Humans of Waste-Free Dayton: Matt K.
We’re kicking off the summer months with another edition of Humans of Waste-Free Dayton. Below, you will learn more about a repeat Waste-Free Dayton volunteer, somebody who cares deeply for his community, Matt K.
Tell us a bit about yourself, Matt. How long have you lived in the Dayton area? What are some of your favorite parts about the city? I grew up in Springboro, went to the University of Dayton, bought a house in Beavercreek and then moved into East Dayton in 2013. In between was a couple of years in Boston, MA for work. My favorite parts of the city are the historic districts, Dayton Dragons games, Second Street Market, Schuster Center, the festivals and metroparks. We live in St Anne's Hill and absolutely love the neighborhood and how active and involved people are in restoring and improving the area. We have neighborhood socials on the street, parks and greenway cleanups, and enjoy lots of time at the Fifth Street Brewpub, Gem City Catfe and art classes at Hue House. We love our ability to walk to places like the library (which we do each week with our kids), restaurants, and other places downtown we frequent for activities. Our kids are thriving in the area's only public Montessori school (Rivers Edge) and couldn't recommend midwest urban living to anyone more!
What is your favorite food or dish? Anything Fifth Street Brewpub! It is our favorite spot to go, a place we end up at least once a week after a group of us do a Wednesday night 2 mile run around the neighborhood before splitting a pitcher and enjoying time with neighbors who come down as well.
What are some of your favorite interests? My wife and kids would absolutely tell you that it is picking up trash in East Dayton, which is true. I do that a lot and it brings me joy.
What was the specific moment that caused you to be environmentally conscious? I think growing up scouting and growing up with saying like "leave the campsite better than you found it" drove me to want to make the world a better place. We do a lot of camping with our kids and try to instill that same value into them.
You have helped us (WFD) out numerous times with our cleanup events, sacrificing time and energy. Why do you think it is important for people to get out and volunteer in their community? I think that cleanups show the value of how much of a dramatic difference people can make in a short amount of time. Cleanups make an impact larger than any one person can make. I also think about how even picking up a grocery bag of trash when out on a walk periodically makes such a difference over time. I think WFD has made impacts that will last years on Hamilton Avenue for example. People get discouraged when they see trash again at places that they cleaned up months or a year ago, but my mindset it that it would just more trash on top of the old trash and the cleaner places are the easier they are to pick up in the future and do drive people to make better decisions about where their trash should go.
What do you tend to focus on when trying to be waste-free? I tend to focus on trash removal from greenspaces and places that flow to the river (parks, streets, etc)
What do you enjoy about being environmentally friendly? What do you dislike? I enjoy how it makes me feel like I am needed and making the world a better place; I dislike illegal dumping and how overwhelming it can feel.
Any other advice to people starting out or thinking about going on this journey? Start small and don't get discouraged. Just picking up a bottle when you see it, or doing what you can to volunteer with other groups when you can makes a really big difference to a lot of areas in our city. I have a lot of people in my neighborhood who have told me that I have inspired them to pick up a little bit of trash when they are on walks from seeing me do it all the time, and I have really noticed that I am picking up a lot less trash in my area of the city from just a couple of years ago.
Would you like to share about other areas you strive to be environmentally conscious? We try to have a lower environmental footprint by doing a lot of walking (to the library, to restaurants, friends, playdates, events downtown, etc) as well as a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) from food grown a few blocks from our house on Xenia Ave and shop from local farmers at the Second Street Market on Saturdays (that we walk to). Our kids used to complain, and we used to say "we are a walking family". Gas was $4.50+ today, walking to most of our non-work activities is a lifestyle we really enjoy.
If you could pick one thing to help the city of Dayton be more environmentally friendly/more sustainable, what would that be? I think Dayton has lost a significant amount of tree cover, and so planting more tree cover within the city limits would have a really big long term environmental impact. We have a lot of grass lots that would not only be more environmentally friendly but look nice if they had tree cover.
