Lovely view, isn’t it? Sadly, right below where I stood to take this picture there are piles of rubbish that people have illegally tipped down the wooded slopes of Mount Ogura.
A lot of the discarded trash is domestic; buckets, bicycles, old refrigerators, motorbikes… But in this case a building company seems to have dumped some unwanted bags of cement. Perhaps they didn’t notice the cameras in the area that have been put up to prevent this kind of thing. If they are caught on film, they can be prosecuted…
I’ve written before about the work P.T.O. (People Together for Mt. Ogura) are doing to tackle conservation problems on the Poets’ Mountain. On Sunday I joined in one of their rubbish clearing days for the first time. I managed to rope in my friend Chris to come along too.
Once you get down there it is shocking how much stuff has been thrown away here. Apparently it was much much worse before the volunteers of P.T.O. started tackling the problem 7 years ago.
The rubbish is collected and then hauled up to the road.
Having been collected it will be taken away to be properly disposed of by the city later.
Here we are when the day’s work is done. I’m holding a brass monkey I found underneath some bushes. Stephen Gill was rather taken with it and took it home….
It feels great to get out into nature, have a bit of a hike and then take part in this kind of activity. I always feel super energised by my visits to Mount Ogura and highly recommend it. Here below is the schedule for upcoming P.T.O. activities. If you would like to take part and lend a hand please contact Stephen Gill at heelstone@gmail.com. P.T.O. needs more bodies – and especially on rubbish collection days!
P.T.O. 2011 Hiking Schedule (with Work Content)
Apr. 2 (Sat.) Path maintenance
24 (Sun.) Rubbish clearance
May 7 (Sat.) Path maintenance
Jun. 4 (Sat.) Bamboo preparation
18 (Sat.) Path maintenance
Sep. 3 (Sat.) Bamboo fencing
17 (Sat.) Bamboo fencing
Oct. 2 (Sun.) Rubbish clearance
15 (Sat.) Dead pine felling
Nov. 5 (Sat.) Dead pine felling
19 (Sat.) Dead pine felling
27 (Sun.) Rubbish clearance
Dec. 3 (Sat.) Path maintenance
Useful links and articles:
People Together for Mt. Ogura – (P.T.O.’s English website)
People Together for Mt. Ogura – The Poets’ Mountain (article)
One Hundred Poets on Mount Ogura, One Poem Each (article)
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