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shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13049
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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Wildcoast garbage clean up in Asuncion
Every time I drove by the cliffs area at the point, I shuddered with dread at all the unsightly garbage everywhere...so when I saw the flyers all over
town for a Wildcoast sponsored community garbage clean up last weekend, we made it part of our weekend ritual...which usually consists of going to
Ramon's for the worlds best shrimp tacos...then to the beach.
Seeing as Nomad Wanderglobe and Michael the sandcastle man had been in town for a week, we invited them to participate in this local affair. Although
early mornings isnt their cup of tea...we roused them out of their sleeping bags to help make Asuncion a more beautiful place.
We were a bit disappointed to arrive and only see a small handful of folks at the site...but what we lacked in numbers, we made up for in enthusiasm!
Even the kids and puppies helped in their own ways!
I didnt thing such a small group could tackle all the trash in the area...but by the end of the morning...the area was gorgeous!
We discussed ways to attract more people to come out and pitch in...like having a carne asada BBQ afterwards.
Then we treated ourselves to shrimp tacos & Tecates at Ramon's! Thanks to all who DID come out to the clean up!
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Ateo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5917
Registered: 7-18-2011
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Wild coast does good work for Baja. Thanks to all who volunteered!
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Bob H
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5867
Registered: 8-19-2003
Location: San Diego
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That's a great report Shari, and those tacos look great!
The SAME boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It's about what you are made of NOT the circumstance.
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tiotomasbcs
Super Nomad
Posts: 1837
Registered: 7-30-2007
Location: El Pescadero
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DavidE must have written them a letter?! Jus joking. Maybe the Surf team or High School kids could organize a wweekly/monthly Cleanup. Good work!
 Tio
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Gypsy Jan
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4275
Registered: 1-27-2004
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Mood: Depends on which way the wind is blowing
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Hi Shari, Maybe This Story Will Inspire Someone
From the San Francisco Chronicle
Beach Trash to Yard Art on Colusa Ave.
By Carolyn Jones
"Tanya Smith, your hard hat is in Mark Olivier's front yard.
"Anyone missing a catamaran? That's in Olivier's yard, too. Or at least big chunks of it.
Umbrella handles? Fishing poles? Ironing boards? They're all there, along with thousands of other items that have washed up on East Bay beaches.
But what was once trash is now art. Olivier, 57, a longtime carpenter turned glop artist, has converted seven years' worth of shoreline detritus into
sculptures so striking they literally stop traffic. Butane lighters, worn-out shoes, flotation devices - all are the stuff of his expanding
collection.
"My favorite is the poodle," said Jeff Garrett, a neighbor of Olivier's on Colusa Avenue in North Berkeley. "All that work and imagination that went
into it. Although I like the skunk, too. The skunk's too cute."
The 5-foot-high canine - painstakingly fashioned from neon blue crabbing rope - is the newest attraction in Olivier's front yard.
His postage-stamp-size lawn is cluttered with an odd and colorful menagerie of samurai warriors, Buddhas, animals, Greek gods, tiki masks and, of
course, hard hats. Fifty-seven hard hats, including one affixed with Tanya Smith's name tag, hang, Christmas ornament-style, from a pittosporum tree.
But the collection doesn't stop at his property line. He's colonized the yards of a dozen or so neighbors as well.
"You'd be amazed at the crap that washes up," said Olivier. "And this is just the (stuff) I bring home. What's astounding is the amount I leave
there."
How it started
Olivier's obsession began when he was in the throes of a midlife crisis. He was walking his poodle, Zsa Zsa, at a former coastal landfill site known
as the Albany Bulb one morning, bemoaning, as he did daily, the volume of trash on the beach.
"I was thinking, 'why doesn't someone clean this (stuff) up?' " said Olivier, who has a certain facility with the curse word. (He didn't use the word
'stuf.f') "Then I thought, '-hole, why don't you clean it up?' "
He started small. His first haul was some old cigarette lighters and random bits of plastic. But why he decided to use the items for art, and not toss
them in the trash, he can't say.
'Like being a kid'
"It's just fun. I get to play with stuff. It's like being a kid again," he said "When I'm done with a piece, I set it in the front yard and just laugh
for 15 minutes."
[Edited on 5-19-2012 by Gypsy Jan]
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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goldhuntress
Senior Nomad
Posts: 663
Registered: 1-28-2010
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That is really great! Good for you guys And the tacos look delish and well deserved,
[Edited on 5-19-2012 by goldhuntress]
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shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13049
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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thanks Jan...pretty neat all right!
This cliff area had the most boring garbage...mostly plastic bags caught on the prickly bushes, diapers, plastic soda bottles etc. This garbage mostly
comes from the houses up on the cliff...it blows out of their garbage bins or they are tipped over by dogs...so if those houses would just secure
thier bins and put lids on them...much of the constant trash there would be eliminated. It was kinda weird seeing those house owners watching us pick
up the trash that mostly came from their houses.
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mcfez
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8678
Registered: 12-2-2009
Location: aka BN yankeeirishman
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Excellent thing to do. Our campos does the same ting several times per year
LOve the puppy picture
Old people are like the old cars, made of some tough stuff. May show a little rust, but good as gold on the inside.
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Bajaboy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4375
Registered: 10-9-2003
Location: Bahia Asuncion, BCS, Mexico
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We're always game to help out when in town. Sounds like a great activity for all.
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Udo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6364
Registered: 4-26-2008
Location: Black Hills, SD/Ensenada/San Felipe
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Mood: TEQUILA!
