One of my Conservation Clubs was visited by a botanical artist a few weeks ago, so we took the 5th grade girls into a wooded creek area do nature drawings. They were quickly distracted by the litter. Late winter is trash season: among the fallen leaves and quickening stems lie a riotous profusion of styrofoam cups, plastic bags, and bottles with gross liquids in them.

The girls asked if we could come back and clean it up later. One student, impatient, did her best to clean it up now. As I helped her carry handfuls of trash back to the school, she asked if it mattered. There was so much trash we didn’t get. Even if we could get it all, people were sure to throw more.

On the spot, I fumbled my answer. But her questions stayed with me as I planned a litter collection day for this club. We did it yesterday, gathering three big bags of trash from the park and leaving so much more behind. Before we went out, though, we pulled on gloves and grabbed our trash bags and started with this prayer: