A change that I want to see in my community specifically is a place that's more sanitary, clean, and a more beautiful environment. The reason I say this is because of the amount of litter and garbage that gets bundled up around New York, as well as the use of many non-natural foods that are served to the common people.
What many don't realize, is that when garbage tends to build up, many blockades are created. This causes direct consequences, such as during rainfall, water is not able to enter the sewers, causing it to flood areas where there is more trash buildup. When flooding occurs, water can buildup to dangerous height levels, also sometimes causing basements to get flooded with the amount of water trying to go through the sewers. This creates a long chain of effect where a simple garbage buildup can lead to the endangerment of many lives, especially with how unaware people are of this.
One other problem that I would like to address is the use of GMOs in our society. GMOs stands for Genetically Modified Organisms, simply meaning that many animals and plants that are used in our daily lives are not naturally created. These organisms are usually injected with chemicals that force them to produce more of a quantity, which is both morbid and unhealthy for the many Americans who continuously eat it without knowing where it originally came from. Many Americans who have seen the truth of this are usually mortified by the videos of this posted on the web, fighting for change, so I simply want to raise awareness for these types of subjects.
Now you're probably wondering, how have I helped our society then? Well, let me talk about my experiences. During my first two summer jobs, I've applied under the RDRC (Rockaway Development & Revitalization Corporation). The RDRC gives summer internships to many students between the ages of 16-24 who are looking for ways to improve their community as well as getting paid for it on the side. With the RDRC, in the year of 2018, I've contributed to trash pickup for an entire 2 months, helping to clean up the major amounts of waste that is usually left around. As I was working to pick up waste, many people who walked by gave their appreciation to me as I gladly thanked them and got more motivated to continue picking up waste.
My second job, which I applied for in the next year of 2019, I was deployed to the Rockaway Youth Task Force. The RYTF is devoted to monitoring the streets of Rockaway, helping their communities in many different ways. Some of these includes projects such as building, construction, engineering, and many other things. It's a great way for students to learn new skills as well as benefitting the community by helping out. For me, I was deployed to an urban farm which was also a community garden. When I worked there, I was assigned with weeding the fields, watering the plants, collecting chicken eggs, and every Saturday, we'd open up a small shop near the farm, in which we'd sell many of the fruits, vegetables, and our own custom made hot sauce from the peppers that we grew.
Throughout both of these experiences, I gained a different perspective of our earth that I think everyone should see. I encourage anyone reading this essay to go out and make a positive change in our community, whether it be through a simple thing such as picking up waste, to contributing in bigger projects that would help the community for a longer timespan. Thank you once again for this opportunity to share my experiences.