It's June 5, World Environment Day.
What did we do today?
We walked to VOTE and along the way we picked up plastic.
We have traveled the world talking about beach plastic, presenting exhibits and giving hands-on workshops. When we are inland, folks complain WE DON'T HAVE A BEACH, WE DON'T HAVE PLASTIC, WE WON'T BE ABLE TO CREATE. Y'all are lucky to live close to the ocean (heard this in Dallas and in Houston). Don't despair! We describe how plastic navigates from street to beach, how it makes its way down the gutter, down the drain, down the watershed, down the creek, down the river, then out into the ocean then back onto the beach. When stuck in freeway traffic just take a look at the shoulder, at the median. There be PLASTIC. PLASTIC. PLASTIC. In Dallas we went for a stroll near the museum where we were doing a workshop and the question of "where does all this plastic come from?" was quickly answered with a 10-minute pick-up along the gutter.
As we set out on our journey today we did what what we always do at Kehoe Beach — we took an establishing shot. Here is the scene in the pastoral San Geronimo Valley: rolling hills, blue sky, grazing horses, and blackberries in bloom.
Our sun dappled walking trail parallels Sir Francis Drake Blvd, taking us past fields and through wooded areas arriving at our Polling Place at the San Geronimo Valley Community Center. At our age the importance of keeping on the move is palpable so we don't "seize up". The daily step counter, now on our phone, has become a metric for a competitive matchup.
Although many people now mail in their ballots we love exercising (!) our right to vote in this public way. We appreciate the poll-workers who stand vigilant to make sure each vote is scanned properly as it is put into the ballot box and we get a soft thrill when they give us our I VOTED TODAY merit badge.
It's not just the problem with the Russians trying to influence our elections, We are concerned about voter turnout and the purging of voter rolls. Attempts to disenfranchised voters, long lines at the polls, cyber-security, laws requiring people to show ID are just few of the problems.
At our poll, you state your name then sign for your ballot — no photo ID required. It might help that most everyone knows everyone but it still reminds that there are places where there are attempts to block legitimate voters by requiring a government ID.
Along the way we collected a bag full of plastic- we were curious to see what items on our hit list we would find road-side. Our efforts did not disappoint. It just goes to show ya, we do vote with our pocket books.
It can be done. Change is afoot across the planet. Just one little chunk of pernicious-ness has been eliminated: The 3"x1/2"x1/8" piece of red plastic is now gone from Kraft Handi-snacks. Insignificant...yes, but on our one stretch of beach, over the years, we found 563 of those little devils. Vote with every means necessary. There are forces who would like to see democracy weakened to favor the oligarchical banditos. Don't make the mistake of thinking you are insignificant.
El pueblo unido jamas será vencido