TOGETHER

Written by Adam Greenberg

Photos courtesy of Adam Greenberg, James Sharp, Amy Badenhorst and Lianne Bronzo

With summer here, my girlfriend, Lianne, and I have taken up strolling through our neighborhood. The cool night sky is a welcome respite from the sweaty humidity of an afternoon in the classroom.

A walk around the block is nice – but the litter…we could not NOT notice all the litter in our neighborhood. We found ourselves glaring down at wayward trash rather than taking in the last of the evening sun’s red-orange glare.

We did not intend to start picking up litter, but as we walked, it became impossible not to.

So we turned around, went back inside, up five flights of stairs, got two plastic bags and only one pair of gloves – sharing one opposite hand each – and went back outside.

AND SO WE STARTED TO #CLEANGWANGJU

#CleanGwangju is a volunteer campaign encouraging all Gwangju residents (you, dear reader) to individually serve a small, though collectively important, role in respecting our city.

JOIN US

Don your favorite pair of garbage collecting gloves, grab a bag and your trusty tongs (if you have them), and head out on a leisurely walk to pick up some litter around your block. Please use discretion and dispose of all trash appropriately. (See Gwangju’s guidelines for waste disposal at http://guidelines.CleanGwangju.org.)

You might be surprised with how quickly you fill a bag and how good you feel afterward. Even if it is only for 10 minutes, your example can be one for others.

Take a photo of the reclaimed litter and tag it with #CleanGwangju on social media. If you use Instagram, your photo will be added to our digital landfill at http://CleanGwangju.org, which displays all the litter that NO LONGER blots our beautiful streets. We invite you to join the discussion in our Facebook group at http://facebook.CleanGwangju.org.

WHY?

Well, why not? WE LIVE HERE.

And no matter for how long or short that time might be, as foreigners and Koreans together, we respect our city. Gwangju is no place for litter.

Drawing attention to our trash problem is one small thing we each can do, to not simply complain nor cast our City
of Light in a negative one, but, in fact, do the complete opposite: to support and rekindle that light burning in the torch we hold high, called Gwangju. Sometimes we all just need a gentle reminder and nudge forward from our friends.

Still, recognizing a multitude of factors, economic and political among them, waste management is clearly a complicated issue here. We are not going to clean all the litter from every street. But maybe someone will think twice the next time he or she considers littering, a blank stare clearly asking, “Why is this guy picking up trash?”

It seems some people never consider that they could simply bend down, pick up some litter too, and be part of a solution. They can be just like YOU.

I cannot speak great Korean, but one night a woman stopped to say “Go-ma-wo-yo” to us. She said some other things that I did not understand, but “thank you” was enough.

More often than not, however, people will not say “thank you.” They probably will not even acknowledge you. So allow me to acknowledge you right now, thank you.

TAKE THE PLEDGE

Sign on at http://CleanGwangju.org.

Instagram: #CleanGwangju

What would Gwangju look like if every one of us took just 10 minutes to pick up some litter?