There is so much news to update everyone on, I don’t know where to begin.
Well, firstly, I would like to thank each and everyone of you who came out and participated in this year’s TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. This year saw over 63,000 people register to participate in over 1,500 cleanups happening across Canada. Thank you all!!! With your help, we have reached more Canadians than before and held successful September 20th Kick-off Events in Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, and Halifax. These events helped kick-off the week by hosting an estimate of over 800 participants alone. [More will come on this later.]
Our Director of Conservation and Environmental Affairs, Angela Griffiths, told us:
“Our success this year is a reflection of the commitment shown by the thousands of individuals and community groups who are willing and able to do their part to protect our oceans and waterways. Most of the litter we find originates from land-based sources and the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup makes an important impact in reducing the amount of litter that reach our aquatic environment.”
Since the wrap up of this year’s TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup data has be sweeping in… through our system and through the mail. For any Site Coordinator who hasn’t submitted their data as of yet, it’s not too late. Log on and do so today!
To follow up on the last posts on unusual items, I thought it would be appropriate to write about some of the more unusual items that were removed from Canadian shorelines so far in 2008. In no particular order, we present to you….. [insert drum roll here and echoey affects]…. The Top 10 Oddest Items!
One of the 2008 Top 10 Oddest Items - The Hot Dog Cart - found along a Toronto shoreline along Lake Ontario.
§ A parking ticket machine
§ A bag of stolen purses
§ The hood of a 1942 Mercury Truck
§ A statue of Ganesh
§ A message in a bottle
§ A bullwhip
§ A hot dog cart
§ A “Royal Order of the Screechers” Certificate
§ Half a park bench
§ A whole pizza
As data is still coming in, we will compile a full list of odd items [with photos if available] and invite readers to participate in a short poll to see what we think the oddest item would be.
As a reminder, the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup may now be over for 2008, but until next year there are still many ways you can work towards keeping our local shorelines and waterways stay clean and green all-year round.
The following is a list of suggestions offered by the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation and the Vancouver Aquarium:
- Recycle and clean up your garbage, no matter where you are
- Properly dispose of cigarette butts and cigar tips
- Bring re-usable bags with you when shopping as a way to reduce the number of plastic bags ending up in landfills or on shorelines
- Purchase environmentally friendly products
- Join thousands of volunteers across Canada next September for the 16th annual TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup
And of course, don’t forget to keep checking canadianshorelinecleanup.wordpress.com, www.vanaqua.org/cleanup and www.flickr.com/photos/26615119@N07/ for updates and photos from this year’s TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. Once again thank you so very much to everyone who came out to help us keep Canada clean!
