Saturday was awesome… it was my first protest! We got about a dozen people together, held one really big banner and a bunch of posters.We started at Lowe’s where my roomie (Ian) and Leslie went inside and tried to purchase mulch as suggested in some of the literature you guys sent us. Leslie then presented the manager with an info packet containing the letter and stuff. Natalie’s boyfriend filmed this, and they were not well received. While they were inside doing that we all handed out flyers, did some postcarding, and just tried to create awareness about the issue by talking to people. We were asked to leave, but about that time a woman from the news showed up and got some footage of us as we walked beside a major road with our banners.Leslie did an interview with her and I guess we were on the news (NBC 15). We walked through the busiest intersection in Mobile to get to the next stop, Wal-Mart. The reply there was that cypress mulch has already been bought for this year, but supposedly will not be purchased from nonsustainable sources as of next year. The manager said we could quote him on it, but we didn’t get his name. I’m sure I could find out his name, because I remember his face. Anyway we were asked to leave Wal-Mart and kept walking to Home Depot. There the manager was super nice and from Cali and liked that we were doing something. He said he would definately tell the people above him that locals were concerned with this issue. I think overall we got out there made some noise and just basically got asked to leave places a lot. Ha-Ha!! We know it had an impact!Christin is a student at University of South Alabama and a GRN volunteer in Mobile.
