Amplifying the pick with the Sea Scavenger Conservancy, May 12 2012

Yesterday Youki & I hopped on BART so we could join up with Lorraine Palmer and the Sea Scavenger Conservancy for their monthly industrial shoreline cleanup. We were expecting to be down on the rocks with our toes almost dangling in the water by Mission Bay or further south, but yesterday the schedule brought us to the stretch of the Embarcadero between Pier 40 and the Bay Bridge--"from plate to gate", as Lorraine said.

We could try to report back on every bottle cap and cigarette butt, every plastic wrapper and empty chip bag, every bottle of booze and torn piece of fabric, every lone shoe and single-use dental floss--and so on and so forth--that we picked off the ground and put into the big lined malt bags that SSC uses for picking. Actually, these bags are worth a post by themselves--they're perfect! Easy to carry, tough, big, and as Lorraine showed us, having a liner lets you keep the occasional little treasure separate when you don't want to toss it in along with the rest. And you'll find lots of little treasures when you're out on the pick long enough.

Yup, we could report on that stuff. And sure, hopefully we did help keep a few (dozen) pounds of plastic and other junk out of the SF bay. One thing we definitely did was to meet some cool regular volunteers and others who were just discovering the joys of picking after signing up through the volunteer placement organization, One Brick. Those little things--and for us the mini talkin' trash team getting joined by Hsinyu who BARTed over from Berkeley in the middle of the pick--give you inspiration, and help you learn about the place you're in too.

Yeah, we could try to report on everything. But after looking at the bay, and the ocean, while you put one little piece of trash after the other into your bag, it's also pretty easy to feel overwhelmed. It's too much for a few pickers, or ten, or even a hundred to do. How, I've been wondering since yesterday, inspired by the spirit of all the volunteers, do you not only amplify the efforts you're making (getting more and more people interested, picking up more and more trash), but also to make efforts that take place in one place in one time by one group of people stand up and speak further, longer, and with another audience? Even after the wind has picked up and the empty chip bags over there blow back onto the sidewalk we just cleaned....

Here's one idea. Try clicking on the blue lines and the little colored pushpins on the map below. See the half mile along the Embarcadero where all the Sea Scavenger Conservancy volunteers picked bags of stuff off the streets, out of fences and bushes? See the picture of the mystery schedule that Zack guessed was for training truck drivers? See the sewer cover where I tried to fish out some paper and plastic (luckily didn't lose the stick down there, whew)? See all the places where more pins could be added, telling the stories and showing the sights? If you were on the pick, and heck, even if you weren't, you can add to this map too...click it...go there...drop a pin...make it grow...


View Sea Scavenger Conservancy 5/12/12 Embarcadero pick in a larger map

Looking back on this pick, looking forward to the next...

finding trash with heart...

Well, we have to say that our trash pick in uptown Oakland and over to Lake Merritt on Sunday afternoon was pretty much as awesome as trash-picking can get. Good conversations, thought-provoking finds, a public poetry reading and, oh yeah, lots of trash cleaned from the streets! Altogether we were seven volunteers and spent almost three solid hours cleaning and bagging trash, and chronicling some of these experiences, thanks to our steady cameraman Mike.

There's lots more to say of course but instead of my trying to summarize it I wonder: if you were on the pick, what's one memorable experience you had? Connection you made? Thing you found? Picking technique you developed? Or other memorable aspect of the afternoon?

And if you weren't on the pick, but were there in spirit or involved in picking somewhere else, we'd love to hear your pickin' thoughts too!

Uptown Oakland trash pick on April 29

Even though there were hundreds of volunteers picking yesterday for the big National Day of Action via Keep America Beautiful (see the link in our blogroll), apparently there is still some trash left on the streets of Oakland. We're gonna hit the streets with Claire, Jim, Mike, and anyone else who'd like to pick. Meet Sunday the 29th at 1pm right in front of Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe, at the corner of 18th and Telegraph Ave., next to the Fox Theater, and a super short walk from the 19th street BART station. From there we'll go toward Lake Merritt...welcome all, join the pick & smile...


View Larger Map

"C'mon, let's go!": Overcoming picker's anxiety at Geary & 25th

A few days ago I was transferring from the 38L to the 29 in San Francisco's Richmond district, heading to visit a few dear friends who were leaving the country later that day, starting a new life again in their home country of Japan. The clouds had broken above, after several days of rain, but still a very sad day. As I crossed the street to wait at the bus stop, I checked my bus schedule. 5 minutes until the bus would arrive. And this is what I saw:

Yup, your eyes aren't lying. There's a plastic big-gulp cup, a bunch of papers, a to-go container with some noodles spilled out over the concrete, and why not, parts of an orange smashed onto the sidewalk. It looks like someone(s) almost made it to the trash can, but decided to dump things right next to it. Or was it a windy night the night before they emptied the can, and there was overflow spilling onto the sidewalk. Or someone, or your local raccoon, foraging through the can in the early morning hours. A mess no matter how you look at it.

I was thinking about the time, and looking at my watch. I wanted to pick this up, such a mess! But I hadn't brought my pikstik. Then I thought--wait a minute, I have some plastic bags in my backpack. I'll just use one as a glove, and pick up the pieces of trash one by one, and drop them into the can. Kind of like dog owners do with the dog's...well, you know.

