Over the last few decades, plastic pollution has become a planetary crisis.
Global plastic production has skyrocketed to millions of tons every year, and our beautiful oceans are being filled with the waste. One woman has kept herself quite busy over the past year doing her part to save the planet – one beach at a time.
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Meet Pat Smith, grandmother and founder of the environmental campaign group The Final Straw Cornwall. The 70-year-old from Cornwall, England, has made it her personal mission to rid as many beaches of trash as she can.
In fact, her New Year’s Resolution for 2018 was to clean up 52 of Devon and Cornwall’s beaches by the end of the year… and she succeeded.
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Joined by other volunteers, Pat went out to different beaches every week. Armed with garbage bags, rubber gloves, and litter pickers, they spent countless hours scouring the sandy shores for discarded waste.
“A lot of the rubbish I have picked up consists of everyday items,” Pat said. “These things are used by all of us and it is shocking to find them polluting our beautiful beaches.”
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Pat finished off the year collecting trash in Charlestown, Porthpean, and Duporth, but says she’s nowhere near finished. “I won’t stop as our beaches need me,” she explained, adding “I’m driven to try and protect our living planet for my children and grandchildren and I will continue to do everything in my power to achieve that.”
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She hopes that by leading by example, others will take notice and become more conscientious about their own plastic use. “We should all take responsibility for picking up the litter, as well as ensuring we don’t drop litter in the first place.”
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We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Thanks for being such a great role model, Pat. Here’s hoping your efforts leave a lasting impact in the many years to come.
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