Lögberg-Heimskringla - 17.11.1989, Síða 3

Lögberg - Heimskringla • Föstudagur 17. nóvember 1989 • 3
Joan Eyolfson Cadham has contributed a
number of articles for publication in Lögberg-
Heimskringla. Recently, she won a place in and
a copy of The Latest Morningside Papers for a
piece that talked, in part, about her lcelandic
roots, and which she entered in a Sentimental
Journey essay contest last fall. In the spring,
Peter Gzowski, the host of CBC Radio's
Morningside, read another bit ofher nostalgia,
this time about crocuses.
Joan is presently collaborating on A Cana-
dian Book of Days with a Canadian Authors'
Association friend of hers, Harvey Grossman.
Joan objects to the domination of the Ameri-
can Thanksgiving celebration, and since she
had discovered through Harvey's research that
Thanksgiving was celebrated in Canada first,
she wrote Gzowski a piece which she thought
he might read on his show. Instead, she was
asked to do a live telephone interview on
Thanksgiving morning, much to her delight.
Feeling Responsible
by Joan
Eyolfson
Cadham
“People treat nature like a giant
garbage can,” says Ruth Anne
Chisholm, B PHE, member of the
Icelandic Canadian Club of
Toronto, organizer of a one-day
canoeing event that concentrated
on cleaning up a little portion of
the banks of the Credit River just
west of Toronto. “People see pol-
lution in the context that it’s ál-
ways someone else’s garbage.
Maybe if they felt responsible for the en-
vironment they’d treat public areas like
they do their own back yards. Picking
up garbage is a symbolic gesture that
says: This is my world I live in. I am
responsible.”
During a three-hour paddle under the
leadership of Chisholm, a recent gradu-
atefromtheUniversityofToronto’sPhysi-
cal Educatíon and Health program, eight
people loaded four canoes with 10 sacks
ofgarbage.
“My main objectíve was to show people
that they could personally help preserve
our natural water playgroimd,” said Chish-
olm who stresses that, “I needed to be
really clear about my
purpose.”
Decide whether you are
offering pure recreation
or a challenge before you
begin to organize an out-
ing, she says. She consid-
ered her optíons: environ-
mental studies, clean up,
or the teaching of tech-
niques. “How much could
I mix the different objec-
tives and what was I
competent to organize so
that the event would be a
success for partícipants
and for me?” she asked
herself.
“I realized that, while I
can navigate white water,
Top Photo courtesy Jim Dayin: "I can handle white water but l'm not competent to lead a white water expedition". Ruth Anne
Chisholm, doing white water. Photo Above Right courtesy Ruth Anne Chisholm: Canoes coming in. Bringing in the garbage.
Environmental Health Project, Credit River, west of Toronto. Photo Above Left: Cindy Elliott and Ruth Anne Chisholm (in life jacket)
with some of the "haul" fromthe Environmental Health Project.
I am not competent to lead a white water
expedition,” she said. “I settled on a two-
fold objectíve: to show people that they
could make a personal difference to the
environment and to introduce weekend
couch potatoes to the joys of an active
rather than a passive recreatíon, specifi-
cally to the pleasures of canoeing.” The
final group ranged in age from 20 to 30
with some experienced paddlers to bal-
ance the complete novices.
“Because some of them had never ca-
noed, I had a responsibility to plan an easy
trip. I didn’t want people in over their
heads and I concentrated on the rule about
planning the trip to the weakest member, ”
she said. “I wanted to inspire, not terrify.”
Chisholm said that, in the begiiming,
she didn’t know what she was doing. “I’m
stubbom,” she said. She learned quickly.
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She kept the group small for safety and
simplicity. She did all the organizing.
“People like things easy,” she said. “I was
out to encourage them to leam to spend
their free tíme away from a television set.
All they had to wony about was bringing
a lunch and wearing old clothes.”
A big consideratíon was locatíon. “We
needed a location that was used by
people so that we would be doing some
good and I knew that any area used by
people would be dirty. Research was
important. Some river banks are privately
owned and we were out to clean some-
thing that has public access.”
The final decision regarding the exact
locatíon was made three days before the
trip date, to allow for changing water lev-
els.
“I made three million phone calls,”
Chisholm said. “Because I didn’t know
much, I went to the Ministry of Natural
Resources for informatíon. The bureau-
crats laughed at me, then they played tele-
phone tag. I gave up on them and tried the
Wilderness Canoe Associatíon, and got
wonderful treatment.”
Chisholm created a party atmosphere
for the Credit River clean up. Partícipants
got official scarves and stickers and song
sheets for two traditional French Cana-
dian voyageur songs. They travelled tan-
dem in canoes, armed with green gar-
bage bags.
“Party or not, it was really dirty work,”
Chisholm said. “It was muddy on the
banks, allrottenmuddy, smelly and slimy.
Things weren’t decomposing because the
stuff we found does not decompose.” The
group gathered up lawn fumiture, old
shoes, a can of beans, beer and pop cans,
mounds of styrofoam fast-food containers
and plastic bags, potentially the most
dangerous debris. If geese eat them they
starve to death because, after they eat
plastic, they can’t digest anything else.”
Was the outing a success?
Chisholm emphasized the need for
press coverage. “Only a few people can
partícipate,” she said. “You need to reach
as many people as possible, including the
non-conservationists and the non-canoe-
ists.” She recommended calling local
newspapers and radio stations and
freelance writers with contacts at general
interest magazines. National networks,
she said, ignore ventures they consider
too small. “They promise to come then
simply don’t show,” she said.
Chisholm felt the day met her objec-
tíves. The participants asked for more
trips and other types of canoeing experi-
ences. They became a little more aware of
Canada’s ecological problems. The group
got some press coverage.
“Most importantly, the extensive litter
made all of us more aware of the diminish-
ing wildemess and the need for a con-
certed effortto preserve Canada’s natural
water playground,” she said.
Chisholm felt the outíng met her needs,
too.
“I feel very strongly that everyone has a
mission and that introducing people to
the world around them is part of mine,”
she said. “Organizing took a lot of time
and energy. But when I most wanted to
give up, I would think of how much work
I had already done. And, yes, I made a
difference in the lives of the people who
came out. I had a lot of help and guidance
but I was the one who tied it all together.
And that’s a good feeling.”