Sunday I went to an interesting talk on homeopathic medicine at the local coop food store, Other Avenues, so I got to the beach, empty bread bags ready to go, around 2:30. A beautiful warm weekend day so I expected a lot of people to be there but I was astounded by what I saw. It looked more like a popular East Coast seashore (my frame of reference) than like Ocean Beach. People everywhere: sunning themselves on the dunes, on the beach, playing baseball and frisbee, children making creative sandcastles and tentatively playing with the waves, dogs, couples strolling along the water...
Honestly, so many people were there that if it weren't for my trash project I probably would have turned around and gone somewhere else. The beach didn't even have as much trash as some days. The crowds made it hard in some cases to decide what was indeed abandoned. Are the children who made the sandcastle coming back for the can they were using? I hope so. I did completely fill both bags I came with, so I'm content with what I did.
I wonder who else is doing the indie trash pick-up thing. Besides the beach being pretty clean, I noticed bags in the trash cans near the street that I had nothing to do with. I'm speculating that at least some of them are from trashpickers like me.
With all the frolicking people there were no wading birds. In spite of the people it made the beach feel lonely, not like the same beach. I worried about the birds; I hope they were able to find another good place to get nourished. I particularly worried about the plovers. I know that people on the upper beach and in the dune areas are more likely to disturb them. I also know that the people sunning themselves, drumming, and enjoying the day weren't aware of this.
I know this, but I did have the feeling yesterday that the beach wasn't being perceived for what it is, an ecosystem to use the scientific term, a home for an interconnection of non-humans, to describe it another way, but instead as a another stage for the human drama.
I know I promised an update on my trash elimination program. Next post I will. Let's just say that I am making progress, particularly in the area of plastics. Next time. I also didn't forget about my promise to start talking about individual species on the beach, starting with sand dollars. Soon.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Beach Spirituality
I went in the morning on Friday, though not quite as early as I intended. The beach is different everytime I go. Weekday mornings I see people fishing, which reminds me that there is life in that ocean, non-human life with different sensory experiences, ways of thinking, and ways of surviving. It's good to stay aware that we share the neighborhood with beings who are not us. And do what we can to help them to survive.
I have so much to learn. What I thought was a low tide the other day was nothing like Friday. The other day must have been more of a medium tide. I was going by all of the "garbage and the flowers" left from a higher tide. Friday morning the mudflats went a long way out. With fewer people the wading birds let me get closer to them than usual. I was careful to stay calm and slow, and ready to go farther away if I started to bother them but they didn't seem to mind. Since I don't have binoculars and my long-distance glasses have about had it (and don't have a camera for those who are wondering) this was a major boon to my infant observational skills. I think what I'm seeing are primarily willets, but don't hold me to that.
One thing that I did identify was all of the cigarette butts on the path leading to the water. They might have come from people having one last puff before recreating, most of them probably did, but in my reading I found out that trash we leave on the street. like cigarette butts, can wash into storm drains and from them to the ocean. So if you smoke, please don't throw the butts and other trash onto the street. Some things we do really are little, and cumulative.
On days of few people the beach attracts/elicits spirituality of all kinds. Wednesday or Thursday someone had written a message about Jesus in the sand. Today I saw a pentagram with a sand dollar in the dead center, and two separate people were doing the yoga poses, Salute to the Sun. I can see why the wild edge of the city, looking out onto open spaces leading to everywhere, with rhythms controlled by the moon and the wind, has this effect.
After I put my two full bread bags into the trash and was in the bathroom washing my hands, I ran into another spiritual person, a friend of a friend who lives across town in some kind of nontraditional housing. She was there to collect bottles, etc. to sell to make part of her living. I talk about consuming less and don't do too badly in that direction, comparatively, but she really walks the walk. We talked about the friend, who I hadn't seen in a while. I need to call her and reconnect. More beach spirituality working it's mojo.
I have so much to learn. What I thought was a low tide the other day was nothing like Friday. The other day must have been more of a medium tide. I was going by all of the "garbage and the flowers" left from a higher tide. Friday morning the mudflats went a long way out. With fewer people the wading birds let me get closer to them than usual. I was careful to stay calm and slow, and ready to go farther away if I started to bother them but they didn't seem to mind. Since I don't have binoculars and my long-distance glasses have about had it (and don't have a camera for those who are wondering) this was a major boon to my infant observational skills. I think what I'm seeing are primarily willets, but don't hold me to that.
One thing that I did identify was all of the cigarette butts on the path leading to the water. They might have come from people having one last puff before recreating, most of them probably did, but in my reading I found out that trash we leave on the street. like cigarette butts, can wash into storm drains and from them to the ocean. So if you smoke, please don't throw the butts and other trash onto the street. Some things we do really are little, and cumulative.
