Wetlands Clean Up
For the June Compassion Cell, Be The Cause cleaned up the Bolsa Chica wetlands area. We were assisted by Stephanie Barger from Earth Resource, www.earthresource.org . She provided us with instructions, gloves, and recycled biodegradable trashbags.
It was a beautiful day wandering through the wetlands. It was shocking how much trash we found, a huge amount of stuff covered with logos from the nearby fast food place, plenty of styrofoam and cigarette butts.
I will never look at my trash the same way. Well, I never looked at my trash before to begin with. But as I was picking up piece after piece, I was cringing inside remembering all of the times I have mindlessly littered in my past. (oh come on, you’ve done it before!) It felt like everything that I have ever carelessly tossed wound up in Bolsa Chica that day. It really made me realize that nothing we consume ever really goes away. Out of sight, is never out of mind. Our planet is getting smaller and smaller everyday and nothing makes you realize that more than seeing your trash cluttering up a beautiful, natural, wild life preserve.
Since that day I have been more aware of packaging and our disposable lifestyle. I’ve begun making choices based on how much waste will be produced. I guess you could say it changed my life. But really feel like I have just grown more aware of the effects of my actions.