First time shoreline cleanup participant tells her tale

This fall, Karen Jørgensen is joining the GSA team as a volunteer and we're so happy to have her on board.  From time to time, she'll be sharing her experiences of her work with us and our coast as a guest blogger.

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On September 28^th I took part in the Great Canadian Shoreline cleanup for the first time. Despite the wet and cold weather, I joined around 25 volunteers who showed up to clean the shores along Burrard Inlet by Portside Park.

Photo: Karen Jørgensen

Even though the shore looked fairly clean at first glance, once we were done, our recording sheets and our collecting bags showed things were not as they seemed. We were divided into groups of three or four people and in my group alone we collected 3000 cigarette butts, several plastic bags, a couple of needles and a few batteries. All of this and much more causes great harm to our beautiful coast, which should be there for all of us to enjoy without having to look at all this garbage. I find it very unfortunate that people litter in such a gorgeous place.

One thing is certain - this Shore Cleanup will certainly not be my last. I felt really thankful for being part of the event as spending time along the coast, breathing in the fresh air - and even removing trash from coast - was a great feeling - as Portside Park became a cleaner shore after the cleanup. Despite the sadness I felt at all the litter left behind, it was rewarding to be a part of the cleanup as our work showed off immediately. Also, seeing the difference volunteers of all ages can make for our shores was great and I felt wonderful being a part of it. I would definitely recommend that you join the shore Cleanup next year – you won’t regret it!

Big benefits from small resolutions

I hate New Year’s resolutions.  There, I said it. Feels good to get that one off my chest!

As to why I have this strong reaction to resolutions, it’s quite simple – most resolutions are made close to midnight on Dec 31, after one or two cocktails, and have within them the seed of failure due to their vagueness or their complete lack of grounding in reality.  For example, people commit to ‘taking better care of themselves’, a resolution with no measurable goal so you never know if it’s been achieved.  Or, they resolve to lose 50lbs, but with no plan for success, the first setback results in the resolution being abandoned.  So failure all around.

Now, you’re probably wondering what the ‘big benefits from small resolutions” of the blog title is talking about.  Well, truth be told, New Year’s resolutions have crept back into my life – thanks to the thoughtful resolution development of my husband.

Our favourite travel mugs

At the beginning of 2011, he announced that he had a New Year’s resolution for the year.  When I asked what it was, he said “no more take away coffee cups”.  Not an earth shattering resolution is probably your first reaction but think about it – how many paper coffee cups do you go through in one year?  The reality was that sticking to this resolution was no small task and my husband found himself more than once walking away from a badly needed coffee because he hadn’t brought his reusable mug with him.  The result is he became much more diligent about packing his mug – so happily had his caffeinated beverage and no additions to the landfill were made.

What was interesting is that as the year went on, I found myself taking on his resolution, one coffee at a time, so that now I too forgo coffee on the go if I’ve not brought my mug.  One resolution becomes two. 

In 2012, we both made the resolution to not buy or consume bottled water, if they were on offer.  We now carry reusable water bottles with us or grab a glass and drink tap water.  There have been a few lapses on both the coffee and water front, but for the most part, we’ve stayed true.

This year, we’ve resolved to be very conscious of the packaging that comes with the products we buy, choosing to buy products with less packaging or not buying something at all, if we can, if the packaging is excessive.  In addition we’ve recommitted to not using plastic bags (I now have a reusable bag in all my purses and briefcase) and to continue our commitment to “drinking local” by purchasing wine and beer from BC only.  Admittedly this last one is fun as well as positive!

If you haven’t made a New Year’s resolution yet, perhaps you’d like to borrow one of ours:

•          No more paper coffee cups
•          No more bottled water
•          No more plastic bags
•          Buying items with less packaging
•          Eating and drinking local

Will any of these actions change the world? Perhaps not, but I guarantee if you stick to the resolution you’ve chosen, they will change your perspective as they did mine.  Once you become aware of your own behaviour, and succeed in changing it, you become inspired to do more – and to inspire others.  One resolution becomes two becomes four and more.

The bottom line is with all the big issues to take on in the world – issues that no one person can resolve on their own – remember that you have the power to make small changes which have big impacts.  If we can all do a little on our own, what can’t we take on together?

Making the hard small changes

I’m a people watcher. I admit it – I’m fascinated by people and as I make my way through the busy streets of Vancouver, or wherever I am, I people watch. I could just say I blame it on my father, who is an avid people watcher, but the truth is human behaviour fascinates me, and when you live in a big city, there’s a lot of behaviour to keep you busy!

