th—22 days since the explosion happened and 20 days since the leak was discovered, and still things do not seem to be getting any better. They actually seem to be getting worse! The dome plan did not work and as far as other news reports go, the spill is still spreading towards coastline and beaches. In fact, the spill has already started to wash up on the shores of some wildlife refuges, putting many habitats and thousands of animals at risk. Some animals, including Brown Pelicans and a Green Heron, have already fallen victim to the oil.

It’s hard to say what relief efforts are currently happening down there or how many people are involved, but if you want to help out, here is a list of websites and organizations to check out. Each of them offers information on how you can volunteer, donate, or help with the oil spill clean up in some way:

The Ocean Conservancy

Sierra Club

Environment Oregon

The Nature Conservancy

Save Our Seabirds

National Audubon Society

National Wildlife Federation

Emerald Coastkeeper

I also suggest checking out any other environmental website you may be a member of or interested in (such as Greenpeace), because they are quite likely to have information on the spill and possibly their own volunteer efforts available, too.

By Heidi Marshall