Long time no post, and shoreline cleanup
Yes, I know, I'm way overdue to make a real LJ post. This is not going to be it, however. I've been in a mega work crunch that will probably be continuing all this week, though maybe I'll manage at least some kind of point-form catch-up somewhere in there.
But the main reason for this post is to let those of you in Canada know that the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup is coming up. It runs from Sept. 19-27, with individual cleanups of different areas scheduled for various points during that time. You can go to the web site to see what cleanups are happening in your area. "Shoreline" is defined pretty loosely - you don't need to on the ocean or even a large lake to do a cleanup. A lot of the ones in Toronto, for example, are around creeks in ravine parks (since we have rather a lot of those, in addition to the lake and two major rivers). There are over 1500 cleanups happening in various locations across Canada.
The project is coordinated by the Vancouver Aquarium, with an annoying but probably necessary level of corporate sponsorship from TD and sponsored by TD (which is very nice of them, though I wish they could have been a little less aggressive with the branding) (Edited to clarify that it's not the corporate sponsorship I mind, just the way it's being shown), but the individual cleanups are mostly organized by volunteers in the various communities. They provide things like garbage bags and disposable latex gloves, but if you want something like work gloves for handling sharp things you will want to bring your own. I actually organized a cleanup last year for Cedarvale Park (the big ravine near me), but I didn't have time this year.
However, while I couldn't coordinate a cleanup this year, I did at least register to participate in the cleanup of David Balfour Park, the ravine near Yonge & St. Clair, which I had also participated in year before last. I don't visit that ravine as often as Cedarvale, but I do really like it, and I find it particularly helps the cleanup to feel like a form of spiritual service for me, because something about that ravine tend to make me feel Danu's presence strongly there.
Anyway, this is basically just a nudge for those of you that might be so inclined to check out the site and consider joining a cleanup in your area. If you're in Toronto and not particularly drawn toward any other cleanup, the one at David Balfour Park is at 1:00 this Sunday, if anyone wants to join me there.
But the main reason for this post is to let those of you in Canada know that the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup is coming up. It runs from Sept. 19-27, with individual cleanups of different areas scheduled for various points during that time. You can go to the web site to see what cleanups are happening in your area. "Shoreline" is defined pretty loosely - you don't need to on the ocean or even a large lake to do a cleanup. A lot of the ones in Toronto, for example, are around creeks in ravine parks (since we have rather a lot of those, in addition to the lake and two major rivers). There are over 1500 cleanups happening in various locations across Canada.
The project is coordinated by the Vancouver Aquarium, with an annoying but probably necessary level of corporate sponsorship from TD and sponsored by TD (which is very nice of them, though I wish they could have been a little less aggressive with the branding) (Edited to clarify that it's not the corporate sponsorship I mind, just the way it's being shown), but the individual cleanups are mostly organized by volunteers in the various communities. They provide things like garbage bags and disposable latex gloves, but if you want something like work gloves for handling sharp things you will want to bring your own. I actually organized a cleanup last year for Cedarvale Park (the big ravine near me), but I didn't have time this year.
However, while I couldn't coordinate a cleanup this year, I did at least register to participate in the cleanup of David Balfour Park, the ravine near Yonge & St. Clair, which I had also participated in year before last. I don't visit that ravine as often as Cedarvale, but I do really like it, and I find it particularly helps the cleanup to feel like a form of spiritual service for me, because something about that ravine tend to make me feel Danu's presence strongly there.
Anyway, this is basically just a nudge for those of you that might be so inclined to check out the site and consider joining a cleanup in your area. If you're in Toronto and not particularly drawn toward any other cleanup, the one at David Balfour Park is at 1:00 this Sunday, if anyone wants to join me there.