On days of few people the beach attracts/elicits spirituality of all kinds. Wednesday or Thursday someone had written a message about Jesus in the sand. Today I saw a pentagram with a sand dollar in the dead center, and two separate people were doing the yoga poses, Salute to the Sun. I can see why the wild edge of the city, looking out onto open spaces leading to everywhere, with rhythms controlled by the moon and the wind, has this effect.
After I put my two full bread bags into the trash and was in the bathroom washing my hands, I ran into another spiritual person, a friend of a friend who lives across town in some kind of nontraditional housing. She was there to collect bottles, etc. to sell to make part of her living. I talk about consuming less and don't do too badly in that direction, comparatively, but she really walks the walk. We talked about the friend, who I hadn't seen in a while. I need to call her and reconnect. More beach spirituality working it's mojo.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
beginnings, and also, what am I seeing? so much to learn
I went back to the beach yesterday, from about 4:30 to around 6:00. Before I left I grabbed a bag with a bunch of plastic bags in it, to use for clean-up, but when I got there I found out that I didn't really have that any biggish ones left, so I couldn't pick up that much. Interesting dilemma. I can get plenty from other people, but I don't want to encourage them to use bags, either. Right now I'm using up my past cereal/bread/etc bags. I can get these from other people while encouraging them to use as few as possible. Unfortunately, there's plenty to go around. This will be a good opportunity to tell people what I'm doing, and why using plastics is harmful.
It was a beautiful day, low tide, lots of sun and few clouds. Enough of a breeze so I saw a supergiant monarch butterfly fluttering by. Huh? Double-take. Oh, a kite. Pretty.
Suprisingly few birds foraging in the mud. A few sanderlings (I think), at least one willet (I saw the black-and-white when it took off), a few birds like willets without the black-and-white, an occasional gull overhead. A raven or two (or crow?). But not like a few days ago. Then I saw something really sad. Near the water, a little south of where I started in the area of Judah, was a beautiful bird, dead, on its back with its long neck twisted and its white breast feathers exposed. I'm trying to observe what I can and look animals and plants up later but I didn't have the heart to observe this more closely. I'm still haunted by it.
I also saw lots of crab evidence (aka shells), some sand dollars, clams, a little rockweed, surfers, dogs, families, ships in distance, more kites...
To the person who left the two empty beverage bottles standing up at the edge of the ocean, didn't y0ur mother teach you any better than to mess up others' homes? Please think next time. If you happen to be reading this.
While I still had bag space and was studiously scanning the beach for alien objects, a surfer came up to me and thanked me. I was embarrassed; it isn't exactly a chore being on the beach on a sunny day, but thanks for thanking me. If you happen to be reading this.
Also thanks to the guy who was going through the trash looking for recyclables. What you're doing for money is harder and a lot more useful than most office jobs I've had. You're right, it's too bad people don't take a second and put the bottles in the place meant for them. Stay safe.
On my way out I was watching some land birds, one of which was carrying some dried plant materials. Tis the season to make nests.
I'm typing this on a computer in a cafe with iced coffee poured into one of those plastic cups they use that I brought in with me from some previous purchase. Next time I'll talk about my efforts to really truly eliminate trash, especially of the plastic kind, from my life. And maybe sand dollars as living things? If not next post, then soon.
It was a beautiful day, low tide, lots of sun and few clouds. Enough of a breeze so I saw a supergiant monarch butterfly fluttering by. Huh? Double-take. Oh, a kite. Pretty.
Suprisingly few birds foraging in the mud. A few sanderlings (I think), at least one willet (I saw the black-and-white when it took off), a few birds like willets without the black-and-white, an occasional gull overhead. A raven or two (or crow?). But not like a few days ago. Then I saw something really sad. Near the water, a little south of where I started in the area of Judah, was a beautiful bird, dead, on its back with its long neck twisted and its white breast feathers exposed. I'm trying to observe what I can and look animals and plants up later but I didn't have the heart to observe this more closely. I'm still haunted by it.
I also saw lots of crab evidence (aka shells), some sand dollars, clams, a little rockweed, surfers, dogs, families, ships in distance, more kites...
To the person who left the two empty beverage bottles standing up at the edge of the ocean, didn't y0ur mother teach you any better than to mess up others' homes? Please think next time. If you happen to be reading this.
While I still had bag space and was studiously scanning the beach for alien objects, a surfer came up to me and thanked me. I was embarrassed; it isn't exactly a chore being on the beach on a sunny day, but thanks for thanking me. If you happen to be reading this.
