Environmentalist suggests taking mom to the beach this weekend and cleaning up

Garbage piled up at the edge of a parking lot
Garbage collected from beach clean-up at Hirtles Beach. Photo Angela Riley
Ed Halverson - QCCR/CJQC - LiverpoolNS | 06-05-2022
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The founder of an environmental clean-up group wants people to remember Mother Earth when celebrating their mothers this weekend.

Angela Riley with Scotian Shores has organized a province-wide beach clean-up effort this May 8 Mother’s Day.

Riley says it’s a great opportunity to teach a valuable lesson to kids and do something good for the environment.

“I love for my kids to come out and see all the people cleaning and working together and taking care of the earth. For me, as a mom that is something that I really want to pass on to them. It really means a lot to me,” said Riley. “I think there’s a lot of moms that are coming out that are very excited to be like, this is a perfect Mother’s Day thing.”

Riley founded Scotian Shores at the start of the pandemic in the summer of 2020 when she was spending a lot of time on the beach with her kids.

Everyday her family would watch as more and more garbage was washed up on the shore.

“Even if we stopped littering every little piece of garbage today, the whole entire world, we’re still going to be cleaning it up for years because, [in] the Bay of Fundy we can see a ton of garbage wash ashore in one day,” said Riley.

The mostly volunteer organization works with residents and municipalities to organize clean up days.

Scotian Shores supplies gloves and bags and arranges disposing of the garbage at local recycling facilities or landfills.

An event held in Yarmouth drew hundreds of volunteers and resulted in 10 tons of garbage being removed from the beach over two days.

Riley says it’s satisfying for people to see the results of the efforts after just a couple of hours.

“To get a group of 50 people there and then see a dumpster full at the end, I mean, you’re sad that that’s all there but you’re also really happy because you’re like, yeah, I made a difference,” said Riley.

In Queens, the Mother’s Day clean-up will be held Sunday at Beach Meadows Beach beginning at 10:00am.

For more information, follow this link.

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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