What catches my eye? It runs the gamut really. Sometimes it’s the difference in people’s face, from the woman whose eyes sparkles as she heads to work, to the man whose face is at rest, but the lines in his face reflect a life lived hard. It’s the clothes people wear and the way people communicate, or don’t as the case may be. I wonder, as I watch the teens walking down the street, each with their eyes on their phones texting away, why the company of the person they are with isn’t as good as the person they are texting. And I watch people making choices.

Stairs or escalator? Jaywalk or wait for the light to change? Burger and fries, or soup and salad?

And as I pass the countless coffee shops in the city, I see people making another choice, one I’m at a loss to understand. As I look at the line ups, and see people picking up their coffee orders, I see that the vast majority of customers are making the choice to use a disposable cup versus a reusable one.

With almost every coffee shop selling travel mugs and with these reusable choices part of promotional giveaways ad nauseum, why is it so many of us still are making a choice that puts more garbage in our landfills and waste in our oceans?

The easy answer is convenience, of course, but it’s an answer that leaves me hollow. With awareness about our environment growing, and the knowledge that we all need to make small and big changes, shouldn’t we be able to make the simple change of keeping a travel mug with us?

There’s no doubt that change is hard. We all have busy lives, and with mornings where we barely get out of the house dressed and fed, remembering to bring a travel mug with us seems like just one more thing to do. But for all the environmental pressures our planet faces, we have to start with the small changes because they do add up and make a difference.

Reducing our footprint isn’t just about recycling, it’s about not producing the waste in the first place. So, keep a travel mug in your briefcase or purse. Carry a small reusable bag so you don’t get caught needing a plastic bag when you make an unplanned purchase. Choose products with little or no packaging. Make a small change, and join others in tackling the big problems, so that one day soon, what was once inconvenient becomes the way things are always done.

Here are some more ideas on how to be a better Steward of the Strait.

Our garbage to clean up

As part of this year's annual wilderness kayak trip (see last week's blog for more), my husband and I found what we call a piece of heaven. Not far from God's Pocket Marine Park, we spent 4 days camped at a location that had a gorgeous sandy beach and a lovely rocky beach, linked by a beautiful cedar forest. Keeping us company were wrens, plovers, eagles, ravens and a few black-tailed deer. It was truly a spectacular part of coastal BC and we were thrilled to call it home for a few days.

But though we were far from any human contact the impact of civilization was all around us. The sandy beach had garbage strewn all along the high tide line. We had seen some garbage on other beaches we camped at along Vancouver Island but this was the worst and was truly jarring.

We spent much of our time paddling and enjoying the peace the island had to offer, but we couldn't ignore the debris that continually crossed our paths.

So, on our third full day of passing by a garbage can half buried in the sand, we decided to hold an impromptu beach clean-up. We felt it was a sign! After spending a 1/2 hour digging up said can, we went to work. Several hours later, we stood before a stunning amount of garbage for one beach. Here's what we found:

- 79 plastic drink bottles
- 25 styrofoam floats
- 25 plastic containers for household products, including prescriptions, soap, bleach and salad dressing
- 200 feet of rope
- 15 plastic bottles for industrial products
- 12 plastic car oil containers
- 1 strip of tarp
- 1 food barrel
- 1 fender
- 1 two foot long mercury halide lamp
- 1 grocery store tray
- 2 tire floats
- 1 tire with rim

And we didn't get it all. Out of necessity, we ignored items < 3cm long. In the end, we filled that garbage pail plus 3 full size garbage bags and we still had to pile some of it up. It was truly incredible considering, here we were, 45km from Port Hardy, 200km from Campbell River and 450km from Vancouver! There is a happy ending to this story, however. We've arranged with the wonderful owners of Odyssey Kayaking, Pat and Jackie Kervin, to head back to the island to pick up the results of our garbage clean up and take it away to be responsibly processed. Considering at least 1/2 of what we found is recyclable, it will not just be going to the dump!

Where this garbage came from is unclear, but at the end of the day, it's ours. The garbage in our oceans started with us and ended up here - where we live, work and play. It's something we all need to take a hard look at doing something about.





What can you do?
- take part in a local beach clean up, and see how good it feels to clean up a bit of our world.
- find out what your community is doing to reduce garbage, from Zero Waste Challenge to education on choosing products with less or no packaging.
- choose products with minimal packaging or that can be recycled.
- find out how garbage is managed in your community and support innovative ways for it to be handled so that it doesn't end up on our oceans. Ask local or regional staff for more information.
- raise the issue with your friends and neighbours. The more each of us becomes aware of the garbage we create and where it can end up, the sooner we can solve this growing problem.

And finally, if you find yourself on a city street, country road or distant beach and see some garbage, take a moment to pick it up and dispose of it responsibly. By doing a little bit of 'street and beach clean-up' every day, along with reducing the garbage we create, we have a chance to keep more pieces of heaven clean for generations to come.