Also thanks to the guy who was going through the trash looking for recyclables. What you're doing for money is harder and a lot more useful than most office jobs I've had. You're right, it's too bad people don't take a second and put the bottles in the place meant for them. Stay safe.
On my way out I was watching some land birds, one of which was carrying some dried plant materials. Tis the season to make nests.
I'm typing this on a computer in a cafe with iced coffee poured into one of those plastic cups they use that I brought in with me from some previous purchase. Next time I'll talk about my efforts to really truly eliminate trash, especially of the plastic kind, from my life. And maybe sand dollars as living things? If not next post, then soon.
just picking up trash (new blog)
skip to main | skip to sidebar beachcomber for a wild ocean
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
(New blog, take two. My first title didn't work for me. This works better.)
So how does one gracefully start a blog? I guess the answer is that you don't always start it gracefully. You just do it.
Okay. In the beginning ... that line's already been taken.
Well, in the beginning, which in this case is last week, I went to Ocean Beach (in San Francisco) for the first time in awhile. The amount of trash was disturbing. I resolved to come back with bags and do something to clean up some of it.
For a change I kept my resolution. The next day, even. And the day after, and the day after that, and on to Sunday morning, in the rain.
And realized that the bag of trash I've committed to picking up most days is only going to go so far. Displacing this small amount of trash to a landfill and hoping it stays in place isn't a bad thing but something more is definitely needed, something like colllectively re-learning to not produce the waste in the first place.
As is glaring obvious, to live waste-free in this culture as it's currently organized is like, well, like swimming upstream. Although I don't exactly have a history of taking to change easily, the time I spend everyday (almost) picking up pieces of plastic which would otherwise be mistaken for food by a wild animal keeps it real. Especially since I have to leave so much on the beach, and I know that the trash on the beach is such a small part of what's out there, and I also see around me life, and the evidence other life, that could get hurt by eating this stuff, and it hurts me.
Abstract isn't such a strong motivator. Actuality is more of one.
Everyone has different motivators for making the changes that we need to make, as a culture, and different entry points. This, my first ever blog, will be the story of mine.
This blog will be about picking up trash on the beach, but it won't. It will be about the details of this particular piece of earth as I learn more about it; the temperature of the air, the colors of the water, and above all, the life that I observe and piece together information about from shells and birds and fisherfolk and seaweed and also websites and books. And the trash, too; how what I'm collecting affects this life. And about my attempts to live without creating more trash.
Not everything in each post, of course, but unfolding, piece by piece, like the trash I pick up.
I'm a little afraid that I'll start this and drop it. But I can't. I am responsible to too many creatures, wild ones, to do this. So expect posts a couple times a week, at least. And find your motivator and your path to a more sustainable culture.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
(New blog, take two. My first title didn't work for me. This works better.)
So how does one gracefully start a blog? I guess the answer is that you don't always start it gracefully. You just do it.
Okay. In the beginning ... that line's already been taken.
Well, in the beginning, which in this case is last week, I went to Ocean Beach (in San Francisco) for the first time in awhile. The amount of trash was disturbing. I resolved to come back with bags and do something to clean up some of it.
For a change I kept my resolution. The next day, even. And the day after, and the day after that, and on to Sunday morning, in the rain.
And realized that the bag of trash I've committed to picking up most days is only going to go so far. Displacing this small amount of trash to a landfill and hoping it stays in place isn't a bad thing but something more is definitely needed, something like colllectively re-learning to not produce the waste in the first place.
As is glaring obvious, to live waste-free in this culture as it's currently organized is like, well, like swimming upstream. Although I don't exactly have a history of taking to change easily, the time I spend everyday (almost) picking up pieces of plastic which would otherwise be mistaken for food by a wild animal keeps it real. Especially since I have to leave so much on the beach, and I know that the trash on the beach is such a small part of what's out there, and I also see around me life, and the evidence other life, that could get hurt by eating this stuff, and it hurts me.
Abstract isn't such a strong motivator. Actuality is more of one.
Everyone has different motivators for making the changes that we need to make, as a culture, and different entry points. This, my first ever blog, will be the story of mine.
This blog will be about picking up trash on the beach, but it won't. It will be about the details of this particular piece of earth as I learn more about it; the temperature of the air, the colors of the water, and above all, the life that I observe and piece together information about from shells and birds and fisherfolk and seaweed and also websites and books. And the trash, too; how what I'm collecting affects this life. And about my attempts to live without creating more trash.
Not everything in each post, of course, but unfolding, piece by piece, like the trash I pick up.
I'm a little afraid that I'll start this and drop it. But I can't. I am responsible to too many creatures, wild ones, to do this. So expect posts a couple times a week, at least. And find your motivator and your path to a more sustainable culture.
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