JOURNAL & GALLERY
NOVEMBER 6, 2009
I returned home from South Africa and Denmark October
22nd.
As expected, the litter problems there are no less
than here in Ontario Canada, and in some areas in South Africa a lot worse. Returning
to Johannesburg after a 4 day trip in the Kruger National park we
passed through an area where the sides of the highway had more
litter showing than grass or dirt. Sad.
Kruger had very little litter; a baby diaper and some minor stuff.
Johannesburg was no worse than other cities, but no better either.
Copenhagen was sadly, as that is my home
city, not as clean as I remembered it. A country drive showed
that obviously some people think it is okay to through litter
out car windows there too.
I am mentioning this to reiterate that theproblem
is global, not merely local.
A few days
after returning home, we did a walk on our road, a 1km stretch that
we'd cleaned just before I left in late September. It netted 4 full
shopping bags of litter.
SEPTEMBER 2, 2009
There is a lovely short road I like to take
when I drive to Guelph. It is the 28th Sideroad between 1st and 2nd.
Line. It is heavily treed at one end with a canopy over the road and
at the other end it climbs up a hill with a lovely view over fields
and farm land.
There are only about three homes on the road and they are far back,
two of them unseen because of trees and brush. It has such a nice
feel. Beside one of the driveways to one of the homes is a tiny
pioneer cemetery. I like visiting there now and then, imagining what
life must have been like for the people that lay buried here, some
of them quite young.
Yesterday on our way to hike on a trail that runs
in the bush not far from that little road we came across the above.
There is all kinds of garbage: lots of baby
diapers; Part empty baby food jars; Pepsi cans; plastic; styrofoam
and a pack of pork chops crawling with flies (see below).
In our area everyone, well obviously not everyone,
separate their garbage into recyclables, returnables, compostable
and garbage. The cans and jars would be recyclables, the meat
compostable and much of the rest could be separated into those
categories.
It was just dumped for someone else to deal with. We didn't take it
this time, maybe on another trip, but the stench was unreal and the
flies just buzzing.
AUGUST 28, 2009
Today we collected 10 Kilos / about 20 lbs.
Total walk about 1/2 mile and 1 hour in time.
And this is what it looks like sorted out.
We hit the "mother lode" there is about $4 worth of returnable
bottles and cans, which will help offset the cost of the larger
stuff that we pay a dumping fee for at the Milton Waste disposal
site.
Aug.
27, 2009
For the first time we weighed the
"loot" 7 KG or around 12 lbs.
This from a stretch we've done many times this
year.
total walk about 1 hr. 15 minutes
Aug,
24, 2009
We did one of our short walks.
Two blue-boxes full of unsorted garbage from the
garbage of the day.
Total walk time about 1 hour.
SPRING 2009 - IMAGES FROM THE
FIRST WEEK OF COLLECTING
Spring
2009 -
10 feet from the road,
at the edge of a forest wetland area, someone had dumped several
bags filled with household garbage: plastic bottles; diapers;
plastic bags; cans;Note: Much of the debris
is in water, leeching who knows what.
My
step-mother, Thora Hallas Jespersen picking up the debris seen in the
image above a few days later.
The
"haul" from one day on the same short stretch of road.
Yet
another few days of collecting on the same 1/2 mile stretch yields this. In this image
the trash is sorted into: two containers of returnable items, one
recyclable and two bags of landfill trash.
It took many days before we could do the whole half mile
stretch in one trip. Mostly we'd fill up our bags to capacity and leave a
stretch untouched. Twice, on this short stretch, we fetched the car to bring
home larger pieces of trash and full green garbage bags.
It started a habit for the two of us of going out for half
an hour in one direction and half an hour coming home every few days. Then we
coerced our neighbour, Linda Skoropad, into coming out with us on some of
our garbage excursions. I thought, as we walked the ditch, that if everyone
could "Have a Green Heart" all this trash wouldn't be there.
Then I started a
Facebook group (Please feel free to join). Soon my brother's mother
in-law voiced her desire to come out with us. I found some chartreuse
green t-shirts in our local Giant Tiger store and bought up the lot, they
were on sale 100% cotton. When we wear them and all look the same we feel
less conspicuous picking up the garbage.
We've had people biking by thanking us, cars honk and wave,
neighbours stop and ask what we are doing and thank us, one neighbour,
insisted on us coming into his house for coffee and a snack and said that he
and his children would do a stretch of the road as well. It is spreading,
albeit slowly, but surely.
Our area, like many communities, has a once a year,
springtime volunteer roadside pick-up. A lot of people come out and do their
bit. At the end of the day green garbage bags line the ditches waiting to go
to landfills. It is better than doing nothing by far, but a few weeks later
the debris starts collecting in the ditches again ... Littering just have to
stop. It is of detriment to the health of our planet. Plastic cups and
bottles and coffee lids NEVER biodegrade, they just break down into smaller
and smaller pieces.
I know that one person CAN make a difference, two can make a
larger difference and a group of people can make the world of difference.
Join us please: Pick up litter now and then, or often; Say
no to plastic bags and containers whenever you can and never, ever litter.
Through-out these pages are ideas for simple things that
everyone can do be part of the whole and make a difference.
Links on this page:
Wikipedia:
The Niagara Escarpment
NOVEMBER 6, 2009 |
|
I returned home from South Africa and Denmark October
22nd.
As expected, the litter problems there are no less
than here in Ontario Canada, and in some areas in South Africa a lot worse. Returning
to Johannesburg after a 4 day trip in the Kruger National park we
passed through an area where the sides of the highway had more
litter showing than grass or dirt. Sad. Copenhagen was sadly, as that is my home city, not as clean as I remembered it. A country drive showed that obviously some people think it is okay to through litter out car windows there too. I am mentioning this to reiterate that theproblem is global, not merely local. A few days after returning home, we did a walk on our road, a 1km stretch that we'd cleaned just before I left in late September. It netted 4 full shopping bags of litter. |
SEPTEMBER 2, 2009 |
 |
|
There is a lovely short road I like to take
when I drive to Guelph. It is the 28th Sideroad between 1st and 2nd.
Line. It is heavily treed at one end with a canopy over the road and
at the other end it climbs up a hill with a lovely view over fields
and farm land. Yesterday on our way to hike on a trail that runs in the bush not far from that little road we came across the above. There is all kinds of garbage: lots of baby diapers; Part empty baby food jars; Pepsi cans; plastic; styrofoam and a pack of pork chops crawling with flies (see below). In our area everyone, well obviously not everyone,
separate their garbage into recyclables, returnables, compostable
and garbage. The cans and jars would be recyclables, the meat
compostable and much of the rest could be separated into those
categories.
|
AUGUST 28, 2009 |
 |
|
Today we collected 10 Kilos / about 20 lbs. Total walk about 1/2 mile and 1 hour in time. |
 |
|
And this is what it looks like sorted out. We hit the "mother lode" there is about $4 worth of returnable bottles and cans, which will help offset the cost of the larger stuff that we pay a dumping fee for at the Milton Waste disposal site. |
| Aug. 27, 2009 |
 For the first time we weighed the "loot" 7 KG or around 12 lbs. This from a stretch we've done many times this year. total walk about 1 hr. 15 minutes |
| Aug, 24, 2009 |
 We did one of our short walks. Two blue-boxes full of unsorted garbage from the garbage of the day. Total walk time about 1 hour. |
| SPRING 2009 - IMAGES FROM THE FIRST WEEK OF COLLECTING |
|
Spring
2009 -
10 feet from the road,
at the edge of a forest wetland area, someone had dumped several
bags filled with household garbage: plastic bottles; diapers;
plastic bags; cans; Note: Much of the debris is in water, leeching who knows what. |
|
My
step-mother, Thora Hallas Jespersen picking up the debris seen in the
image above a few days later. |
|
The
"haul" from one day on the same short stretch of road. |
|
Yet
another few days of collecting on the same 1/2 mile stretch yields this. In this image
the trash is sorted into: two containers of returnable items, one
recyclable and two bags of landfill trash. |
It took many days before we could do the whole half mile stretch in one trip. Mostly we'd fill up our bags to capacity and leave a stretch untouched. Twice, on this short stretch, we fetched the car to bring home larger pieces of trash and full green garbage bags.
It started a habit for the two of us of going out for half an hour in one direction and half an hour coming home every few days. Then we coerced our neighbour, Linda Skoropad, into coming out with us on some of our garbage excursions. I thought, as we walked the ditch, that if everyone could "Have a Green Heart" all this trash wouldn't be there.
Then I started a Facebook group (Please feel free to join). Soon my brother's mother in-law voiced her desire to come out with us. I found some chartreuse green t-shirts in our local Giant Tiger store and bought up the lot, they were on sale 100% cotton. When we wear them and all look the same we feel less conspicuous picking up the garbage.
We've had people biking by thanking us, cars honk and wave, neighbours stop and ask what we are doing and thank us, one neighbour, insisted on us coming into his house for coffee and a snack and said that he and his children would do a stretch of the road as well. It is spreading, albeit slowly, but surely.
Our area, like many communities, has a once a year, springtime volunteer roadside pick-up. A lot of people come out and do their bit. At the end of the day green garbage bags line the ditches waiting to go to landfills. It is better than doing nothing by far, but a few weeks later the debris starts collecting in the ditches again ... Littering just have to stop. It is of detriment to the health of our planet. Plastic cups and bottles and coffee lids NEVER biodegrade, they just break down into smaller and smaller pieces.
I know that one person CAN make a difference, two can make a larger difference and a group of people can make the world of difference.
Join us please: Pick up litter now and then, or often; Say no to plastic bags and containers whenever you can and never, ever litter.
Through-out these pages are ideas for simple things that everyone can do be part of the whole and make a difference.
Links on this page:
Wikipedia: The Niagara Escarpment