August Beans and Beaches and Microbeads

I suppose the dog days of summer are upon us.  This means marathon training is in full swing as I prepare to run 26.2 miles to raise money and awareness for Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the eco-warriors putting their lives on the line to save our oceans!  seashepherd.org  Stay tuned, as my fundraising page will be up and running very soon. 

This is also the season of long, long sweaty runs and blackened toenails.  It is the week of the 18 mile run, completed this morning while there was a wisp of fall in the air and shadows that are already changing.  I ran into old friends and stopped to try to figure out why there are taxidermy wolves on a wharf near the cruise ship terminal.  Turns out to be a cool art installation about man versus nature.  Definitely worth a trip to Ocean Gateway.
http://kindlingfund.org/projects/project/unpack/

Recovery consisted of an amazing lunch of Beyond Meat's Beast Burger, a veggie burger loaded with protein and omega 3's, and an epsom salt bath with a Lush 'big blue' bath bomb (imagine a bathtub full of seaweed and sea salt- ocean blue).

Now it was time to march onward in my ocean-saving efforts.  Thankfully, I am far from alone in this quest and was happy to have some good people join me for Beans and Beaches, a monthly beach cleaning endeavor that meets at Arabica Coffee (the Commercial Street location) and picks up trash along the path and beach at East End Beach.  Debbie and Leigh were there, a couple of my regulars.  Today we also had two Portland Park Rangers join us, Zach and Krista.  It was great to have their knowledge of nature and this great city. We picked up trash and discussed a bit of everything. 

At one point, the discussion led to microbeads.  Microbeads are tiny tiny bits of plastic (sand-sized) found most commonly in personal care products such as exfoliant scrubs and toothpaste.  They get through the sewage system and into the oceans and sea creatures literally become full of them, often causing starvation.  I found a great organization called Beat the Microbead.  This page has a lot of good information on the problem with microbeads and what we can do.  First off, check out any of your beauty and healthcare products for these microbeads and properly discard of any you have.  There are many amazing biodegradable scrubby options.  Check out the aforementioned Lush for some eco friendly smelly goodies.  They are truly the bomb:  they not only label vegan products, use less packaging, use earth friendly and fair trade ingredients; they also lead awareness campaigns and donate proceeds to some really rad non-profits.  Recently, they partnered with 5 Gyres, another non-profit targeting microbeads.  They have partnered with Sea Shepherd in the past.  Beauty and brains!

How can you help me, you ask?  I know you just must be asking yourself that.  Follow my facebook page, For the Oceans.  Come to the Beans and Beaches meetups.  Support my marathon by donating or coming to the actual race and holding a Sea Shepherd sign (or both).  I am also looking for any contacts that might be able to help me involve young people in this quest- such as Scout groups or environmental groups.  So, if you have ideas or know anyone, please let me know. I am also looking to educate myself as much as possible to that I can be a better advocate in every aspect of this so if you hear of marine biology events, environmental or ocean conservancy events, please drop my a line.  Spread the word to friends and family, stop using so much plastic, and think about that vast body of water and how your actions might impact it.