Category: Ocean Pollution & Plastics

From Port Hardy B.C. all the way to St. John’s N.L., Girl Guides of Canada–Guides du Canada participated in a fantastic learning experience, a beautiful day outside and a unique leadership opportunity this past spring, all in the name of cleaner shorelines. This year saw nearly 150 units register to take a stand against shoreline … Continued

This summer was my first in plastic free travel. Living plastic free is easy when done in the comfort of your home and regular routine, but travelling can throw a wrench into it. I never expected I would be freezing on an airplane because I refused to use the plastic wrapped fleece blankets provided. Or … Continued

Can you think of a shoreline that you love? Perhaps it’s your family’s favourite lake, or the river where your dog loves to run, or the beach where you watched a perfect sunset with a loved one. Memories like these stay in our hearts long after we’ve left. And I believe it’s these feelings that … Continued

Beautiful British Columbia is home to more than 40,000 islands and upwards of 25,000 kilometres of coastline, a paddlers dream. With thousands of kilometres of remote shorelines only accessible by water, groups like the B.C. Marine Trails Network Association have dedicated volunteers who share their passion for the water by maintaining a network of campsites … Continued

After years of doing cleanups with the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, presented by Loblaw Companies Limited, I noticed it’s common to find various car parts like hubcaps, bumpers, and tires on shorelines across Canada. This got me thinking, what am I going to do with my car now that it has reached the end of … Continued

From plastic bottles to aluminum cans, food wrappers to plastic cutlery and the occasional pair of false teeth, we find a little bit of everything on shorelines across Canada. One important fact, however, remains the same. Year after year the number one item collected is cigarette butts. In 2014, we collected more than 300,000 cigarette … Continued

When I started my plastic free challenge earlier this year, a common question I received was, “What about cell phones, hair dryers and earbuds?” Eliminating single use plastics is tricky enough without having to consider the challenge of plastics we use in modern society. To complicate things further, let’s throw hidden plastics into the mix, … Continued

Look in your shower rack or in the cupboard beneath your bathroom sink and it’s not hard to miss. It would seem like plastic packaging and personal hygiene go hand in hand. Look even deeper and you might find that plastic is a key ingredient in your favourite bath product. Going plastic free might seem … Continued

It was four years ago, on the sunny afternoon of March 11, 2011 that a magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck off the northeast coast of Honshu, Japan’s largest island. The lurching of tectonic plates beneath the Pacific Ocean spawned a series of destructive tsunami waves, some of them measuring up to 10 metres high that took more … Continued