More Beach Treasure?

Yesterday we discussed good stuff you can find on a beach. What about the bad stuff? There's a new foundation that needs your support. Surfrider works to protect the oceans, and us. Check out the amazingly effective ad on its blog.

And, while we are on the subject of toxins, here's some great news: Wellfleet Selectmen just signed an e-waste resolution, which "calls on its State Representative and State Senator to support passage of a producer take-back bill for electronic waste in the current legislative session, and calls on the Legislature to develop and support legislation to require Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for all consumer electronics products, computers, TVs and household hazardous products." More than half of the towns in Massachusetts have taken this step, including Provincetown, Truro, Eastham, Orleans, Brewster and Dennis. Congratulations to the Wellfleet Selectmen for signing on and to the Recycling Committee for spurring them to make this decision.

More reason to cheer, 28 state legislatures are tackling toxic chemicals, since Congress is still dragging its feet. Read all about it at the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow.

Guest Blog: We all Share the Same Ocean

Tomorrow is the WordCount blogathon post exchange, and I'm delighted to present Kris Bordessa, author, features writer, and the voice behind one of my favorite blogs, Attainable Sustainable, where she writes about reviving the lost art of self-sufficiency, one small change at a time – because every little green initiative we take does make a difference. Here’s Kris …

As with those of you who live or vacation in Wellfleet, I love the ocean. Happily, I live in Hawai‘i where restive beaches, vivid blue water, and neon tropical fish are never far away. But with nature comes responsibility. Everything runs downhill to the ocean.

As you might imagine, plants grow really well here in the tropics. Turn your back, and weeds and vines have taken over roadways and power lines. The solution? Chemical poisons. County workers suited up from head to toe to in hazmat gear spray poison along the roads. They are protected, but Mother Earth is not. Soon, dead brown strips of vegetation frame the asphalt roads. Homeowners spray Roundup because it's easier than hand pulling weeds. How many people consider the fact that the poisons are impacting the natural cycle and will eventually end up in our ocean?

Pests are another problem that are dealt with aggressively here. Residential and commercial buildings are commonly sprayed with harsh pesticides to keep the bug population in check. I get it. Nobody likes cockroaches or centipedes, after all. But at what cost? Those poisons kill bugs while we humans survive with no visible damage, but what about long term? Perhaps we'll have a lovely, bug-free life until cancer rears its ugly head and we realize that the big blue ocean that we say we love is no longer as clear or as thriving as it once was.

These chemical poisons end up in our oceans, they end up in our food, and they end up in our bodies. But our decisions can make a difference.

We have to break the habits that have become part of our day to day living. We can say no to plastic bags. We can ask our grocers to carry local, organic produce. We can cancel the monthly bug spray service and we can stop throwing chemical fertilizers on our lawns. We can choose the greener path whether it's at home or while planning a vacation simply by stopping to consider the impact of our choices and our habits.

Mother Earth will thank you for it. Hawaii will thank you for it. And I'm sure Wellfleet will thank you for it.

Join the Movement! Sack the Bag!

Please consider attending “Sack the Bag” at the Council on Aging, 7 pm, tonight, Wednesday. Plastic bags are unnecessary. They have become a bad habit for many of us. And, contain polyethylene, which consists of long chains of ethylene monomers. Uh-oh, big unpronounceable words. Sometimes I think some really sneaky mid-level administrative aide in the fledgling chemical industry, on his way up, realized that if chemicals had unpronounceable names, regular people like you and me would black out when we heard them. Plastic bags. Ugh! Remember the video, voiced by Jeremy Irons, when San Francisco was trying to ban them? How these bags make their way to the sea and put the lives of sea creatures at risk? Or, as in the Beachcomber parking lot above, get stuck in trees and flutter like flags? If we thought to bring totes or baskets, we would not need plastic bags when shopping.

I hated to tell Sven, but a Swede came up with this horrific invention: From Wikipedia, “The lightweight shopping bag as we know it today is the invention of Swedish engineer Sten Gustaf Thulin. He developed the idea for forming a simple one-piece bag by folding, welding and die-cutting a flat tube of plastic in the early 1960s for packaging company Celloplast of Norrkoping.” (Pronounce the K like this “sh.”) "His idea produced a simple, strong bag with a high load carrying capacity and was patented worldwide by Celloplast in 1965.”

