I Am Joining The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup

Have you ever heard of the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup (GCSC)? I hadn't, until last year. It's pretty much what you would expect from the title. People join together to cleanup shores around lakes and rivers and the oceans, all across Canada, for a few weeks in September. After reading about it, I thought it would be a great thing to participate in. It would be good for me and my family, good for my community, and especially good for the environment in this wonderful and beautiful, coastal city I live in, called Vancouver. I thought, wouldn't this be a great lesson to teach my children? It would help me to teach them about giving back to mother nature, the way that she gives to us everyday. I always tell them about how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful place, with mountains and the ocean and so much to do outdoors. But isn't it also great to teach them how to take care of this place and not to take it for granted?

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 I was really stoked to do it last year, but then life stepped in and changed my plans. Not to make excuses, really it was just that a bunch of other things came up. Two birthday parties and an Aunt that wanted to see the kids on the particular day we signed up for. It ended up being a crazy day of driving all over and visiting and kiddie party madness, but it was a great day. I was really bummed that we didn't get to do the cleanup though, especially because I was telling everyone that we were doing it and I was asking friends if they wanted to participate too. So I made a promise to myself that we would do it next year.

And next year is here. I just signed up today. I am going to do it right this year. I was even contemplating being a site coordinator and taking on a whole area to organize by myself. But I decided to be realistic and just participate this year and see what it's like. If it's something I think I can handle on my own, then maybe I can be a coordinator next year.

Doing this kind of thing is important to me. I took an Environmental Studies program in college and it was really eye opening. I learned so many things in those two years. One thing that really shook me up was seeing a picture of a lake that was turned into a dumping ground for electronics. People would come there to find parts to sell, or scrounge for copper or other metals in the stuff that was dumped there. It was so filled with junk that it didn't even look like a lake anymore, it looked like a garbage dump, but it was just filled with electronics. I was looking on the internet to see if I could find that same picture (which I'm sure is really old, I saw it at school, about nine years ago), and I couldn't. But I did find some other horrible pictures. Like this...

The Citarum River in Indonesia

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And this...

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I really don't want the beautiful place, that my family and I call home, to end up like these places. So I am doing my part to help. If you feel inspired too, and you live in Canada and want to join, click here to find a cleanup site in your area. If you don't live in Canada, but want to help out where you live, here are some other shoreline cleanup programs:

• International Coastal Cleanup
• California Coastal Cleanup
• Clean up Australia!
• Project Aware
• The Daily Ocean

This list is from the Other Resources page on the GCSC website, which has tons of useful info if you want to know more.


"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." - M. Gandhi

Worst Concert Performance Ever

After reading a post by Melinda of Finding the Humor, she got me thinking about my childhood. Then I started thinking about when I was a teenager. And then, because Melinda and I share a common thread of liking old school hip hop (I found this out while commenting on a post of hers), I started thinking about some of the awesome concerts I went to when I was in my teens and early twenties. Like Digable Planets and Beastie Boys and Pharcyde, to name a few. And that then made me think of the worst concert performance I ever saw.

It was the summer of 1994, and I was 18. For my best friend's birthday, I bought her and I concert tickets to Reggae on the Island, a weekend festival in Ladysmith, BC (on Vancouver Island). I had gone the year before and had such a good time, that I really wanted to go again. So we packed up our camping gear, took many buses and the ferry over, and camped all weekend long. We had a blast, there were lots of great performances and we basically danced the whole time. But one of, if not the main reason we went, was because we both loved Maestro Fresh Wes. He was one of the headliners to perform and we were super excited. We loved him so much, we'd listen to his album, "Symphony in Effect", all the time. We even made up our own lyrics to one of the songs, "Just Swingin" (yes, we were silly teenage girls, doing silly teenage girl things, always).

