Ahead of Earth Day, a group of Kelowna locals are taking to streets and beaches to clean up garbage that has been scattered about during the winter months.
Ajay Weintz of Mind Over Matter Diving and Kolby Corbett of Sustainable Stoner took the initiative to start a clean-up, as the two both believe it is the duty of humans to leave the earth cleaner than we found it.
“With the overwhelming amount of trash scattered across the globe, it is our job to pick up the slack,” said Weintz.
Weintz believes it’s important to approach the problem of waste from different angles and that the responsibility to solving the issue lies with “creative industries, followed by major brands, environmentalists, and finally by consumers.”
“A lot of the time, when we throw out our trash, we are not aware of the lifespan it has passed the trash bin,” he said. “For example, a regular plastic water bottle can last for 450 years. Even then, it’s merely broken into microplastics, that small creatures end up eating. This can create long-term effects not only on those small creatures, but the things that eat them, and then predators, and so on. Microplastics can work their way up into humans.”
It was understanding this concept that led Weintz and Corbett to create an event on March 20, asking Okanagan residents along with others from around the globe to participate in a clean-up of their communities’ streets and beaches.
While Corbett will be leading the charge tidying up the land, Weintz will take to the waters diving around Okanagan Lake scooping up trash.
The Land and Sea spring clean-up event takes place March 20 from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. around various Okanagan cities.
Those participating in the event are asked to take a photo of themselves and upload it to social media and tag @kolblaze and @mind_over_matter_diving to enter to win Sustainable Stoner apparel.
READ MORE: Okanagan Westside communities see significant uptick in bear sightings
@Jen_zee
jen.zielinski@bpdigital.ca
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