Spring is here, and you know what that means: Baseball! And-- I’m also reminded that it’s
a time for spring cleaning! Well, if we must! But while you might be deciding what room
to tackle first in your house, there’s one elderly lady who has decided to deep-clean
this planet -- one beach at a time!
And that lovely lady is Pat Smith. She’s from Cornwall, which is the most southwestern
county in the UK. With the Celtic Sea on one side and the English Channel on the other,
Cornwall is a place with a LOT of beaches. And this 70-year-old grandmother has already
cleaned 52 of them within a single year! Do the math, and that’s one beach a week. Yeah,
she’s obviously been pretty busy and hard at it!
The real question is, why go through all the trouble? Surely one person can’t make that
big of a difference? Well, Smith was inspired (or, rather, disturbed) by a documentary about
the negative effects of plastic pollution on the planet. What she saw in the film kept
her up at night worrying about the problem. When she got up in the morning, she decided
to do something about it. She set herself the challenge of cleaning one beach every
week for the year of 2018. With the support of the Cornwall community and the help of
some volunteers (including her adorable grandchildren!), she actually completed that goal!
So after cleaning up other people’s garbage for a whole year, you’d think this lady
would be ready for a nice break, right? Not Pat Smith! After her year of grueling hard
work, she started a campaign called The Final Straw. Her mission is to raise as much awareness
as possible about not only the uselessness of plastic straws but also the harm they can
bring to the environment and its wildlife. She hopes to make her hometown plastic-free,
and hopefully the rest of the world will follow suit!
One of the biggest culprits of this pollution problem is single-use plastic. I’m talking
about stuff like straws and disposable utensils, plates, and cups. Single-use plastic really
is bad news for our planet. Laura Parker wrote in an article for National Geographic, “If
plastic had been invented when the Pilgrims sailed from Plymouth to North America – and
the Mayflower had been stocked with bottled water and plastic-wrapped snacks – their
plastic trash would likely still be around four centuries later.” In fact, every flimsy
little plastic straw will outlive every person living on the planet right now! What’s perhaps
even worse is that most of these disposable items end up in landfills or the ocean where
they harm marine life.
Actually, a lot more ends up in the oceans that you’d think. Of course, those pictures
of heaps of plastic in landfills or simply lying around are quite shocking, but it’s
even worse when you dive into the sea. Scientists can’t really measure the exact amount of
plastic in the ocean, but an engineering professor from the University of Georgia estimated that
it’s between 5 and 14 million tons. And this was only based on waste from coastal
regions and didn’t include plastic brought out into the open sea by boats!
Parker also wrote in her NatGeo article that nearly 700 species of marine life alone, including
some that are already endangered, are affected by the massive amount of pollution in the
oceans. The problem isn’t just that animals get tangled up in plastic or confuse it for
food. Plastic is toxic, and it finds its way only into animals’ bodies but ours too!
Yeah, you’ve probably got some plastic in your gut right now! Eeek, that’s unsettling…
You see, it might get broken up over time into tiny pieces, but it doesn’t disappear
completely. It only makes the ground or water around it toxic. And where do we grow a lot
of our food? Yep, right there -- in the ground!
You can’t see it or anything like that. I mean, who’d eat a potato with pieces of
plastic in it, right? Well, here’s the really scary bit. In 2004, marine ecologist Dr. Richard
Thompson coined the term “microplastic.” Like our dear Pat Smith in Cornwall, Dr. Thompson
was part of a beach clean-up where he picked up smaller items that most people would ignore
probably because they didn’t even notice it. He wasn’t even sure if what he’d found
was indeed plastic and had to have it analyzed. And, sure enough, the tests came back positive!
This shows us once again the deeper impact of plastic pollution that goes beyond what
the eye can see. And, thus, begins that vicious cycle. Large bodies of water become filled
with microplastic that could end up in our tap water or in the drinking water of animals
that we use for meat. The food that both animals and humans eat could be grown in toxic soil.
That’s why Pat Smith seems to understand both sides of the problem. It’s not enough
to just be diligent about your trash and throw it in the nearby can. Although, of course,
you should always do that instead of tossing it on the ground! And if there are separated
bins for recyclables, that’s even better! Anyway, the issue also comes down to consumption.
Humans created plastic, and we’ve become pretty dependent on this convenient and cheap
material. It’s used for water bottles, grocery bags, and countless other everyday items.
Just take a look in the bathroom. How many plastic tubes and bottles will you find? Ooh,
I think I lost count! Smith has already convinced local businesses like cafes and restaurants
to ditch the use of plastic straws. I mean, when you think about it, how useless are disposable
utensils when we have reusable ones made from metal that last forever! If we cut down how
much plastic we use, less of it ends up in landfills and the ocean.
Smith has also shown how anyone can start making a huge difference! No matter how young
or old you are, you can be part of the solution. I mean, if this 70-year-old lady is out there
picking up trash, then what’s stopping you from grabbing that plastic bottle you see
on the street as you’re out walking your dog? You don’t have to go out and start
an environmental campaign – the little everyday stuff counts too, especially when we all do
our part! If you see something, just pick it up and throw it in the next recycle bin
you come by.
It'll take hundreds of years to rid the world of the estimated 9.2 billion tons of plastic
(only around 7% of which ever make it to recycling). Smith’s efforts are only the tip of a really
big mountain of garbage, and it’s gonna take a lot more people like her to undo the
damage. But it is possible. Small steps can lead to big changes, and Pat Smith’s work
is proof of that!
Hey, how about giving this video a “thumbs up” to show your support for what this lady
is doing? And if you have any other ideas about what people can do to reduce their use
of plastic, then leave them down in the comments! Get the message out there by sharing this
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