TRASH: PLOGGER & TRACTIVISTS

Ploggerbear (Photo: pixabay / npapaioannou)

PLOGGING (plucking trash while jogging) came first. Conceived in Scandinavia by Erik Ahlstrom, a Swede.  He had the bright idea to give bags and gloves to runners so they could collect trash along their routes.  Now plogging has a life of its own and has spread around the world. The concept is so simple, it's no surprise that it's one of the hottest sports trends of 2018. Races are organized with double goals: run the fastest and pick up the most trash. Doable and fun. All sorts of hair-brained ideas are floating around the internet to solve the garbage disposal. One eco-group wants to use the trash clogging up the oceans to make a habitable island. When I told Erkki I found research that stated by 2050 plastic will outnumber the creatures who call the sea their home, most of it from land-based sources, he said, 'No way'. Unless a lot of them die out. What trash needs is low-key practical solutions like PLOGGING or...(see below)...

TRACTIVIST  (trash-activist) is anybody who walks and picks up trash along the way. I got into it by accident after a heavy wine lunch and walked to the little park by the river to si it off. The place was a mess. Someone had unpacked flat-box furniture cartons  (IKEA?) and left them all over the place. I folded the boxes and stashed them by the trash bin, And came back in the afternoon armed with gloves and a bag to finished the job. It felt good and was fun. Bystanders sitting on benches were curious. A few came over to find out what I was doing. Now I pester my pals to PICKupTRASH. They seem to like the idea.

Cleaning up the outdoors gives outings purpose and improves the scenery. Big companies, such as Amazon, Ikea am other big-time trash producers should get in the act. So should tech titans,  (Mark Zuckerberg, Egon Musk, Tim Cook. Jeff Bezos). God knows, cities, countries, the planet needs volunteer army to pitch in to pick up (and dispose of in an eco-friendly way) the crap we humans casually pitch out. The most efficient garbage collection service can't keep up. Trash collectors are unsung, virtually unseen heroes of our time. Just go to any city where they're on strike to find out what life is like without them.  They need help. Ploggers are doing it. Now how about the rest of US?

Sources: Sharon Pettus, the net, personal experience

Next week: JASPER PAKKONEN in  Spike Lee's hot new movie BLAKCK KLANSMAN



Note: I think i found the source for the more plastic than fish claim, this article:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/19/more-plastic-than-fish-in-the-sea-by-2050-warns-ellen-macarthur

The article links to the source report, i haven't read it yet so cannot comment how robust the findings are...

- Eki