Last week was "Beach Cleaning Week" in Norway, and what better excuse to pack up the kids and head for the beach? I live in an area famous for it's good weather (mind you, that is by Norwegian standards!) and a lot of people come here for their summer holidays. So keeping the beaches clean is important for the cardinal environmental reasons, but it's also important for those who live here.
Sandy bay
Saturday marked the highlight of the week, it being "Beach Cleaning Day". As many as 90 000 volunteers spent the day cleaning beaches, islands, islets and the seafloor all over the country, collecting tonnes of plastic and other garbage. Norway is a distinctly maritime nation, and despite it being a very small country in terms of land, its coastline measures 100 915 kilometers, second in the world only surpassed by Canada. So the ocean is, and always has been, of paramount importance to the Norwegians.
To partake in this national effort to clean our beaches, we headed for a local beach named Eftang. Eftang lies in an area rich in Viking culture, and its name is derived from the two old Norwegian words for swan and inlet - giving it the beautiful name Swan Inlet. We didn't see any swans on this particular day, but perhaps there were many of them here in the past.
Eftang - or Swan Inlet as it was known by the Vikings
My kids are at that age when horizons broadens and they start taking in what is actually happening in the world. Environmental issues are discussed in school and at home, but there's nothing like a hands-on experience, seeing the vast amounts of plastic that litter our shoreline first hand.
Heading for the beach
Busy cleaning the beach
Taking a break
There is just SO much litter
We only covered a short stretch of the beach, but we managed to fill 5 big bags of plastic. I think this effort showed us all how much plastic there really is in the ocean and although I hope this will become an annual event for our family, it's important to remember that ANY DAY CAN BE BEACH CLEANING DAY.
Hi - 5 bags of plastic is a lot of plastic! Good job.
I like this competition also, although it's a bit pointless my joining in as I'd have to drive somewhere I wouldn't ordinarily go to in order to join in, which sort of defeats the object!
Great thing to do with kids.
I'm pretty sure you could do a litterwalk just about anywhere if you would like to join the contest. The other day I saw a group doing a litterwalk outside my office windows. The ocean is only the end of the journey; most of it starts ashore somewhere, and the more that collect litter inland, the less ends in the ocean. Thanks for commenting :)
Yes very good point actually!
You have no litter at all in your neighbourhood? Lucky you! :-)
Fair point. Although I'd have to be selective where I picked it up from: I walk through some pretty wealthy areas to and from work and I'm not prepared to skivvy for the rich, and I quite like the idea that catching site of the odd bit of nasty litter might annoy some of them. I might just focus on poorer areas!
Nice job, great walk!
It felt really good contributing to the wellbeing of our planet, and I was amazed how much plastic could actually be found. I think I will always try to bring a bag with me when going for a beach walk from now on. Being prepared for when we come across more plastic :)
Hello lil-mich,
@SteemEngineTeam would like to take the time to thank you for
We plan to give back to our community members, so have an upvote on us!
Thank you.
Hallo @lil-mich that awsome work
I also love the beach and love to see the clean there!
It is quite clean here, that's why I am surprised at the amount of plastic we collected. But every little effort helps. :)
It seems like such litterwalks can be registered at https://holdnorgerent.no/ryddeportalen/ (norwegian) though I'm not sure how useful it is :-)
Sorry for giving a mere 50% upvote, this has been corrected. Mistake from my side, I had put the default vote power to 50% in the esteem app :-)
I had a look at holdnorgerent.no in terms of finding an already planned event, but in the end we just made our own. :)
Absolutely no need to apologise - I am just happy for any upvote I get, but thank you so much for your generosity! :)
Woow good job @lil-mich I'm proud of you, finally my dream come true, get people to participate in maintaining the environment ,,
Great friend of mine
I am concerned about the environment and try to be a conscious consumer. However, sometimes I feel it's more talk than action, and this litterwalk gave us an opportunity to actually DO something. It felt good. :)
Woo is good my friend .. keep up the noble job, I support you
Thanks for your support @apakapluk 😊
Great project and wonderful surroundings! Love your posts ;-)
Glad you liked it @trumanity 😄