By Sophie Ciaverelli 

 
Waking up early and watching the sun rise over Lady Bird Lake is always an excellent 
way to start the day, but when our local lake is full of plastics and other waste it is not as nice.  
Organizations are trying their hardest to raise awareness about the importance of keeping 
our lakes clean. This pollution has been an issue ever since Austinites and visitors got their hands 
on disposable material. The pollution of our beautiful lake and the other bodies of water around 
it with disposable materials, endanger the safety of our native and visiting species that use it as a 
source of habitat.  
 
One question that faces many locals is how can they help clean up the behaviours in 
which they may be complicit. Keep Austin Beautiful has litter clean-ups that are open for 
volunteers to help with making the lakes more livable for the organisms in them or the other 
species that use them for their daily needs. The organization also provides services for schools 
who want to learn more about the environment around them and what they can do to help it. 
They provide “​leading presentations, service-learning projects, and awareness campaigns to 
nurture environmental consciousness.” (Keep Austin Beautiful) 
 
Many other organizations have also been helpful in showing the public how important it 
is to be aware of where we put our trash. Most of the public know the problems facing the lake, 
but few know what they can do to reduce the waste that ends up in our local aquatic ecosystem. 
The problem being addressed now is moving the garbage away. ​"It looks terrible when you have 
this beautiful lake, with these great trees and this amazing environment and you see all of this 
plastic and trash along the lake," says Rodney Ahart, with Keep Austin Beautiful. (Torre)   
 
Pollution of local waters is an issue in many other urban environments. It may come as 
runoff from other places and spill into their water havens unintentionally. "Trash that we dispose 
of on our streets -- on our roadways -- it travels through our storm drains, through our creeks and 
ultimately ends up here at the lake," explains Ahart. Cities like New York have this problem to 
an extreme. They have such a large density of people meaning that more waste is produced, 
leading to more runoff of that waste into their bays.  
 
Keep Austin Beautiful and its fellow organizations have worked hard to educate locals on 
reducing the endangerment of the beautiful organisms that call our lake home and the pollution 
affecting them. Austinites can participate in clean-ups and meet other people all while helping 
their environment. Students can learn about the importance of keeping their local lakes and 
creeks clean and regulating the litter they produce. In conclusion, the first step of many in 
making Lady Bird Lake beautiful is taking public ownership for the trash we put into it.  
 
Resources: 
https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/help-keep-austin-beautiful-clean-up-lady-bird-lake 
https://keepaustinbeautiful.org/about-keep-austin-beautiful/