Making Progress...

Yesterday, the recycling efforts extended to the Bait Shop area! We'll see how that proceeds... it may take a little while to get it going as mostly men congregate back there. '-D

Positive progress was also made with the Resort. The couple who runs it said they would welcome the opportunity to collect & sort guests' recycling! They've already started cleaning up the beach after I mentioned something about volunteering to do it. '-) YAY!

Things are progressing nicely...! :-D

Litter Pick-up...

Guess I've been on a "litter pick-up" mission for the last several months! My new job is at a marina... and I find it odd that they're not a "green" or "clean marina". But after eating my lunch under the little Tiki before I go to work, I can understand why they're not. There's all sorts of litter strewn on the beach plus a HUGE black tarp that washed ashore!! I can't imagine that huge tarp being out on the water... I suppose it would be a GREAT place for dolphin (mahi-mahi) to hide, but otherwise it could be very deadly for the sea life! :-/ Last week, before going to work I brought a garbage bag with me and cleaned up a good portion of the beach... probably the southern portion, and ended up filling up that entire bag! I still have more to do one day this week. I can't believe all the garbage that rolled up... and I noticed today that there's MORE that came ashore in the past week!

Then I was thinking that with all the beer cans that are purchased & emptied there, we could fill a huge can (if not more) with all these wonderful recyclable items! I have to work on this with the boss! '-)

So many places could be clean & green if we would all pitch in & pick up the garbage!! :-D

I don't have much to report about any new products... I'm still using Shakleen cleaning products as well as the Green Works line (by Clorox) for other cleaning; I like these two product lines the best. :-D

On the Move & Cleaning Up...

I've been moving AGAIN for the past month it seems (I'm really getting tired of it now, but I'm very close to being done!)... and the one thing I'm really going to miss is the Oceanside park that I've been frequenting since I moved to this area of north Tavernier.

Recently, while taking a break from packing (it seems like that's all I do lately is pack & work, work & pack)... I took my usual bike ride down to the park, stopped on the jetty for a 1/2 hour to enjoy the sun, listen to the wonderful sound of the water rolling up onto the rocky shore, do a chakra clearing... then continue my bike ride down the path. A few WEEKS ago the water was so high and coming onto the land past the barriers they installed (moreso to keep people off the coral I think than to prevent the water from coming onto land :-D), and of course, LOTS & LOTS of trash rolled in as well. Do you know that that trash stayed there for several weeks... people would just bicycle/run/walk/picnic by it but nobody would stop and pick it up!! I guess you can tell this is a "pet peeve" for me. I can honestly say that there are 3 other neighbors who make an effort at cleaning up this park. Three neighbors out of possibly over 200 houses in this development! :-/

So as I rode my bicycle past, I noticed there was a blue fishing bucket that was sitting there amongst the trash. How convenient that this bucket was here ... for me/us to collect the trash in this bucket to put in the trash can. I got off my bike and started to pick up the trash... I filled 1-1/2 trash cans full of ocean trash and there was still more!! But I felt like I did my share of taking care of God's land... he gave us this land and waters to take care of. It felt good to clean it up... I wonder if anybody helped to clean up the rest of it. The most interesting find this time? A ping pong ball! :-D LOL

So how is it that a person who is busy moving out of the development has time to stop and clean up the park so that everyone else can enjoy it? So many other people need to take time to notice their surroundings more and not think that "somebody else" is going to always do it. We're all in this together. I have considered writing a letter to the Editor of a local newspaper about this... but I don't have time... I'm moving!! '-) And I'd rather pick up the trash! :-) It makes ME feel good about it... and that's what counts. '-) Hope you do the same!

I guess I have to add here also that I volunteered to clean up the small stretch of beach at the resort I work at. I talked with the timeshare manager and he said they had to cut back on personnel who would normally do it and "what comes in with the ocean, can roll back out with the ocean". I did my :-/ face and said I would clean the beach... in my spare time. I can only imagine what kind of a message is sent to the resort visitors when they stroll amongst the seaweed & garbage (as well as a LARGE tarp). A little volunteering can make it a nice, enjoyable place for everyone! '-)

Cleaning Up...

I've always been interested in cleaning up the environment... and since I started living in this area with the oceanside park, it's just amazing how MUCH trash rolls in with the seaweed: flip flops, plastic bottles, fishing line containers, styrofoam... but it's certainly great to see that people aren't bringing glass on their boats, but nonetheless the plastic & styrofoam aren't the greatest for the oceanlife NOR the flip flops!!

It was explained to me that the county is understaffed to pick up the garbage that rolls in from the ocean... so neighborhood volunteers pick up the trash. Yesterday my bike developed a flat while at the park, and lately there's a lot of foreigners (outside of Miami) visiting the Keys (this is the time for them... Sept./Oct. must be REALLY RAINY over there now!). So I just felt the trash was rather unsightly and I started picking it up and putting it all into a pile. A young visiting boy said hello to me while I was doing it. Hopefully it stuck in his mind to do this himself at some point in time! '-D I read something somewhere about "courtesy", and if you see something that fell on the ground, don't walk around it... pick it up!! It makes me feel good to give back to the county and to the visitors who visit our chain of islands, AND to the neighbors (like myself) to enjoy our beautiful park! :-D I also noticed that there are specific "groups" (noted on a sign) that are supposed to be helping to keep the park clean... I don't know that they exist anymore. It would be great if some local groups adopted it since it IS such a big park!

I've always wanted to be involved with ocean clean-ups, i.e., when dives are scheduled to specifically clean up under the water. There can be a lot of junk while diving underwater like glass bottles (there they are!), rope/line, fishing line, hooks, weights... all kinds of harmful stuff! A few years ago while diving in the Bay, I found a crab with a lot of fishing line wrapped all around it. I felt like I was performing surgery on the poor thing, cutting all of it off, freeing him to move around more easily... it made me feel SO GOOD to send him on his way free of all that line! '-D

Tonight I went for another walk, this time down the end of my street (the first time earlier was to the park - remember I have a flat tire). My street seems to go a bit farther down than the other streets, or so it seems. Anyway, down at the end is a place to put a kayak in and paddle around a small lake, Dove Lake I think. Kids/couples go down there for "other" things as well! People fish there too... and I heard recently that there's a salt water crocodile resting in there -- so you won't find ME there!! :-O Anyway... as you can well imagine, people like to leave their their trash: beer bottles, fast food containers, etc. and there's no garbage can. Some day when I have nothing better to do (like when?) I'll go down and clean it up and LEAVE a trash can there! I'm surprised the county doesn't leave a can there... but I guess we can only expect so much!

So-o-o... what have YOU done lately to decrease the amount of litter in your area? :-)