My interest in sustainability started when I was five years old and on a six month trip to Denmark. Specifically, I was mesmerized by the wind turbines that dotted the landscape and provided a significant proportion of the country’s electricity output. I have not looked back since then. As time went on, I expanded the scope of my sustainability research—from the dynamics of recycling to the debate surrounding nuclear energy. Through Scouting, I was able to take put my love for sustainability into practice by participating in multiple large-scale projects that helped local communities become more sustainable. In the future, I aim to continue learning more about sustainability and also do my small part to help make the world more sustainable.
Highlights from my Sustainability Volunteering
Habitat Restoration
On a Saturday morning at Abalone Cove, Palos Verdes, I volunteered for three hours with the Palos Verdes Land Conservancy to conduct habitat restoration. For this day’s work, we uprooted invasive plants so we could protect native plants. This time I faced the added complexity of having the presence of very small, young native plants that I had to carefully avoid as I went about uprooting invasive plants. Still, I loved the challenge and the fact that I was making a real difference in my community. The combination of the beautiful morning, satisfying work, and excellent view made this volunteer session one to remember.
Trail Management
On a Saturday in 2022, I volunteered at the Palos Verdes Land Conservancy, with a task slightly different from what I was used to: instead of getting rid of invasive species, we would be creating “barriers” to block off unwanted spur trails. To my surprise, it turned out that the barriers that we used as barriers were cacti! Once the work session started, we jumped into action planting cacti at the sides of a popular trail to prevent people from intentionally going off the trail where they could damage the natural habitat. We also used another more interesting blocking method in areas where cacti-planting was difficult: We used dead bushes to block the spur trails, and then we placed small pieces of cacti in the bushes so anyone who went off trail would get cacti stuck to them! This volunteer activity was particularly engaging, mainly because our progress was especially tangible. It was clear when we successfully blocked off an unwanted trail, and it was easy to visualize the positive impact our effort had on the area.
Day with the Land Conservancy and Live Steamers
On a bright summer day in 2022, I participated in two major service projects. The first one was a conservation service event with the Palos Verdes Land Conservancy where we conducted invasive species management on the peninsula. We carried out the work in two main phases. Firstly, we went into an area away from the main paths to clear invasive plants. Here, the difficultly largely stemmed from distinguishing invasive plants from native plants and also making sure that young native plants were not being removed. Secondly, we went to a different area to clear out mature and tough weeds. Here, the difficulty lay in physically removing the plants! Overall, the work we did on this day made a small but meaningful dent in the invasive species that have rapidly spread around the peninsula.
The second service event I participated in was an Eagle Scout project at the Southern California Live Steamers that one of my fellow scouts ran. This project was focused on refurbishing a community area in the miniature railroad club. We installed new tiles, built gravel beds, and finally unloaded gravel onto the beds. By the time I left, the community area looked so different and so much better!