How you can Adopt A Waterway and help the environment!

Photo Credit: Professor Tanya Stanley

While driving, have you ever noticed the large waterways that run parallel to the roads?  These are usually large swampy areas with a lot of wildlife.  We drive past these large areas daily and throw litter out of our car windows, thinking nothing of the harm we are doing to the environment.  A waterway is a spill off for the storm water, most of which flows into Galveston Bay.  This litter we are throwing will eventually end up in the water we so enjoy on the beaches of Galveston.  Litter can be devastating to the wildlife in the area because the animals can get caught in it or try to eat it.  What can we do to help?  The City of Pasadena has created a program called Adopt-A-Waterway.  The program allows you to pick one waterway in the city that you help to clean up and take care of and in return the city will put up a sign with your name on it.  Getting involved is a great way to teach your children about wildlife and also how litter can contaminate our water sources.

In Kelly Millicent's "Beyond Classroom Borders" she mentions collaborative learning for the adult student.  This approach to learning makes adult students venture away from the classroom and into a public setting with each other.  The majority of adults learn by doing, and this method is widely accepted to help promote students into activities outside of the classroom, all the while learning about the subject the teacher provides.

Adult students so often are provided with the assignment by the professor, then left on their own to find the correct organization to complete the task assigned.  This method of learning is excellent for adult students, it promotes a hands-on approach to the project and assignment, instead of just reading from a book in class.  The more involved students become in an assignment, and the more hands on the project, the more interesting it can be.  Adults often learn more with this approach and can pass on this knowledge to future generations.

Photo Credit: Professor Tanya Stanley

On November 21, 2016, our class will be gathering at the waterway adopted by our professor Tanya Stanley.  This waterway is on Cunningham Drive in Pasadena and is located on the property by the San Jacinto College Central Campus.  We will be gathering at this location from 9:00 am to 11:00 am. By joining, you will be helping us to clean up the grounds at the school.  By cleaning up the waterway, you will also be helping the eco-system and wildlife that live on our school grounds.  We would love for you to join us to learn more about the Adopt-A-Waterway program.

Learning about the waterway is one step to getting involved.  Why not go ahead and adopt this waterway yourself?  By getting involved, it is easy gathering others to assist you to keep this waterway clean.  The waterway runs from Center Street to Cunningham Drive in Pasadena.  As you can see from the picture below, it is a beautiful area that desperately needs to be kept clean for our environment.  Just think of all the chemical plants and other disastrous elements in the city of Pasadena that hurt our environment.  By adopting this waterway, you are taking a big step to assist our eco-system and keep the area by the school clean, and because this is a run-off, you will also be keeping Galveston Bay clean.

The Adopt-A-Waterway program by the City of Pasadena is a wonderful program.  By adopting a waterway, you are helping to keep this area clean.  Litter is so harmful to our environment.  You would not be the only one benefitting from this, just think of all the birds, turtles, ducks and other wildlife that live in the area.  By adopting any waterway, you are creating a safer home for them.  Getting involved takes so little time, but is a commitment we all must make in one way or another to keep our city beautiful.  The environment cannot sustain itself if we continue to litter and drive by without caring what harm we are doing.  We all need to join together to keep this world a beautiful place for our future generations.