Dear NEC,
Instead of hosting your yearly beach cleanups, why not get the trash before it reaches the ocean?
Every creek I’ve seen in Arcata has trash in it. There is trash around the creeks, and even dumped into them by the homeless people you are so concerned of offending. I have found feces, furniture, plastic (from tiny bits disintegrating off of larger pieces, to sheets of bubble wrap). Also needles, so wear gloves!
Instead of driving to the beach, you could walk right across the street from your office and pick up all the trash that I saw accumulating by the creek. A car free clean up! Imagine, you could actually walk the talk.
Signed,
Everyday is Pick Up Litter Day
Dear Everyday is Pick Up Litter Day,
Thanks for holding us accountable. As an organization that focuses on accountability, we know how important that is.
Although our big cleanup event of the year is called Coastal Cleanup Month, we’ve been focusing over the last few years on organizing and facilitating monthly neighborhood cleanups because we recognize that all the trash on our streets will eventually be washed by the rains into the ocean. So, as you say, why not get the trash before it reaches the ocean? Also, it requires less preparation and no gas for people (including us here at the NEC office) to simply walk out the door and start picking up litter. We actually hosted a neighborhood cleanup in February based on your suggestion and picked up 461 pieces of trash from around Jolly Giant Creek in a little over an hour. We keep track of what sort of trash we pick up and from where so that we can advocate for policies that reduce litter, especially single-use plastic regulations since that is a large portion of what we find. We figure why not go as far upstream as possible and try to stop the litter at the source (i.e. the plastic factory) rather than have to continually pick it up off the streets. We hope to use the data we collect to someday put ourselves out of business when it comes to picking up litter.
We have also been doing cleanups in the Arcata Marsh, which is a short walk from our office. With the help of some of the unhoused residents of the marsh we’ve cleaned up over 3,000 pounds of trash. Unfortunately, due to the fact that we need to transport that trash to the waste transfer station, we do have to utilize a vehicle for some of these cleanups. We strive to produce as few emissions as possible, but alas, there are some situations in which we need to drive. Much like our other cleanups, the overarching goal with these cleanups is to advocate for policy solutions to stop the flow of trash. In this case, the solution is more low- and very low-income housing in Arcata so that no one needs to camp in the marsh, or any other open spaces in our community.
As you say, every day is a good day to pick up litter and we are happy to help facilitate trash cleanups wherever they happen. We have trash grabbers, gloves and buckets that anyone can check out from our Cleanup Supplies Lending Library at www.yournec.org/lendinglibrary. Thanks for caring about the environment.
Sincerely,
NEC Staff