Oak Openings Preserve is a great place to take a walk after a work day. My wife and I went there to take a breath of fresh air and enjoy the quiet and comforting atmosphere of natural woods. It is fair to say the place is marvelous. Mature trees stand alongside their little ones. This is truly the place where you can see the eternity of life. We decided to step away from our trail to take a look at a little tree. On our way to it, we noticed a Pepsi can lying on the ground. This fact itself was not surprising, as we usually find a couple cans or plastic bottles in preserves like this. As amazing as it sounds,’ my wife and I are used to seeing trash at what is supposed to be a place of untouched nature. We have been to many parks and preserves in the United States, and, unfortunately, this is a normal picture. I would not even sit down to write this article because of a couple cans. However, what we observed in Oak Openings Preserve goes far beyond ordinary. Continuing my story, I picked up the can and put it in my pocket, because I knew it was going to be a long way to a trash bin. And for people who have not been to natural preserves before, it is worth noting there are no trash bins on the territory except for parking lots. Apparently, the idea is that people should not take anything with them to dispose of in the forest. Yet, there was this can in my pocket, and more was to come. Making a long story short, in two minutes we found a whole area full of broken bottles, metal cans and plastic. The next ten minutes of our beautiful walk in the park we spent putting all this trash in one pile. After we were done, we advanced through those gorgeous woods, already expecting surprises. Two more trash piles confirmed our expectations. That amount of trash would fit in my pockets no more, thus we decided to come back the next day with cardboard boxes and take it away. Also, we decided to take some pictures, write this short story, and send it to all possible sources, hoping it would help open eyes of people who believe everything necessary is being done by numerous environmental and charitable organizations and there is nothing else we can do individually. We can and should do our part in our communities and this is a truly rewarding experience. We did not see even a tenth of the preserve that day. I believe there is at least nine times more garbage in those woods. The trash we found was 20-30 years old, but does not diminish the fact it was there. Moreover, it means that in 30 years preserve employees, visitors and hunters did not see or want to clean this forest. This might be explained by the old mentality, but I believe nowadays it is needless to explain why we should be concerned about pollution and ecology. I strongly believe whoever reads these lines will do their part in making our planet a better place for every living being. Or I may just be dreaming as those who thought there would be no trash bins needed in Oak Openings Preserve. —Dmitriy Anisimov is a 2007 University graduate living in Bowling Green.