On Thanksgiving my plan was to volunteer with Westside Thanksgiving before a big family gathering, however the organization had so many sign ups they were no longer accepting any more helping hands. I figured I was off the hook, I could spend the day relaxing until that evening’s family feast.
With no volunteer opportunity, and the waves rolling, we took Monkey to the beach. It was gorgeous. Only 2 surfers, tag teaming the waves. But alas, it had rained the night before and the waters here are bacteria infested from the runoff and sewage drains especially after the first big rains, nasty stuff.
But I thought, what the hell, I’d roll the dice and get a rare uncrowded surf in and risk the infection. But as we walked along the tide line, the amount of human made debris that had washed up was scattered in a way that was too disheartening. If I’m being honest, it was outright heartbreaking.
Jo encouraged me to go out and surf while she would do a bit of beach cleanup, which sounded like a great deal to me! But then I had a selfish thought. If the beach was this filthy, then the water really must be polluted enough to sicken a whale. So I sure as hell wasn’t going to subject myself to that. I grabbed a garbage bag and went for a run instead. I gathered the garbage on my way -- I filled an entire bag and it was dense. Lots of small bottle cap type stuff and then full empty bags of chips and plastic cups.
I give thanks for our beautiful planet. Just think, if we inconvenienced (when I do it, it feels less like an inconvenience and more just good) ourselves just a little each day, go out of our way to make a small effort to pick up a piece of trash, skip using that extra plastic bag and re-use, we can make a dent. It’s got to be a state of mind, not just one day of cleanup.
Join us once a month for a GG Cleanup. We’ll bring the gloves, coffee and trash bags. You bring yourself and we’ll have a fun time doing our part to help keep our favorite beach as clean as we can. Sign up for our newsletter and get updates for when we meet up for our cleanups. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter for updates when we meetup.