Sunday, March 10, 2013

A WALK IN THE PARK

Would we do things differently if we realized that the earth is a living thing?

Walking at Burlington Beach strip yesterday I saw a plastic bag clinging to a bush. Since, before I got out of my car, I had made a pact to fill any bag I found with litter, I proceeded to do so, and then another and another...til 5 were filled. I had to put empty plastic bags into my collection bags as there were too many bags to fill during the time allotted for my walk.

I apologized to the ducks who lived there, that our species treats their home like a garbage dump.

Today I went to a local park. I started out with a bag from home in case I didn't find any empty plastic bags - fat chance of this happening - but you never know. I prefer to think of myself as an optimist.

So, I began here with my one bag and as was the case yesterday, I found many more to fill. 

The white bits aren't snow. They're plastic shopping bags.

4 bags filled in 45 minutes. I also filled 2 more on my way home - about a 2 minute walk from here.


At one point, as I crouched down pecking at the bits of plastic embedded in the earth I was joined by 2 curious geese who must have felt a bond with me. There we were all pecking along together.
As I went deeper into the bush I noticed that a man was eyeing me - probably thinks I'm a nut case or something. People do tend to give you a wide berth when you are a grey haired woman, dressed down for a mission. But he reappeared at the other side of the fence shortly afterwards.

"Thanks for doing this. You beat me to it. I usually clear out the stuff in the park in a few weeks time, when the snow has cleared and the weather is good. (It was a beautiful, sunny, unseasonable warm day today.) I live in the building just over there." he pointed to the condos down the way. "I think the garbage gets blown across the road over from the mall, the grocery store and Tim's. I've asked Tim's to clear the stuff from the parking lot but they put up signs asking people to clear their own garbage and be considerate, but obviously this isn't helping."

We chatted for a while about our efforts to tend the park and the areas around our homes.
I wish I could say that the extensive amount of garbage is from the mall but my experience down at the more remote park yesterday tells me otherwise. And, these are the places where we go to get in touch with nature and restore our souls. That's a fine thank you, eh?!

FACE BOOK CHALLENGE - Clutter clear a park, a sidewalk and post it on FB. Let's see if we can get a movement happening.