20-Minute Makeover & Community Cleanup.
Yesterday marked the seventh annual 20-Minute Makeover here in Toronto. Ordinary citizens were encouraged to stop what they were doing at 2 PM and to go out and pick up the litter wherever they happened to be. Today is Community Cleanup day. Groups of citizens are getting together to clean up parks and other public areas.
Walking the dog on Cherry Beach this morning, I came across one such group–decked out in leis and loud Hawaiian shirts under their windbreakers–having a barbecue to encourage and thank participants for their efforts. it turns out their festive apparel was more than just for fun (well, not really but there was a reason for it): The members of the clean-up crew were members of the Toronto Maple Reefers, the local Parrothead Club. Parrotheads are fans of the musician Jimmy Buffet (best known for his hit song Margaritaville) and the “tropical lifestyle.” they all got together to make the beach a better place, which makes perfect sense, given their proclivities.
I was shooting with film (and my spiffy newly-acquired Yashica Electro 35 GT) today, so I don’t have any images from this morning to share. However, I do have an image taken last week at the stream in Morningside Park. Walking along its boundaries, I was flabbergasted by the amount of plastic waste that has accumulated there, including this package from an ice pop. It takes so little effort to fold up something like this and drop it in a waste bin or recycling container. You have to be completely lazy and thoughtless to do otherwise, especially when you’re out in a beautiful park shared with so many others.