October 16, 2019
by drplasticpicker
I had adventures this morning! Drplasticpicker was up before sunrise and I met a wondrous sight. I try to clean at the ocean’s edge and along the sand cliffs, and sometimes I’ll pick ocean plastic on the main beach. I’ve seen sand being brought it to rebuild the beach, but wondered how the beach itself was cleaned? Now, I have seen it with my own eyes! It is cleaned by the Surf Rake, a tractor-towed beach cleaner.
October 15, 2019
by drplasticpicker
Good evening. I needed to write a light-hearted post tonight. The reality is that bad diagnoses always come in threes. As physicians, our hearts are often like teflon. Bad things happen to good people, and if you feel too deeply, there is no way to make it in medicine. It breaks my heart to see my patients ill and suffering. Since I’ve been on this plastic picking journey, I find myself more emotionally open to them but it makes me feel their anguish more. I had three patients recently with three different serious diagnoses. I will think about them and worry about them and cry for them tonight. But I will write this silly post and it will help me get through the next day.
October 13, 2019
by drplasticpicker
Drplasticpicker and Mr. Plastic Picker (husband) went on a short trip to San Francisco, and visited the famous Pier 39 – home to the San Francisco Bay Sea Lions. Since the Plastic Picker family lives in the same state, we have visited Pier 39 several times. But this weekend was the first time we went upstairs to The Sea Lion Center https://www.aquariumofthebay.org/sea-lion-center/! What a treat! The Plastic Picker children decided to stay home with their grandparents so it was a fun weekend away!
October 10, 2019
by drplasticpicker
October 10, 2019
by drplasticpicker
When I was a child up until the 8th grade, I wanted to be a children’s author and thought it was possible. My parents suggested medicine as artists often struggle financially, and ever the obedient daughter I became a doctor. I never fundamentally cared about material things which is why I went with my heart and I became a pediatrician. We are the lowest paid medical specialty. I also have a fascination with the Law & Order series, and that is the only TV series other than Gidget that I have ever binge watched. This is why I am so happy that drplasticpicker has allowed me to author this blog post as a bit player is a Law & Order like episode! Here is my story.
October 8, 2019
by drplasticpicker
I have dreams of ocean plastic picking on far off beaches, but the reality is that the stretch of coastline I walk along needs me. Every day is different. Different sunsets, different views, different living beings, and different experiences. If I don’t pick up along my short stretch, who will? I’ve walked by the same lost item several times over several days before I collect the item, so my experiential truth is that likely no one else will.
I have learned to appreciate the small changes along my stretch. I pick plastic, and stop to admire the remnants of castles and sculptures children have painstakingly built. These are the ruins I have seen in the sand.
October 7, 2019
by drplasticpicker
The Sea Turtle is our Spirit Animal. Why the sea turtle? The sea turtle is a marine and terrestrial animal. It’s life cycle starts on the sandy beaches where they hatch and then crawl to the ocean, the kelp where they live their first years, the great ocean during their adult lives, and back to the same beaches where they return to nest. The sea turtle is acutely vulnerable to ocean plastic, since as young sea turtles they live amongst the kelp beds and sometimes mistake bits of plastic for food. Sea turtles are also beautiful and majestic. The Sea Turtle is our spirit animal, because drplasticpicker hopes to be like the turtle – every day being consistent and persistent in our ocean plastic picking. Although the sea turtle is not a tortoise, it is related. Like the hare and the tortoise parable, the tortoise will win the race against ocean plastic debris.
October 4, 2019
by drplasticpicker
It has been over a month since I started this new hobby. I told my middle-school aged daughter tonight, “I am going to write a post about how ocean plastic picking has made me a better pediatrician.”
She replied, “You mean better than other pediatricians?”
“No, I mean a better pediatrician than I was before.” I answered in all seriousness. I know where her thoughts were coming from. I have always thought that anyone who makes it through the medical training process, including her mother, must have some level of narcissism and arrogance to make it and succeed. We have to convince parents, patients and colleagues that we are just special enough to deserve their trust, their respect and that we know what we are doing. Being mid-career, I certainly know I am competent. But the regular ritual of collecing ocean plastic has helped me be a better and more humble pediatrician.
Now I get to finally write one of those count-down lists!
October 1, 2019
by drplasticpicker
This is a summary of my September 2019 ocean plastic picking! Total bags of trash and other things found near the shoreline that has been now donated, reused, or gifted. I like to keep a running total on my iPhone. Its amazing to me after just one month, how much one person is able to do!
37 Bags of Ocean Bound Plastic
225 Items Salvaged