Anyways, when Maestro came on, we were right up front, so we could see everything. And like I said, we were super excited. Until he started singing. He was doing "Let Your Backbone Slide", except he was lip-syncing! He had the exact song from the album playing and he was jumping and dancing around pretending he was singing it live, but it was so totally and utterly obvious that he wasn't. And then the lamest thing ever happened (even lamer than the lip-syncing, if you can believe it), he stopped singing (or pretending to sing) halfway through, and the song kept going for another thirty seconds. He stood there until someone turned it off and then he said something ridiculous like, sorry I have to go. And then him and his buddy hopped off stage and didn't even leave! They just stood around chatting to people in front of the stage for like ten minutes! So the crowd that payed good money to see him, got half a lip-synced song. Worst performance ever!

I got a little vindication for this a few years ago. My hubby has a good friend who is actually friends with Maestro (small world, I know) and they were hanging out with him, and a bunch of people, at Lucy Mae Brown (an old lounge/restaurant in Van), one night. To make a long story short, I guess he (my hubby's friend) said something to Maestro about that old concert. I don't know what was said, or what his response was, I just know that someone gave him a hard time about it for me. It's a small justice, but I'll take it.

I decided to dig up some old pics from that concert and scan them. The quality isn't that great, but, oh well. You can even see in the back ground that there is no one playing any instruments and there's no DJ or anything.

I don't know why he's carrying a towel around, it's not like he worked up a sweat performing half a song. Maybe he has an excessive sweating problem or something. Actually, maybe that's why he had to go.

And here's one of the crowd, just for fun. We really did have a great time though, regardless of the Maestro debacle. All the other performers were great, and we met lots of fun people on the trip too.

I'll leave you with a little question, what is the worst concert performance you've ever seen? I'd love to read some great stories.

Happy Earth Day, And Thank You David Suzuki!

Here is a wonderful message from my favorite Earth activist, David Suzuki. I remember seeing him speak when I was a teenager. Our school's Environmental Club went on a field trip to Vancouver for an environmental conference. It was so great to leave my small little town and go on an outing to the big city. I was really moved hearing him talk about environmental issues and things that we could do to help our planet. And even though that was probably about twenty years ago, and I don't really remember it that well, I was left with a lasting impression of who he was and how I could be a part of something bigger. He inspired me to get involved and really care about what is going on around me. At the time, I didn't know that I would later go on to complete the Environment Studies Program in college and become passionate about environmental issues. I remember thinking that it was just going to be a fun day out, with my school. I didn't realize how hearing him speak would spark a whole lifestyle change and influence me to be a better person, but he did and I am so grateful. I don't know if you've ever seen his show, "The Nature of Things," but every time I watch it I am reminded of how knowledgeable he is and how much he's done to change our world for the better. If there weren't people like him around to inspire us, then I think the planet would be in an even worse state, than it is right now. So thank you, David Suzuki, for everything you've done for this precious planet we live on, and may many more people heed your brilliant words and implement the change we need to save our Earth.

Vancouver Named Top Climate Change Fighter In Canada

Vancouver was named the top climate change fighter in Canada by the World Wildlife Fund. Check out the info in this article.

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Will You Participate In Earth Hour?

Join the cause to fight climate change. Last year over a billion people, in 128 countries, around the world took part and it was the largest voluntary action ever witnessed. This year lets make it even bigger. On Saturday March 26 at 8:30pm (your local time) turn off your lights for one hour. Have a nice candle lit dinner or play board games or tell stories or play hide and go seek with your kids. There are lots of fun things to do in the dark. Participate in Earth Hour and show your support for our planet. Let your voice be heard, stand up and take action on climate change.

For more information visit the WWF Earth Hour website.

Living The Zero Waste Life

Here is a family in California who are living a zero waste lifestyle, the Johnsons. They buy everything in bulk and bring all of their own bags and containers when shopping, so as to have no packaging to throw away. They compost and make their own cleaning products and they follow the 4Rs, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and "Recycle only as a last resort." I commend them for their hard work and will be trying to incorporate some of their tips to reduce my waste output. Check out this video about their zero waste home. And also check out their blog, The Zero Waste Home, that has tips and details of how they do it. 

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Polar Bear: Spy On The Ice - Amazing Video Footage

 Wow this is so fascinating and beautiful! Polar Bears filmed by super high tech spy cameras. Check out these videos from the BBC movie, Polar Bear: Spy On The Ice, by filmmaker John Downer. 

For more info about the movie and how it was filmed check out John Downer's website.

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