This past summer, the Ice Bucket Challenge rippled through the nation as thousands dumped buckets of icy water on their heads, in addition to raising awareness and donations for people with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord, otherwise known as ALS.
Invigorated by participating in the ALS challenge, University of Massachusetts Boston student Jason Mizula had an idea while walking with his girlfriend on a beach on the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii. They found a yellow, five-gallon bucket on the beach and started filling it with the trash littering the sandy shore
They took a video and posted it to Facebook on August 19, christening the page the Trash Bucket Challenge (TBC).
Within hours, his brother had taken the challenge and posted his own video. After seeing Jason’s video, Kahi Pacarro, a surfer and environmental activist, took the TBC on Wakiki Beach, Hawaii. Pacarro’s video since then has been shared over 11,000 times, and the Trash Bucket Challenge has travelled around the globe.
A child on a beach in Morocco took the challenge, a grandmother in Germany, a young woman in Egypt, an environmental activist in Australia, and the Lieutenant Governor of Guam, Ray Tenorio.
Moreover, on Sept. 5, Tunisian IT engineer Houssem Hamdi took the challenge and dumped the entire bucket on his head, and afterward, nominated his entire country to take the TBC. Hamdi hopes to drastically decrease the terrible pollution in his country using the TBC as a first step.
Mizula, the TBC’s originator, is a strong advocate of environmentalism and firmly believes that people can do their part in cleaning up. He laments on the university’s campus, and how although it seems clean, litter always seems to find its way across your path matter on which beach or sidewalk you walk. He asks for people to try walking from the campus center to JFK Station, then he says, one can see the increasingly litter-ridden sidewalks and garbage-blown streets.
His advice: If you see trash and you feel bad about it, or even think about it, you should act on those thoughts; simply pick up the trash and put it in the proper receptacle. Simple measures like growing whatever food you can, composting foodscraps and organic waste, and avoiding single use products can do wonders to decrease pollution.
“Because, to us, it would be worth it if [the TBC] inspired just one person to clean up trash. The second part of that inspiration is for people to consume and waste less, and ultimately live more sustainably.”, said Mizula.
For students who are inspired by Mizula’s TBC, Sept. 20 is International Coastal Cleanup Day, and since the UMass Boston Harbor Campus is on the coast, Mizula invites his fellow students to join in the cleanup effort. He created an event on Facebook called the UMASS BOSTON Harbor Point Cleanup-International Coastal Cleanup Day, and encourages people to attend.
Mizula also has a message for some very important people here at UMass Boston; “I hereby challenge Chancellor J. Keith Motley, Director of Veteran’s Affairs Gus St. Silva, and Professor Erin O’Brien to take the Trash Bucket Challenge!” Since this is Mizula’s last semester at UMB, he hopes to try and make a sincere difference on campus through his cause, and encourages the entire campus to take part.
Additional links to videos and information pertaining to the TBC can be found on Facebook by searching for Trash Bucket Challenge.