Judith writes:
On this glorious day, we were out on assignment, Clem who needed to do community service for school was joined by her “Bestie” Dahlia. Unsure if we would be able to accomplish a clean-up task, if there would even be any plastic to pick up, off to Kehoe Beach we went.
The two sat in the back, on the drive out, so I could only hear wisps of words. I struggled to hear the details of their non-stop conversation — a constant chatter, lively and free-ranging about finger nail polish, skin care, Kate Spade handbags, what to wear first day of school (Wednesday) world famous fashion model Gigi Hadid and on a more serious note about their summer required reading list that included stories about challenging topics — homelessness and hardship, divorce and abuse.
The on-the-trail banter continued all the way out to the beach. Along the way, together, we talked about Junipero Serra’s decimation of the native people. Clem remembered our visits to the Miwok village Kule Loklo and what fun we had at the Big Time Festival. And, we talked about the re-vision of history from the story I was told about Columbus “discovering” America to the history they are learning about the complex cultures that were here when he arrived.
Even with a clean beach, clean sand, pristine sand as far as the eye can see, for the discerning eye of “professionals” and student trainees, it’s never a problem to find plastic albeit micro or smaller.
Yards ahead of me, I could hear the sounds of their yackety-yack trail off into the distance as they headed for the far end of the beach.
They returned triumphant. Along with handfuls of minuscule pieces of plastic, they found the worst of the worst — two helium-filled mylar balloons — balloons are one of the most detrimental single-use plastics that impact marine life.
Oh such a glorious day, indeed. Mission Accomplished!!! Not only did we remove some plastic from the beach, we walked the talk and talked the walk. I'll say...
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