October 18, 2021

by drplasticpicker

How many blog post have I written? Let me check. [PAUSE]. WOWZER!!! 619 blogposts. Equal to the number of our area code! 569 bags of trash in total yesterday. I was worried I was behind on my 20 bags a month I promise to the earth, but there was enough left over midnight revelry beach plastic on Saturday morning to justify a 4 bag credit. There was a broken boogie board which is made of styrofoam! I tossed that before it broke up into a bazillion pieces! Two pizza boxes from Mr. Moto’s Pizza, and those pizza plastic triangular table that goes in the center. I didn’t even know they make those anymore? I wonder how much Mr. Moto’s Pizza is? Wow, $21 for a NY style fancy pie. Dr. Plastic Picker’s Pizza cost less than $1 if you make your own homemade dough. I did buy some frozen cauliflower crust pizza on Costco because it was on sale. It’s just for the kids when they are inudated with homework and I might have a work meeting that goes late on Tuesday. But usually we make our own pizza now.

So I’m at bag #9 for the month, and there is still a good two weeks left. I’m pretty sure I can make my committment to the earth. I’m excited to be at bag #569 to get to my #1000 bag total. Yesterday I did a true plog and ran a bit further than I usually would. I ran along the sand early in the morning, as it’s good for your feet. My body and spirit feel good these days, and I think I’ll run the Vancouver half marathon with my younger brother. It’s on my bucket list to do, and if I ran about three times a week and slowly work up on the miles – I should be ready by May 2022. I’ve run plenty of half marathons in my life, but this will be special because it will be the first half I’ve run since going on this journey. I declared on my personal facebook page joyously, “My present to myself was to restart running but to do it sustainably and combining stretching, yoga and dancing. I’m not going to run for time anymore. I’m not going to log in miles. I’m going to run when it feels good and it felt really good this morning.”

How beautiful is this world? This is my spot. This is where I run to and then I walk up the steps up into Birdrock and to my parents’ house. This is the stretch where I go for my why. There are now more marbled godwits and snowy egrets than I’ve ever seen before. I have to believe 569 bags of plastic pollution made some difference. Yesterday there was not that much, but there were straws, bits of weathered styrofoam, shoes, half burnt and weathered aluminum cans, and some microplastics. I told my father about the plastic in the bellies of the shorebirds, and how it starves them and they can’t make their migratory journey sometimes. The love of birds, is something I share with my parents. I love those birds, and the majestic snowy egrets the most.

Can one save a spot that is precious to one’s soul? Can I clean this one stretch of beach? I claimed this spot two or three years ago, I don’t remember now how long. But it’s there that I go to see into the heart of the earth, and into my heart. I’m mostly happy these days but I do remember the saddness. The headaches. The work stresses. The time I almost left medicine because I was sad. I was broken back then. But it’s good to cry and I appreciate being able to still feel the sadness once in a while.

But mostly these days life is joyous because that spot showed me both how small I am, yet that I can do something. I can pick up a piece of plastic and help the ocean and help my friends the birds. The marbled godwits, the snowy egrets, the small snowy plovers – they must have souls. They are like angels touching the earth.

So I’m running again and I’m stronger. This graphic from an Instagram friend was very powerful yesterday. Have a wonderful sustainable week my dear friends.