KIDS KEEP EYE ON FUTURE
Students trade playdates for clean-ups
STREAMS and lakes often fascinate young children, but now instead of finding tadpoles, yabbies and fish, Toowoomba watersides are often littered with trash, dead animals and discarded needles.
This was the sight that spurred Year 2 student Olivia Pattison-Kuhlewein and her friend Lulu Pack into action, the duo deciding to clean up Lake Annand and “save the animals”.
EIGHT-YEAR-OLD Olivia Pattison-Kuhlewein couldn’t help but notice the suffering of animals and water life on her weekly walks around Lake Annand, as rubbish tightened its grip on the waterway.
“I’ve seen so many dead animals there now, last time I was there I found a duck skeleton and before that there was a fish with a hole in its body,” Olivia said.
“I also took a video of how the pond was dried out, it looked like a junk-yard.
“It was the same at the weekend, there was yucky gunk everywhere - the ducks were trying to swim through it but couldn’t, they had to turn around and go back.”
Olivia said she felt compelled to act. Teaming up with classmate Lulu Pack, the pair forfeited their play-date for a supervised clean-up of Lake Annand.
“We filled a whole bag with rubbish in just under an hour,” Olivia said.
“There were bags, wrappers, mouldy bread, cardboard and even deflated balloons around the side. Every type of plastic you can imagine was floating in there.”
However, the presence of discarded needles made the process more difficult.
“We were concerned when they did the clean-up as we found some needles around the water,” Olivia’s mum Courtney Pattison-Kuhlewein said.
“The waterways are where our kids are meant to be playing and having fun.
“It’s exposing the children to the difficult concept of drugs and also the possibility of disease, of hepatitis and AIDS, just because people are not complying with general courtesy.”
Olivia and Lulu’s actions come at a time where children are taking a lead in environmental issues, the new generation trying to break the cycle of environmental problems.
The girls have big plans in the pipeline for future cleanups, both hoping to get more classmates on board.
“I would like to make a video to show to my principal, then maybe we can get the cleanups started at school,” Olivia said.
“I feel upset for the animals humans should take more care.
“Put gum in the bin so the birds don’t choke, don’t feed ducks bread and buy fruit without the wrapping”
Kitted with new gloves, Olivia said she would continue to clean-up Lake Annand this week.