December 6, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Thirty-three facebook engagements on the blogpost “I send my kids to private school.” https://drplasticpicker.com/i-send-my-kids-to-private-school-and-thats-ok-i-didnt-know-how-to-cook-and-they-got-organic-food/ OMG. Over 500 views on the blog itself. I try to write my truth and this blog helps me process things, but it’s a delicate balance. Mr. Plastic Picker loved the blog and if he approves I know that it’s appropriate. I do have to correct the mileage on his Prius which is only 100,000. Two-hundred-thousand-miles sounded more dramatic, but he corrected me in my error. But it’s good to have a more standard blogpost today. I try to share bits and pieces of our journey if I think it will help especially to younger MDs. In the end this blog is for the people in our lives and they are real making these decisions about public versus private, where to spend their money, and hopefully making some thoughtful decisions with the earth in mind.

Anyway, the original reason this blog exists is that I wanted to keep track of the number of bags of plastic pollution I gather on my walks and to maybe inspire others to do small acts for the earth. It’s a planetary crisis people, and saving the ocean one piece of plastic at the time has always been the entire point on this blog! Another month and another 20 bags!!! I am really proud I made it to my 20 goal. It was a big harder this month because I started doing some yoga, and wanted to make time for that exercise. Also since my foot feels better for the yoga, I started jogging a bit more. As I’ve written in previous blogposts, I’ve now completely given up my identity as a runner. I’m over that 30 year phase in my life. But cardio is still important, so I’m jogging about 20 minutes before picking up trash while eyeing what needs to be picked up and then circling back while I’m walking for another 30-40 minutes. That’s actually true plogging, jogging and picking. But with this new fitness regimen I had to work out the rhythm of getting the bags of plastic. It’s harder to do this while actually getting to the beach. I’m saving the beach cleans for the weekends mostly. Today I’ll try to get to the beach, as I miss my friends the shorebirds.

So here it is! I picked up 20 bags this month (I arbitrarily extended November an extra 5 days) and #341 total since I started https://drplasticpicker.com/plastic-picking-round-up/. I have salvaged #117 items from the environment to redeploy into the economy, and that is a total of #1349 items total. I found $5.51 this month!

20 Bags of Ocean Bound Plastic Pollution

117 Items Salvaged

Object	Total	Fate
Aluminum Cans	61	Recycled
Plastic Bottles	12	Recycled
Sand Toys	5	Gifted
Flip Flops	2	Donated
Clothing Items	19	Donated
Toys	0	Gifted
Glass Containers	9	Recycled
Hats	0	Donated
Tennis Balls	5	Gifted
Swim Goggles	0	Donated
Office Supply Items	4	Used (esp the moola!)

And that is it! That is this months Plastic Picking Totals. I still question sometimes this crazy journey I’ve embarked upon. My mom gets really upset sometimes. In general she likes that I’m helping the environment, but sometimes the idea that her Crimson Educated Physiican daughter is sorting through trash is hard for her to bear. She grew up with very little and very poor, so it’s hard for her to separate the social stigma of used things with social status. I showed up to pick up food, and she complimented me on my mask. I told her I found it and washed it, and she was not pleased. I will donate that to Goodwill to appease her. But little by little I’m trying to show the world the new reality and new beautiful world that I see. What is old , is now new. We have to go back and adopt the old ways of slow living, appreciating the things we have and the people we already have in our lives. It is all connected.

This journey has given me so many unexpected gifts. Mr. Plastic Picker and I did yoga together for the first time just by watching a YouTube video and using the two mats we’ve had for years. He felt better with the Yoga by Adrienne Low Back Pain video, and I slept deeply through three cycles of REM sleep. Knowing that my husband was taking care of himself allowed me to sleep deeply. I facebook messaged with my old residency friend and mentor Dr. Young-Ho Yoon as he gave me some tips on cooking. It’s like the old days during residency call, but rather than teaching me about fluid management or personal finances – he was giving me the chemical background on searing techniques and marinating salmon. Our Girl Scout Troop is doing a Journey, which is a longer series of badges and tasks and I’m really excited to help organize and lead our troop. It’s on the Environment and Clean Air, and titled BREATHE. Our premed intern and co-founder of San Diego Pediatricians for Clean Air is going to help, and we are going to use it as a model to maybe deploy to other youth groups. And I made this yesterday.

It’s a Pokemon carrying case. I really really like it. It’s made from the soccer ball packaging, and I took apart a well loved trapper keeper folder that my daughter had. I was able to salvage the actual folder, but the extra plastic pieces were perfect to decorate and turn the soccer ball packaging as a house for all the kids’ Pokemons. I also reused some plastic parts and the case from Mr. Plastic Picker’s new work iPhone that we were forced to get.

And with that I hope you dear readers have a wonderful Sunday. Again, I hope you keep our shared planet in mind.

Click here to see what I picked up last month! https://drplasticpicker.com/october-2020-plastic-picking-round-up/

Click here to see my Plastic Picking Totals Lifetime! This is a really fun page. I like looking at it. https://drplasticpicker.com/plastic-picking-round-up/