Then I started to hesitate. There were 7 or 8 people sitting at the bus stop already, waiting there with me. People dressed nicely, even fashionably, with sunglasses on, looking at their smartphones or disinterestedly off into the distance. Was I ready to start handling those noodles? No matter that I would be using a plastic bag; it still seemed like I'd be touching that trash with my hands, and suddenly I felt the stigma of being a trash guy, a trashy guy. I had the bag in my hand, but I thought about it more, buying a little time by looking down the street again. Was the bus coming yet?

And then, the most beautiful of things! An older man, maybe close to 70, and much shorter than me, had jumped right in, taken up the task, with no hesitation whatsoever! He was crouching down, reaching and grabbing at the trash with a pink bag (mine was white), dropping the junk into the can. Then he saw that I was looking at him, bag in my hand, and motioned at me: "C'mon! Let's go!" he said.

And so I did. I reached down next to him and grabbed some noodles, and then that piece of orange that you see in the picture above. Cleaning it up only took a few seconds (sorry, we didn't have the tools to take care of all that moisture underneath) and before I knew it, the man had produced a bottle of water from his bag, and was pouring it over both of his hands, washing them. He offered it to me, and though I wondered if our hands even needed washing (they were protected the whole time--was it a symbolic cleaning ritual?) I accepted gladly and he poured the water over my hands too.

We had had just enough time to shake off the water and grab our bags, smiling at this moment of unplanned partnership, before the bus came and everyone else got in line. I got on first and sat in the middle of the bus. He stopped at the door to talk to the driver, and sat down in front. And just like that, we never got to speak to each other again, but I smiled again at this picking experience. Why worry, I thought, about how it looks to be picking up trash alone. There might just be another picker right there with you.

Berkeley (cigarette) butt pick event 1/29!

Hello fellow trash pickers and clean street lovers! Join us tomorrow for a trash pick event starting off at the corner of Telegraph and Bancroft Avenues right at the entrance to UC Berkeley. We'll try to take care of the damage from some of last night's parties and shake a few hands, exchange a few smiles along the way. Check out this cool flyer from Yamato, and cast your vote below for what you think will be the most common item found on the pick!



What will be the most common item found on the Jan. 29 Berkeley trash pick-up?

1. pink and green plastic spoons from yogurt shops
2. Starbucks cup lids
3. dirty diapers
4. yesterday's Daily Cal newspaper
5. red plastic cups
6. wet kleenex & other assorted tissue-like substances
7. mostly empty plastic take-out food containers
8. talkin' trash with ray & dave 1/29 butt pick event flyers strewn all over the place
9. cigarette butts--duh
10. [YOUR WRITE-IN CANDIDATE] _______________________

China Basin trash pick-up Jan. 7

 Here at talkin' trash headquarters, we hope everyone's had a super start to the new year. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts last year, there has been a fair amount of trash on the streets in the first 4 days of 2012. And the steam-cleaning Department of Public Works in San Francisco is probably not going to get it all cleaned up in preparation for this year's Chinese New Year parade. So it looks like we have work to do again this year.

This Saturday, January 7, from 10-12, we were planning to join the Sea Scavenger Conservancy for their once-a-month industrial shoreline cleanup, where they get a bunch of volunteers together just south of AT&T park in San Francisco to "help stop shoreline plastic from becoming ocean plastic".

But, guess what? Found out that's happening January 14th--and all of their pick-ups will be on the SECOND Saturday of each month. We'll try again next week.

SO, in the meantime, we'll plan to work the streets around the Caltrain station, AT&T park, and China Basin, and hopefully pick up some of the plastic that might make its way into the bay anyway. Come join us everyone!

What: Walkin' talkin' neighborhood trash pick-up & podcast

Who: Anyone & everyone

When: 10 am - 12 noon, Saturday Dec. 7

Where: In front of the Caltrain Station, 4th St. btwn King & Townsend

Bring: A friend. Walkin' shoes. Gloves. A trash picker if you've got one

Want more info? Email Ray & Dave at pickitupsf AT gmail dot com

View Larger Map

Vol. 2 Ep. 6: Pickin' in Jack's shadow

So this past Sunday, December 18th, Ray, Dave, and Claire set out on a mission to clean up Jack London Square but realized after meeting at the 12th Street BART station in downtown Oakland that, no doubt, the streets between here and there needed attention more than the manicured cement expanse of the square. So we pulled out the sticks and got a-workin', bringing what folks in the neighborhood hopefully saw as a luster and glow to 8th Street between Washington and Clay, and to the surrounding blocks. Along the way, there were many hellos and smiles shared with folks on the street, a lid-picking contest between Claire and Ray (video coming soon!), an encounter with one of the few statues of Cheemah in the world and, oh yeah, probably 25 pounds of trash taken off the streets.

You can download the podcast here, and let us know what you think--leave a comment, say hi at "rayanddave AT gmail DOT com", tell us about trash picking, recycling, and cleaning events in your neighborhood, and join us at our next pick. Logos are being thought up, aprons are being designed, websites are under construction, appeals for supplies are being made to city agencies, and we need your help! Thanks everyone!!

XOXO

ray & dave