Clean Armenia: Cleanup in Garni Gorge
The risk of irreversible changes to the natural environment in certain regions of the country has expanded along with the scale of human economic activity. Armenia is not immune to this negative impact, and it is very painful when, in addition to economic effects, damage is caused to the environment through daily human activities—for example, by not disposing of trash in designated areas.
On March 11, 2018, our club was in Garni Gorge for a cleanup event. Children aged 6-14 armed themselves with gloves and trash bags and got to work. There was no limit to the variety of trash; of course, it was very difficult to explain to the children why people act this way, but we tried to do so without using harsh words, even though they were constantly on the tip of our tongues.
Unfortunately, we ran out of bags to collect even more trash, so we limited ourselves to 35 bags, which they carried out of the gorge without a single complaint. It was a sight to behold.
The natural monument known as the Symphony of Stones or “Basalt Organ” is located right in this gorge. The Basalt Organ Symphony features giant pentagonal and hexagonal basalt columns (about 50m high), which look handmade due to their amazing symmetry. Carved by nature and hanging over the river, this sequence of columns resembles a musical instrument—the “Basalt Organ.” The Azat River flows through the canyon, complementing the stone splendor with the sound of rushing water. It is surprising that people visiting this beautiful place enjoy nature but do not show a caring attitude, as if only nature has an obligation to please humans. We discussed this very issue during the cleanup and explained to the children that trash should never be thrown into nature.
This small step of ours solved several problems: it definitely reinforced the mindset of not polluting nature and the environment in general, the children cleaned up nature, and they spent a great day in a clean environment.
We are very grateful to the children for collecting a massive amount of trash with their small hands—trash they themselves would never discard.
