Jill Laviolette has lived here in the North Island her entire life and is a force to be reckoned with.
Growing up in Holberg, Laviolette was always interested in environmental activism ever since she was a little kid. Her parents taught her about taking care of the environment and how to clean up the local beaches, and ever since then, she has always been looking for ways to reduce debris to keep the North Island looking beautiful.
Now that we are in the digital age, Laviolette has taken her passion for the environment to social media by identifying problem areas where trash is being dumped.
“We’ve been focusing on how much trash there is on our back roads, in the rivers, the shorelines, and it really is spreading everywhere,” she said, adding, “it’s becoming a huge problem here.”
Laviolette noted she and her friends started posting about problem spots on social media “and just trying to bring awareness to all the dumping grounds we have up here,” she said, stating they then decided to start a Facebook group called “NI Coastal and Backroad Garbage Campaign” for anybody who wants to join in and help out cleaning up problem areas.
One notable spot the group has gone in and cleaned up is an area off the Coal Harbour road that has been a known problem spot for the dumping of trash for over 20 years.
The end of the Holberg road is another bad spot that is filled with trash that they have worked tirelessly to clean up. “It’s horrific — trash has been dumped there for so many years and I can’t have that,” Laviolette said, adding she feels people today are consuming way too much and not being responsible enough with their trash.
Laviolette noted she loves where she lives, and she wants her kids to be able to enjoy the North Island wilderness when they grow up.
“We have to do something,” she said. “We all need to hold ourselves accountable. We have to be aware of what we’re consuming. If we don’t start being more responsible, the natural world isn’t going to be around much longer for our kids to enjoy.”
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