image source: www.hopeforgaia.com
At least one morning every week I run around Strawberry Point in Mill Valley, but on Monday the view of the San Francisco skyline across the Bay was marred by a spread of McDonald’s trash on the ground next to a garbage can. It was being dined on by an enterprising crow.
Normally I would have run right by. I clean up after myself and you can worry about your own mess, thank y
ou. Trash is an eyesore but I’ll save my fretting for bigger fry, like global warming.
But as I ran on I recalled the article I read about the Pacific Garbage Patch, a stew of plastic and other castoff garbage that is floating in the middle of the ocean. It is twice the size of Texas and keeps on growing.
The pile of fast-food detritus I was trying to ignore stood right next to the Bay. I imagined it blowing a few feet west into the water and from there out of the Golden Gate, and then it would be on its way to join the giant cesspool of our creation.
So I doubled back, shooed off the crow, and picked the mess up, every last bit of shredded bag, quarter-pounder wrapper and ketchup packet, and stuffed it in the garbage can firmly.
And off I ran, feeling I’d done a good deed. But man did that crow glare at me.
Wow, I didn’t know all that trash was eddying in the ocean! Many times Geoff and Heidi pick up trash on trails but I don’t because of the nastiness touching my fingers. I’m glad you did it and I’m going to put a pair of thin rubber gloves in my jacket pocket so I can follow suit. In the Galapagos Islands we saw plastic netting trapped around the neck of a seal gradually choking him to death. Also saw plastic rings that hold six-packs together around the neck of a duck! What would wildlife say about humans if they could? I love your writing, explosively youthful, lively, and so 2008! Don’t even know how to get this comment sent as I’ve never blogged, or whatever this is, before.
Wow, I didn’t know all that trash was eddying in the ocean! Many times Geoff and Heidi pick up trash on trails but I don’t because of the nastiness touching my fingers. I’m glad you did it and I’m going to put a pair of thin rubber gloves in my jacket pocket so I can follow suit. In the Galapagos Islands we saw plastic netting trapped around the neck of a seal gradually choking him to death. Also saw plastic rings that hold six-packs together around the neck of a duck! What would wildlife say about humans if they could? I love your writing, explosively youthful, lively, and so 2008! Don’t even know how to get this comment sent as I’ve never blogged, or whatever this is, before.
Actually, a lot of garbage thrown in the trash still ends up being dumped into the ocean, although thanks for making the bay look nicer.