So, before 1965, no plastic bags. When I was a child grocery stores provided bags made of paper. Then we started worrying about trees. What a shame so few people thought of totes back then. It's great to save trees, but plastic has invaded our lives, so it's time to reject plastic, too. It disintegrates and pollutes our waterways, our oceans, our fish. Would you care for some plastic with your fish today? This is aberration.

“In 2009 the United States International Trade Commission did report that the number of bags used in the United States was 102 Billion.”

If you absolutely must accept a plastic bag, once in a while, while shopping, collect them and recycle at Stop & Shop (extreme left of entrance).

Some ignorant storekeepers still give customers plastic bags, even for the purchase of one item, like at CVS, where it's a rule!!! Get gutsy. Suggest to the store clerk that plastic bags are bad for the environment, that you do not need one, and pull out your tote. Write his/her boss and explain why this rule should be lifted.

I am never without a tote ever since Ronni Bennett gave me a marvelous Chico bag, which I carry in my purse at all times and use on a regular basis. How do you avoid plastic bags?

How To Keep Kids Busy At Wellfleet's Mayo Beach

Mayo Beach, at low tide, is the perfect place for children. Here's a game I invented. You give each child a list of objects. The goal is to see who can find the most items on the list:

1.) The whitest feather
2.) The biggest clam shell
3.) The smallest oyster shell
4.) The shiniest mussel shell
5.) The prettiest stone
6.) A sand dollar
7.) The most colorful piece of plastic
8.) A broken balloon or a Lego
9.) The most interesting piece of driftwood.
10.) A discarded horseshoe crab shell.

This game is a great way to discuss both nature and plastic pollution, as well as which man-made objects should not be washing up on our beaches. It can be played at any season, even in inclement weather. When my kids were small, it was easy to find the final item, but today there are fewer horseshoe crabs around. If you played a game like this with your children or as children, what else was on your list?

Preservation Hall Elves Create Wreaths for Pageant

I know this sounds silly but the idea of creating a Christmas wreath made me feel giddy, like a little kid on show-and-tell morning. Excitement made my heart pound as I entered the Senior Center where a small band of elves was already unpacking wreath preparation paraphernalia. There were pretty ribbons and pine cones shaped like roses, ornaments, even a row of butterflies, all awaiting the imagination of volunteers, heaven for arts-and-crafts-type folks, in other words. Not having participated in wreath creation before, I brought my own objects of adornment, most of it collected on three Wellfleet beaches over the past few months. Inspired by what I had seen at the 2009 Preservation Hall Wreath Pageant, I had decided to do a message-wreath, because the occasional theme makes the event even more interesting. Mine would sport a Stop-Plastic-Pollution sign, painted in blue on a piece of driftwood. I laid out my beach junk on a table and glanced around.

“I would say watch the stuff you want to keep,” veteran wreath-maker Sharyn Lindsay advised as she began to prowl around the supply boxes.

Sharyn pounced on some fascinating wrapping material that had come in a box for the B&B last week, perfect for this type of activity. I was glad she would put the crinkly brown paper to use, recycling it. Everyone was working with a different type of decoration. I had begun braiding three New York Times bags. The main color of my wreath was to be blue.

“Everything she’s chosen is rosaries blessed by Pope Benedict the XVIth,” one elf chuckled as a friend began to weave beaded necklaces into fir branches.

Christmas music was playing in the background. Sharyn’s son Caleb acted as DJ while elf Tracy Plaut served hot cider and baked goods. I did not partake in the refreshments, too busy with my creation.

“This is like a party!” someone commented.

It was also serious business, creating wreaths that people will want to bid on and buy in support of Preservation Hall during Deck the Halls weekend, December 11-12. Our wreaths will raise precious money to help with the final costs of renovation.

Organizer Mark Gabrielle seemed to be everywhere. When the time came, he helped me affix a bit of broken Frisbee with a glue gun. Finally my wreath was finished. The whole process took over an hour and was FUN!

“It’s fantastic!” Sharyn Lindsay exclaimed.

Her wreath is really nice, too. Check it out!