Earth Day at 50.
Pacific Northwest
Edge of the Salish Sea
* see the video with the artist who designed the NASA Earth Day logo and where her ideas came from.
Lest Earth day 2020 get overlooked by the political and viral pandemics, I ventured out to one of our local beaches in drenching rain, bucket in hand to do my little bit of clean up. As is appropriate in this age of plague, I was alone, really alone as no one else was anywhere to be seen out in this weather. And of course they were supposed to be staying home.
The beach I went to is one that I’ve highlighted before for plastic clean up for Earth Day 2018 and it is the one that I monitor for the Sea Star wasting studies. We can always find some detritus on this beach from small pieces of plastic, segments of polyurethane rope, chunks of fiberglass from boats, and even large sailboats (see the link above). The most common single item found here is beer cans. This time I also found 1 and a half pairs of sunglasses.
THE DAILY BUCKET IS A NATURE REFUGE. WE AMICABLY DISCUSS ANIMALS, WEATHER, CLIMATE, WATER AND PLANTS AND NOTE LIFE’S PATTERNS.
WE INVITE YOU TO NOTE WHAT YOU ARE SEEING AROUND YOU AND SHARE YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND COMMENTS BELOW. EACH NOTE IS A RECORD THAT WE CAN REFER TO IN THE FUTURE AS WE TRY TO UNDERSTAND THEIR PHENOLOGICAL PATTERNS THAT ARE QUIETLY UNWINDING AROUND US.
TO HAVE THE DAILY BUCKET IN YOUR ACTIVITY STREAM, GO TO BACKYARD SCIENCE AND CLICK ON FOLLOW.
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My total haul included the bucket full shown here as well as a large black plastic bag that was about half full of beer cans and bottles. All together I estimate that the haul weighed about 20 pounds.
Some items are just too big or too difficult to untangle for me. Below is a piece of fishing net made into a hammock,, probably found on the beach and a tarp. These were secured to a tree along the train tracks at the top and above the armoring rocks below that support the train tracks and abut the beach.
The occasion of a beach walk also allows the opportunity for a few interesting sightings as do most beach walks. Below is a bit of sculptured sandstone with tafoni (windows) and a piece of driftwood exposing its knotty structure.
There were oysters galore on the rocks. They looked so plump and juicy but they are not in season and are probably contaminated as well. That does not stop the lucky gulls and other beach critters from eating them.
Although today’s take was not a huge haul of trash, it was something. And since most of it was plastic based, having picked this up will prevent it from becoming many thousands of pieces of microplastics that end up in our food chain via fish, birds, shellfish and finally to us.
Secondly, I got a few plants and seeds in my veggie garden as seen below. I doubt that this little salad garden will sequester very much carbon from the atmosphere but the salsas will taste great as the summer comes on.
Unfortunately I did not save the planet today (that is for Superman) but I did do my little bit.
Share with us what you did on Earth Day: