Welcome to fall!

It's fall again, one-piecers.  What does that mean to my - to OUR - campaign?

Here's a few things I've noticed:

• The mix of garbage shifts.  Fewer people are hanging out in public places in the Northwest because of the turn in the weather.  That means fewer caches of beer cans on the street and in bushes.
• Paper garbage is decomposing in place.  That means more recyclable containers and plastic.
• Recyclables are gathering in drains again, brought there by storm runoff

Personally, I've been struggling with some frustrations.  

I was surprised last night to notice that my adopt-a-stop here on Finn Hill was full to the brim, less than two weeks after my last trip to empty it.  Visiting it today, I found it stuffed full of empty cans from our local teenagers' favorite brew - Steel Reserve.  I understand - I was a teenager once - but crushing the cans would be a nice gesture, boys :-).  

A lot of the rest of the garbage was neatly tied bags of dog excreta.  While I'm glad it doesn't wind up on the ground and in our storm runoff drains, I do see my adopt-a-stop can as somewhat of an attractive nuisance in that regard.  Again, I understand - as a dog owner, it's more attractive to drop my bagged poop in a convenient roadside can rather than packing it all the way home.  Still, it makes adopt-a-stop duty a little less pleasant.  

This week, the stop was littered with cigarette butts again.  What can we do to shift the societal norm towards putting butts in the trash rather than on the ground?  

Random musings from your faithful blogger.

Finally, we've been the target of theft - three times now - of our garbage cart.  Three times in the last year it's disappeared from in front of the house during the 12 hours between collection and walking it back to the house.  Finn Hill neighbors, are others being targeted?  

Enjoy the fall, Seatttle - and keep on picking up one piece a day.

One walk a day - Cleaning up the Cross-Kirkland Corridor

A few months ago, my wife mentioned that there was a new trail in Kirkland, where they were removing the disused train tracks.  There's been a lot of that around this area in recent memory - the Sammamish River trail and the Burke Gilman were both railroad beds originally.

The Cross Kirkland Corridor (http://www.kirklandwa.gov/Community/Cross_Kirkland_Corridor.htm) is in early stages, but already the rails are gone, and a thick layer of crushed quarry rock makes a rough but workable walking surface.  

My wife and I have made it a summer project to walk the length of the trail in short increments and to help remediate the garbage along the way.  I'm happy to report that the Adopt-A-Trail program is fully subscribed (http://www.kirklandwa.gov/Community/Cross_Kirkland_Corridor/Get_Involved.htm).  We aren't part of that program - we're just interlopers, bringing a bag and gathering trash as we walk.

Thus far, we've traveled from the North end of the trail in Totem Lake down to the Everest neighborhood, almost two thirds of the total trail length.  

Heading North to South, the trail starts in an industrial area, passing by Totem Lake and behind warehouses.  This end of the trail is/was thick with garbage, and we filled bags quickly.

Garbage and recyling at the North end of the trail

Once past the 116th street freeway onramp, the trail becomes more suburban, and there are some lovely stretches bounded by blackberry and horsetail.  

The area adjacent to Crestwoods park in particular is really nice and a great area for birdwatching.  A runoff stream runs alongside the trail for most of its length.

We're enjoying the walks, the scenery, and it feels good to collect trash as a family.  It's bringing us together and making us feel like we can make a difference.  

Enjoy your summer, friends - we are.

One coin a day - has a penny reached the status of garbage?

Recently while picking up litter at the bus stop, I found a nickel.  It was one of a number of coins I've found recently while scanning the ground, and it reminded me of a blog post I wrote in September 2006 about finding money while cycling to work.

9/29/2006

It's amazing to me how much money is just lying around in the street. Biking to work, I see coins lying in the street all the time. They sit there day after day and I'm the only one who seems to pick them up.

 This morning, at the most prolific intersection on my route, I spotted three pennies and a dime. I then picked up a quarter at the second most lucrative spot, which is on M$ campus. The first spot is about a mile and a half from home, so I just went for a walk and picked up the three pennies and a dime, plus a fourth penny I didn't see in the same spot. While I was on my way, I spotted a quarter in the gutter, and there was a nickel on the sidewalk about 2 feet away. Finally, I spotted another penny in the street about halfway to home.

 Don't know about you, but I still consider it worthwhile to pick up a penny.

The stuff that lies in the street gets all scuffed up - sometimes to the point where they are unrecognizable. 

Here's today's haul. All but the scuffed quarter were picked up on my walk just now.

One Coin A Day?

It makes me wonder:  in this affluent suburb, why don't we stop to pick up change?  Is it that the perceived value is so low?  Is it just unseen?  Or are we sending the same message with coins as we are with garbage:  that it's beneath us to bow to the ground and pick something up there, or that anything that has touched the ground is automatically contaminated?

Would you stop to pick up a coin on the ground?  Why or why not?

What MH370 is teaching us about ocean debris

March 8^th of this year, Malaysian airlines flight MH370 disappeared.  The baffling disappearance is a mystery that persists 86 days later despite what is perhaps the most technologically sophisticated search conducted to date.

While the disappearance of the flight remains an unsolved mystery, one side effect of the intense search has been to focus attention on the large amount of man-made floating debris in the most remote parts of the ocean, everything from lost or discarded fishing gear to entire lost shipping containers.

“Search efforts intensified on 20 March, after large pieces of possible debris had been photographed in this area four days earlier by a satellite. Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea assigned military and civilian ships and aircraft to the search. China published images from satellite Gaofen 1 on 22 March that showed large debris about 120 km (75 mi) south west of the previous sighting. On 26 March, images from French satellites indicated 122 floating objects in the southern Indian Ocean. Thai satellite images published on 27 March showed about 300 floating objects about 200 km (120 mi) from the French satellites' target area. The abundant finds, none yet confirmed to be from the flight, brought the realisation of the prior lack of surveillance over the area, and the vast amounts of marine debris littering the oceans.” - Wikipedia: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

The referenced Wikipedia article has pulled together many of the reports of marine debris fields discovered in the vast and remotest parts of the Southern Indian Ocean, sourced from plane overflights, search vessels, and some of the largest from satellite imagery.  Imagine, garbage fields visible from space!

Can this ocean of garbage be cleaned up?  Unlikely.  The effort required to collect large amounts of garbage in remote and untraveled areas is prohibitive, and represents a drop in a very large bucket.  It’s hard to know how to start to help.  A large proportion of the garbage in remote areas comes from huge shipping containers lost overboard, loss of equipment from large-scale fishing operations.  However, some proportion of it is undoubtedly sourced on land, from household garbage.

On a recent visit to Port Townsend, Washington State’s quaint Victorian arts community and tourist haven, I walked the beaches along Discovery Bay, and was reminded of the lessons of MH370 by the trash all over the littoral zone.  I picked up a nice pile of plastic bags and sheeting. 

 I left the tires. 

It makes me feel helpless to think of the insurmountable task of cleaning up the ocean.  What I can do is small but impactful – pick up a piece or more of trash every day.  365 pieces a year.  Maybe a few thousand in a lifetime.  If we can spread this discipline, teach our kids, get 100, 1000, a million, a billion people doing the same, will it end the problem?  No, but it’s a start.  

Join me, won’t you?

The scoop about trash and wildlife: check your facts before you act

A good friend recently contacted me on Facebook, sending me a graphic that warned of the danger that discarded chewing gum poses to small birds. “Thank you for your counter-litterbug blog and activities.” she wrote. “This reminded me of you!” 

I’ve mentioned threats to wildlife before, and this seemed like a good prod in the direction of a full post devoted to specific wildlife threats.  I've heard a few horror stories: marine birds and other animals snarled in plastic six-pack rings, pigeons exploding after eating processed rice, and now, gum mistaken for bread by unsuspecting finches. 

Only, as it turns out, none of these appear to stand up to inspection.

We are a soundbite culture, and it is tempting to grasp onto something simple and graphic and rally behind it.  For example, there are documented cases of seabirds and other wildlife caught in the plastic rings used to hold soda cans.  It’s a shocking picture, and it’s easy to hold in your mind.  It’s a simple thing to talk about, and it makes us feel like heroes when we cut up the rings before putting them in the trash.

However, plastic rings are not the top culprit in the entanglement and death of animals, marine or otherwise.  Far more animals are snared in discarded nets and fishing line.  Here’s one article that summarizes the issue well:  http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1336/should-you-cut-up-six-pack-rings-so-they-dont-choke-sea-birds.   Does this mean you shouldn’t cut up the rings?  No, but you should realize that you may not be making the impact you think you are.  It may be more helpful to ensure that the rings are part of trash that is properly bagged and discarded in a responsible landfill (yes, even landfills are getting their act together: http://environmentalchemistry.com/yogi/hazmat/articles/trash.html).

My ask is that if you read about a compelling and viral environmental issue, please check your facts before you repost.  Other examples:

•           Chewing gum is probably not a credible health threat to birds, and no, birds are not so dumb that they mistake gum for bread: http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/gumbirds.asp
•           Birds do not explode when they eat dry rice: http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/birdrice.asp

So, if none of these are significant threats, what type of litter has a real impact on the natural world, and how can we best act to limit the damage?

Here are some likely culprits:

1. Litter on beaches or in waterways.  I’ve written about the great vortex of plastic trash in the Pacific ocean and the impact it has on the ecosystem.  Keeping garbage out of waterways and off beaches seems like a great investment of time.  The threat of marine animals attempting to eat floating plastic bags is alone cited more frequently than the problem of plastic soda rings. (http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/science/wildlife-under-threat-from-record-beach-litter-$1218176.htm, http://www.epa.gov/owow/oceans/debris/toolkit/files/Sec3.litterinwaterways508.pdf ).
2. Pesticides and household hazardous waste.  Runoff from fields, spills from industrial operations, and storm runoff that includes the results of your last oil change have a long lasting impact, and the bioconcentration that occurs over time is a direct threat to the species at the top of the food chain (that means us).  (http://www.chintiminiwildlife.org/Education/LivingWithWild/Litter.htm )
3. Cigarette butts.  Not only is nicotine a potent toxin, but cigarette filters contain toxic materials that I don’t even want to think about, let alone see leach into my soil (http://www.legacyforhealth.org/our-issues/cigarettes-and-the-environment, http://www.longwood.edu/cleanva/ciglitterarticle.htm, http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/45874).  By the way, in case you get into the trap of thinking there’s no hope, know that some scientists are making progress on solutions  (http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/2012/06/2012-0725-biodegradable-cigarette-filters/ ).

Those three are a good place to start.  Since researching this article, I’ve stepped up my efforts to clear the ground of cigarette butts.  I urge you to do the same.  

At least one piece, friends:  It’s for the birds.

A Rogue's Gallery: One Pic A Day (Photo Essay)

To round out 2013, I snapped a picture of one piece of litter that I picked up and threw away each day in December.  

Presented for your edification and delight, here is my "litter-ary" calendar:

1  Gasworks park Just after lunch.  Coffee cup.	2 Houghton park and ride 8:45 AM.  Plastic bag w/ crushed cans.
3  Thomas Street 9 AM. V8 Fusion bottle.	4  Denny Park 9 AM. Waxy paper bag.
5 Yale Avenue 9 AM 40 oz Bud bottle	6   University District 8:30 AM Party cups
7 Kirkland 9 AM Coffee Cup	8 International District 3:30 PM Plastic bag
9 Houghton Park n Ride 8:30 AM Coors beer can	10 Stewart St. U-Park 8:30 AM Newspaper
11 Olive St. Bus station 5:30 PM Stranger insert	12 Finn Hill. 5:45 PM  Adopt-a-stop duty.
13 Supermarket parking lot 10:15 AM Lighter	14 Houghton 10:30 AM Cigarette butts
15 Burke Gilman Trail 9:00 AM Hubcap	16 Houghton Park n Ride 8:10 AM Ready-bagged recycling
17 Totem lake freeway station 8:30 AM Camel cigarette pack	18 South Kirkland Park and ride 10:30 AM New years eve flyer
19 Houghton park and ride 8:15 AM Throw blanket	20 Finn Hill 2:00 PM Wine box
21 Finn Hill 1:00 PM Fruit cup	22 Alderwood Mall 4:30 PM Promotional sign
23 Yale Ave. 9 AM Water bottle	24 Downtown Kirkland 2:00 PM Tinsel
25 Finn Hill 2:00 PM McDonald’s bag	26 Burke Gilman trail 2:00 PM Bar coasters
27 Bridle Trails 1:30 PM Styrofoam to-go container	28 Woodland Park Zoo 3:00 PM Ziploc bag
29 Redmond Town Center 6:30 PM Receipt	30 Kingsgate 3:00 PM Snyder’s Pretzel bag
31 Houghton park and ride 8:30 AM Soda cup	Happy New Year From OnePieceADay!