Office Beach Cleanings – Dr. Plastic Picker
 

Category: Office Beach Cleanings

My father-in-law, his first pick up with me. He had a wonderful day.

September 19, 2021

by drplasticpicker

It’s 558am, and it’s the day after the 2021 Coastal Clean Up Day. It’s a symbolic day where the community is invited to come together to pick up trash and plastic pollution to help the oceans. I organized a work group to clean up on the bayside of the southern part of San Diego Bay at the Chula Vista Boating Launch Ramp. It was a long process that included sending emails to our department, posting on our MD Facebook group. I figured out how to use sign-up genius, and posted during our differerent work presentation reminders. I considered different areas to clean and texted RN Plastic Picker about advice about where to clean. I drove to two different areas to scope out which areas would be the most approrpriate and settled upon an area in the South County where I grew up, that had plenty of plastic pollution at a scenic walkway. I exchanged emails and text messages with various people. Mr. Plastic Picker and I went to the grocery store Friday night late, after a long day of work to get supplies and snacks for the event. My father-in-law happily agreed to come with me to help set up, mostly to put up our tent that we needed. RN Plastic Picker convinced her tween daughter to come, and another nursing manager came. We arrived at 740am right on time, and quickly set up in about 20 minutes. We didn’t leave until about 1130am, so a good four hours of our time. About 15 people of various ages came with their family and I’ve detailed the beauty of the day on different facebook pages and there are plenty of wonderful pictures of the day. This is one I’ll always remember, because I feel like I found this tree and I got to help clean around her roots and tell a child that I love that I found it for her and she should sit on it.

Mighty and beautiful tree.
Looking up into the sky. She and all our children deserve us to try.

The actual amount of trash that we gathered was respectable. Here is what it looked like, and given the wind conditions – I know that it would have all gone into the ocean.

The trash that our team gathered.

Was it worth it? Was it worth all that time? I’m sitting here and it’s 608am now and it’s still dark and I can’t go out by myself to the beach to clean just yet. It’s too dark. But the memories of yesterday and everything that led up to yesterday are washing over me, and every moment was worth it. Every part of the efforts that led to yesterday were worth it. There were so many moments throughout the entire process that I will never forget. I’m closing my eyes again and letting it wash over me. I get kind of choked up when I think about it.

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Second Office Beach Cleaning. It was a beautiful day.

February 7, 2020

by drplasticpicker

It is 72 hours since the 2nd Office Beach Clean Up. Usually I will tell families if the fever is gone after 72 hours, than no need to come back. The virus has subsided and it is over. Perhaps when the contagion is good https://drplasticpicker.com/behaviors-are-contagious-i-am-trying-to-spread-a-good-contagion/, the euphoria and goodwill can last well after the 72 hour period. Perhaps it can last a lifetime.

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This photo was a big hit on @drplasticpicker Instagram account! Grab your ocean plastic pollution bag and become insta-FAMOUS! Remember to tag us at #drplasticpicker

January 27, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Hello drplasticpicker friends and my office friends in real life! We are having our 2nd Office Beach Cleaning at Imperial Beach Pier this Sunday, February 2 from 730-9AM. There will be simple but filling breakfast afterwards. Children welcome and I can sign off on community service hours as well. 

Let me know at the office or email me at drplasticpicker@gmail.com if you are planning on coming. We can accommodate last minute folks but I need a rough head count for food and also if we have more than 25, I Love A Clean San Diego will need to let the San Diego Police know.  Just bring yourselves. My goal is about 20 people so that we can chat and just be together as well. Our cleanings are really low stress, quick and early in the morning so the beach is peaceful and perfect. We meet at the picnic tables under the permanent awnings just south of the IB PIER. There will be someone to watch your stuff.

I’ll have supplies from ILCSD and waiver forms on site. Sunscreen, hat and reusable water bottle please! Children must have an adult with them.

If the @drplasticpicker reusable bags get done in time, I’ll bring one for each volunteer. If they are not delivered by Sunday, I’ll definitely reserve a bag for you. Thank you on behalf of our plastic picker/plastic reducing community!

Click here to read about our last cleaning, and why it’s great to bring your kids https://drplasticpicker.com/part-3-office-beach-clean-up-final-results/

November 24, 2019

by drplasticpicker

It has been well documented in the social sciences literature that many health outcomes are due to habits. And it is also been well documented in the scientific and lay literature that behaviors (good and bad) can spread within social circles. We become like the people we associate with especially is there is mutual admiration and affection.

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November 17, 2019

by drplasticpicker

View of our group from the Life Guard Tower. Photo credit my Nursing Manager friend now RNPlasticpicker.

This update post is 2 weeks late. Usually I’m able to churn out posts pretty quick (Mr. Plastic Picker thinks too quick). I think it is because I have 40+ years of writing pent up that needs to get out. This blog post took longer because it involved many people who mean a lot to me and I wanted to do this right. If you are reading this and you are part of our community, thank you for spending your precious weekend morning with drplasticpicker and Mr. Plastic Picker for our first Office Beach Clean Up. As I was planning the beach clean up https://drplasticpicker.com/how-to-plan-an-office-beach-clean-up-together/, I was not sure what would happen and how many would come. I figured worse case scenario, it would be just Mr. Plastic Picker and myself and we would at least collect two bags of ocean plastic.

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November 4, 2019

by drplasticpicker

The important part of this picture, is the hand that is holding up the bukcet handle. That hand belonds to Mr. Plastic Picker.

Drplasticpicker and Mr. Plastic Picker spent Friday and Saturday morning preparing for and then participating in our first Office Ocean Plastic Picking Outing. This journey of becoming drplasticpicker has brought unexpected joys, and one joy is that it has made me cherish Mr. Plastic Picker even more. In this journey of becoming Drplasticpicker, Mr. Plastic Picker and I have had all sorts of fun.

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October 27, 2019

by drplasticpicker

I am lucky to be part of a fun office with like-minded pediatricians, nurses and back-office support staff. We work together. Share meals together. Celebrate birthdays and each others’ big milestones. Drplasticpicker’s office friends wanted to do an ocean beach cleanup in order to bond and help the earth together! I am excited about posting the results of our group clean-up which will be next weekend.

In this blog post, I will describe the 10 steps it took to organize the office beach clean up.

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