((TITLE)) REJUVENATING URBAN FORESTS
((TRT: 07:22))
((Producer/Camera/Editor: Linus Manchester))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((Main characters: 0 female; 1 male))
((Sub characters: 0 female; 1 male))
((Blurb: Nathan Harrington is a Washington, DC resident and nature lover. His nonprofit organization, Ward 8 Woods, strives to rejuvenate urban forests through picking up trash and combatting invasive species.))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Nathan Harrington
Founder/Executive Director, Ward 8 Woods))
I was born in D.C. I’ve always been sort of an outdoorsman. I've always liked the woods. One of the things I love about Ward 8 is that we have a lot of green space. But as I explored them, I saw that they were really marred by trash.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Nathan Harrington
Founder/Executive Director, Ward 8 Woods))
I was looking for ways to kind of contribute my energy to improve the community.
I'm Nathan Harrington, and I'm founder and executive director of Ward 8 Woods Conservancy.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Nathan Harrington
Founder/Executive Director, Ward 8 Woods))
Here in the Ward 8 section of Washington, D.C., it's the side of Washington, D.C., that is historically most neglected and segregated. In these neighborhoods, we have a lot of people who want to work but have trouble getting and keeping employment because of things like lack of education and credentials.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Nathan Harrington
Founder/Executive Director, Ward 8 Woods))
Wealthier, more affluent areas tend to have good systems for making sure that trash is sort of organized and controlled and taken away in a way where people don't have to see it. But in lower income areas, not just here but around the world, the systems and structures for dealing with trash are not as well executed. And so, the trash ends up in places where it's visible and where it does really concrete harm to people. So, we were trying to wed this overwhelming amount of work that needs doing to all these people who need work.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Nathan Harrington
Founder/Executive Director, Ward 8 Woods))
Tires are one of the top items that gets illegally dumped, and that's because they are inconvenient and expensive to dispose of legally. If you want to dispose of them, they charge per tire. And there's basically no local facilities that accept them. So, people are saving time and money by dumping them illegally here.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Nathan Harrington
Founder/Executive Director, Ward 8 Woods))
People basically throw in the woods like anything that you can think of that someone might own and then not want anymore. We've got some toilets. This is sort of cool. It’s an old cassette tape that had a plant growing through it. Somebody must have shot this like out West, and then paid to have it taxidermied and mounted, and at some later date, they didn't want it anymore, so they chucked it in the woods. These are not by any means all of the toys that I've found. Finders keepers. If it's out there, then you can have it.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Nathan Harrington
Founder/Executive Director, Ward 8 Woods))
We have a couple of trails that we're trying to renovate and activate, getting more people out there using them. And then, we have a lot of land that is public land. Theoretically, anybody can go there, but in practice, nobody really does because there's no access. There's no trails.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Nathan Harrington
Founder/Executive Director, Ward 8 Woods))
This is one of the parklands that doesn't have any trails, doesn’t have any signs. It’s just here. So, you know, this is very beautiful and there's thousands of people who live within a short walk of here. So, I think it's kind of a travesty that not many people do come out here.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Nathan Harrington
Founder/Executive Director, Ward 8 Woods))
Because of invasive species, we have thousands of trees that have already died. So, we really need to attack those vines if we're still going to have a forest.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((John S.
Park Steward, Ward 8 Woods))
I've been working with Nate for about 14 months now. Just knowing him, he's a very outgoing person, and yeah, you'll get into this type of work.
((NATS))
((John S.
Park Steward, Ward 8 Woods))
We don't want it to grow back.
((NATS))
((John S.
Park Steward, Ward 8 Woods))
We just try our best to keep the parks and trails clean.
((NATS))
((Nathan Harrington
Founder/Executive Director, Ward 8 Woods))
As an economy, we produce a lot of trash that is essentially used once, used very briefly, and then thrown away, not taking into account the fact that, what is away? Where is it actually going? The planet has finite space and everything within it is connected. So, when you're sending stuff away, it still has to go somewhere. ((NATS/MUSIC))
((Nathan Harrington
Founder/Executive Director, Ward 8 Woods))
You can see where every time there’s a big rain, trash gets washed down here and it gets caught. So, this is almost like a natural trash trap.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Nathan Harrington
Founder/Executive Director, Ward 8 Woods))
In the last four and a half years, we've removed more than a million pounds of trash. My greatest hope is that we can kind of turn the corner on trash and invasive species and maintaining urban forests. The ambition is to get people out in the forests and enjoying them, and deriving all the benefits that people get from being physically active and outside.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((John S.
Park Steward, Ward 8 Woods))
Coming out here is a stress reliever. I clear my mind. I can think. I can breathe nature. That's why we go so hard about keeping it clean, because we’d be out here. It’s really important. ((NATS/MUSIC))
((Nathan Harrington
Founder/Executive Director, Ward 8 Woods))
Definitely my mental health has improved a lot since I started doing this. Being outside and in close contact with nature gives me this sort of reservoir of calm and strength that I can deal, to help me cope with everything else that happens.
((NATS/MUSIC))