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Cute puppy shot, Shari!
Udo
Youth is wasted on the young!
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Marc
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2802
Registered: 5-15-2010
Location: San Francisco & Palm Springs
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Mood: Waiting
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I have cleaned beaches all over; Polynesia,Micronesia, SE Asia, etc. I remember 20+ years ago I suggested that we clean up Agua Verde. Back then the
beach area near the village was one of the worst I had ever seen... I was slammed for "insulting the locals"
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boe4fun
Super Nomad
Posts: 1040
Registered: 1-22-2006
Location: Margaritaville
Member Is Offline
Mood: Circling the drain........
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Good on all of ya! Shari, check your U2U.
Two dirt roads diverged in Baja and I, I took the one less graveled by......
Soy ignorante, apático y ambivalente. No lo sé y no me importa, ni modo.
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DavidE
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3814
Registered: 12-1-2003
Location: Baja California México
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Mood: 'At home we demand facts and get them. In Mexico one subsists on rumor and never demands anything.' Charles Flandrau,
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One of the "great revelations" to me on my first trip to Mexico were the "basureos" the public dumps just outside the pueblos on the carretera
principal (main road). Back then, it was piles and piles of rusting steel cans and glass bottles. Little else was there, anything at all "fresh" was
given to the pig or goats or anything that would consume them.
Our vecinos used to watch in wonder as we were packing up camp to leave. Not only would we police the immediate area, but wander in a wide radius
picking up glass bottles, rusting cans, and detritus of every description. We would with pick and shovel bury everything in a remote spot.
Except for southern Mexico the gente are becoming more picky about trash. Shoulders of highways are now cleaner than they ever have been. It may take
decades longer for rural Mexico to adopt this attitude, of heaving trash out the back window for the wind to scatter, but what a difference the last
twenty years have made! Progress my first thirty years went a lot slower.
A Lot To See And A Lot To Do
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woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15939
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
Member Is Offline
Mood: Everchangin'
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we donate to wildcoast. you should too!
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ElCap
Nomad
Posts: 281
Registered: 1-22-2010
Location: Montara CA, or San Ignacio BCS
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More and more towns in Baja are recycling now - not just aluminum, but also plastic soda bottles, glass, and even plastic tubing and sheeting from
many of the large commercial agricultural operatons. This helps, but it is the small plastic bags which every store puts your purchase into, that
seem to be the most prevalent - or at least the most visible - basura you see blowing in the wind all over Baja. It will take time, but we all need
to spread the word that these bags usually are not needed - bring a small nylon stuff sack with you when you shop instead. Old habits die hard, but
teach the kids and they will carry it forward. Even better, have WildCoast or some other organization hand out re-useable nylon bags to every store
in town to give to their local customers - a small investment with big rewards.
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durrelllrobert
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7393
Registered: 11-22-2007
Location: Punta Banda BC
Member Is Offline
Mood: thriving in Baja
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Gypsy Jan
From the San Francisco Chronicle
Beach Trash to Yard Art on Colusa Ave.
By Carolyn Jones
"Tanya Smith, your hard hat is in Mark Olivier's front yard.
"My favorite is the poodle," said Jeff Garrett, a neighbor of Olivier's on Colusa Avenue in North Berkeley. "All that work and imagination that went
into it. The 5-foot-high canine - painstakingly fashioned from neon blue crabbing rope - is the newest attraction in Olivier's front yard.
Fifty-seven hard hats, including one affixed with Tanya Smith's name tag, hang, Christmas ornament-style, from a pittosporum tree.
[Edited on 5-19-2012 by Gypsy Jan] |
Here's some pics:
Bob Durrell
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rts551
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6700
Registered: 9-5-2003
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I am glad to see the effort. More towns need recycling of their plastic. what a blight on the countryside.
Why do you think there was little participation?
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SFandH
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7390
Registered: 8-5-2011
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Serge is a dedicated environmentalist. His WiLDCOAST organization is growing and doing important work from Imperial Beach, his home, down the coast.
Heavy focus on the Tijuana sloughs. I've had some contact with his folks, a very intelligent and professional group of people.
http://www.wildcoast.net/who-we-are/staff/1-serge-dedina-ph-...
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shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13049
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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My opinion of why not many people participate is this...now dont take this the wrong way folks...but i see that mexicanos in the rural areas at least
are embarassed to do some activities like picking up someone elses trash...they wouldnt want to be seen by their peers.
Also, I heard mumblings that "Oh it's just so and so's family"...kinda like...well, if there are only a couple families...it's like a family thing so
others wont go. Villages tend to be clanish and if it isnt your clan organizing or participating, well you just dont go...if it's not your circle of
amigos....yet most everyone goes to a free dance no matter what clan is paying for it!
Then there is apathy and laziness and it was the morning after a dance in town too. there are lots of reasons...mostly cultural...it's something new
and because the sight of garbage doesnt really upset many locals, there isnt any incentive to get out there...no free beer or food.
So our personal stategy is to just talk about it with everyone we encounter, in the stores, taco stands, sporting events and try to get people
thinking it is a fun and rewarding way to spend a morning....especially the kids.
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rts551
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6700
Registered: 9-5-2003
Member Is Offline
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Punta Abreojos overcame this by establishing an organization for community action. MEAPA - Mujeres EN Accion. I believe Wildcoast already works with
them. I thought Asuncion was doing the same thing?
I will mention it to the MEAPA leaders.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000402060898
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