Our family spends a lot of time at the beach. Our community is called "The Beach." We have picnics at the beach, we do art at the beach, we nap at the beach - we explore along the beach. Bottom line - we love the beach. Really, we love all water...my husband actually works in the water industry (which sounds strange as I type it). My husband and I have tried our best to help our daughters understand the importance of caring for our environment. But, sometimes you have to put your money where your mouth is and show them how to care for the environment. The upcoming Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup is the perfect combination of our passion for our waterways and our passion for respecting our environment.
The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup is a national event that began in 2004. Each year communities come together...head to their local shoreline...and cleanup!
Some stats. Last year Canadians cleaned 2,235 km of shoreline and used 11,989 garbage bags! Over 47,000 people filled these garbage bags with items like; cigarettes (227,830), food wrappers, beverage bottles, bags, straws, etc. Amazing.
Canada is known for it's incredibly long shoreline...over 200,000 km long. You can't forget about the number of lakes in Canada...I kid you not...3 million lakes. We should all value our waterways!
So, why keep the shore clean? We build state of the art water filtration plants to produce clean drinking water...who cares if there is some garbage in the water...it will be "cleaned" out. Clearly, this is not very good long term thinking. Not only does this garbage effect our water quality, it also greatly impacts on our wildlife. If you eat a chocolate bar and drop the wrapper on the ground, what happens next? It might blow to the shoreline. Once there it might rest on the shore and block sunlight from reaching plants and organisms...blocking their ability to grow. Then the same wrapper might blow into the water and float with the current. As it floats it might pick up microscopic organisms and carry them down stream to neighbouring water ecosystems - thus introducing a foreign organism. Now imagine that wrapper gets caught up in a fallen tree that is dipping into the water. One piece of garbage after another piles up and is caught - creating a dam made from debris. This dam can then change the water levels and change the entire ecosystem for plants, birds and fish in the surrounding area. And it all started with one little chocolate bar wrapper that could have been put in the proper garbage receptical. Pretty astonishing.
Well, our family is all signed up to help in our neighbourhood. The events take place across Canada from September 17 - 25th. Have a look at this link and see if there is a group in your area. If not, you can always create a group.
I can't wait to report back after our day of cleaning to let you know what we discover!
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sources
www.aquatic.uoguelph.ca
