Days after the city of Baltimore was regarded as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” in a tweet by President Donald Trump, activist Scott Ryan Presler decided to put the ‘act’ in activist and organize a trash clean up for the city. There were upwards of 170 volunteers who traveled from across the nation to be there on Monday. In West Baltimore, volunteers were able to pick up twelve tons of trash in twelve hours.

     “This is not about President Trump. This is not about [being] anti-Representative Cummings. This is about [how] we see a problem, and these are our American people. These are our brothers and sisters,” said Scott Presler, founder of the #CleanUp movement and “professional trash picker-upper,” who believes in acting over speaking.

     “Everybody was doing a whole bunch of talking, and nobody was doing,” Presler said during an interview on The Daily Signal Podcast.

     After Trump’s claim, people were far more focused on siding with either Trump or Elijah Cummings, a representative from a district that includes almost half of Baltimore City. Scott decided that “[he was] going to Baltimore, even if it’s just [him] standing on a street corner alone picking up trash.” Soon after, he was flooded with messages from people who were eager and willing to help.

     “I’m like, finally, finally, Virginia, people aren’t going to sit at home and complain, but they’re going to do something,” Presler shared. 

     One of the biggest problems nowadays is how people respond to problems. The internet, instead of being used as a place to speak out and make change, has become an outlet for complaints. It allows people who say they’re helping berate the government and verbally chastise those who stand by and do nothing, without realizing they’re doing the exact same thing.

     “I told myself, Scott, you can sit at home, you can complain, you can whine, you can sit on the couch, you can be an armchair Facebook warrior, or you can do something,” Presler expressed. 

     Presler is doing what he believes people should have been doing for years now. Baltimore’s streets are now cleaner because of a single person’s decision to act. Presler isn’t ‘internet famous’ or someone with a large sum of money, which is what a lot of people think they need in order to make a change. All anyone needs is a strong will and passion to right the many wrongs in the world.

     “Take action where others are only going to talk cheaply. I want you to actually put your words into actions and to do something, to be a change and make the world a better place. That’s it,” Scott shared.

     Visit Scott’s Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram @ScottPresler and visit his website: scottpresler.org to contribute to his work!