Our August Green Streets Cleanup went really well. It was nice to be out in the sunshine, along with everyone else! We bumped into at least 5 different groups of people all interested in what we were up to, and excited to see what we were doing. Green Streets is a monthly neighborhood cleanup we do in North Portland. Its a collaboration between Surfrider, and the City of Portland's Green Streets Program, which gets citizens involved in helping protect local water quality by picking up trash, and keeping the city's bioswales clean and healthy.
We found a couple of funny items on our cleanup this month... fake teeth, pieces of a plastic sword and purple plastic ring!
We also picked up alot of litter. 25 gallons of it, on our mile long walk.
Alot of what we found was made up of plastic...
Plastic is a big problem, as it doesn't biodegrade into soil. It photo-decays into smaller and smaller pieces. As the plastic washes off our streets, through our storm drains, out into streams, rivers and the ocean, it often becomes confused as food by animals, and it also becomes a "sponge" for many water-bourn pollutants. So, this 25 gallons of plastic could have potentially been consumed by hundreds if not thousands of living creatures. Our actions add up, both the positive and negative! You can find out more about preventing plastic pollution through Surfrider's Rise Above Plastics campaign.
We worked for a solid two hours, having much fun and laughter along the way. Thanks to Krista, BJ, Tim, Al, and James. This month we feasted on delicious Three Twins Cookies and Cream ice cream. I'm an ice cream aficionado, and I'd have to say this is one of the best out there. We scarfed down a quart in about five minutes. All were stoked, especially BJ, in this photo here.
We are always welcoming new Green Streets volunteers. We meet the third Tuesday of every month from 6-8:30pm. So if this looks like fun to you, get in touch with Gregg, our volunteer coordinator, and we'll see you next month!
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