World Rivers Day, observed on Sunday, Sept. 28, will bring nearly 200 Jewish, Muslim, and Christian volunteers organized by Georgia Interfaith Power and Light (GIPL) to clean up four access points of the Peachtree Creek watershed in Atlanta, Decatur, and Brookhaven.
Dozens of adults and kids will be on hand to pick up household trash, tires, electronics, and more at Mason Mill Park, Clyde Shepherd Nature Preserve, Peachtree Creek Greenway, and Armand Park. Across the world, millions of people in more than 100 countries are expected to participate this year, the 20th anniversary of World Rivers Day.
With GIPL at the helm in metro Atlanta, the nonprofit organization is committed to engaging faith communities to organize, implement, and advocate on issues of climate change, environmental justice, and community resilience.
Preventing trash from entering streams and waterways cuts back on toxic pollution, according to GIPL.
“We tell participants they have power to make an impact in the state of Georgia,” said GIPL Program Coordinator Meagan Williams.
World Rivers Day falls during two religions’ observances. The Jewish community is celebrating the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah (the new year) on Sept. 23 and Yom Kippur (the day of atonement) on Oct. 2, while the Ismaili Muslim community on Sept. 28 is marking Global Ismaili Civic Day, a worldwide demonstration of the Ismailis’ commitment to civic service.
In the Jewish faith, a ritual casting of sins into water between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is called tashlich (pronounced tash-leek). A newer practiced coined reverse tashlich has emerged in the Jewish environmental movement as a response to the abundance of trash in waterways. Reverse tashlich is the removal of human-made trash from streams, rivers and oceans.
Williams said the act of cleaning up waterways in metro Atlanta began several years ago when GIPL partnered with Ismailis and The Episcopal Church of the Epiphany. Now, GIPL has extended the partnership to Adamah Atlanta, a Jewish environmental advocacy group.
GIPL frequently brings teen volunteers from churches and synagogues to clean up waterways at Mason Mill and Peachtree Creek Greenway. Williams said unusual items found in the past include a bowling ball, electronics, and tires, which are hard to excavate because they fill up with wet dirt and sand.
“[The teens] are always surprised how you can clean up for an hour and get over 100 pounds of trash. Every time. You don’t realize how much pollution gets into our waterways,” said Williams. “You don’t have to get in the water to pick up trash, and they learn that between rain and runoff, pollution will end up in our waterways.”
It’s the tangible action that volunteers are drawn to, said Williams.
“By making an immediate impact, they feel empowered. They’re making a difference, like physically pulling a tire out of the mud for 30 mins, and they’re not giving up,” said Williams.
Peachtree Creek Greenway had a trash trap installed in July. Managed by the City of Brookhaven and Chattahoochee Riverkeepers, the trash trap has collected 400 pounds of trash – enough to fill approximately 12 shopping carts – in less than 3 months.
At the first emptying of the trap, the City of Brookhaven reported 149 pounds of garbage were sent to the landfill and 27 pounds of recycling, mostly plastic and aluminum, were taken to the Center for Hard to Recycle Materials (CHaRM) in Atlanta.
“Atlanta is situated at the top of several watersheds, so GIPL’s work to remove trash from waterways has a larger impact on watersheds, affecting the area’s humans and animals,” said Williams.
According to a 2022 report by Environment Georgia, the state ranks 13th for most polluted water in the United States. Over the last five years, Rivers Alive, a program of the Georgia Environmental Protection division, has removed more than two million pounds of garbage across the state. Unsafe contaminants detrimentally impact the health of plants and animals, including humans, who depend on clean water for food, drinking, and recreation.