This Saturday, September 21st is World Clean Up Day and honestly, this planet could use a little help. Did you know that last year’s World Clean Up Day brought out 17 million people spanning 158 countries? Many people have seen videos or photos of the volumes of plastics and micro plastics floating in our oceans. We are all connected by these waters and as a City that is surrounded by water, the little things we do or don’t do every day have an impact on our environment. We are regularly surprised, amazed and disappointed how much litter is tossed in our local waterways, streets, sidewalks and parks. Living along the Fraser River in SE Vancouver, we regularly see the total lack of any thought for the urban wildlife that is home to this area. This area regularly sees visits from hummingbirds, chickadees, sparrows, eagles, hawks, crows, ducks, seagulls, Canadian geese, mink, beavers and most recently a deer along with the odd sea otter sightings.
Seeing the wildlife on a daily basis, residents in this area of Vancouver are passionate about regularly picking up broken glass, garbage, plastics, bottles, cans, fishing line, fishing hooks, straws and much more. There are of course garbage bins around, but for some reason, it’s too much effort for some to carry their own items a few feet to a bin. Many of us were brought up with Don’t Be A Litterbug, but the more recent generations have had a much stronger focus in school on recycling and protecting the environment. There is a disconnect. We don’t know quite know how that happened as it’s there, we see it daily. But what IF every resident took 15 – 20 minutes in their own neighbourhood and did bit of a clean up. The City would look a look better. Wildlife would thank you. We would thank you.
You can do something to help make the world a better place on World Clean Up Day, or every day. Start a new habit, make a commitment to do something different. Donate clothing to a charity or thrift shop. Repurpose something. Fix something instead of throwing it away. It can be small, small steps is where we all start. If you are up for tackling something bigger like a neighbourhood clean up, the City of Vancouver has you covered. To learn more about organizing a clean up or participating in one that’s already organized, visit Clean Up Party.
If you decide to tackle some clean up in your East Van neighbourhood, send us a photo, comment or email, we’d love to hear what you did.
Vines Art Festival
The Britannia Community Centre, 1661 Napier Street, is hosting the 23rd Annual Stone Soup Festival on Saturday, May 12th. This annual event is a celebration of food, art, environment and community. You can expect to find a food market, local artists, community groups, talks, seed swap, net making and Metis dance workshops, live music, children’s activities, free soup and much more. The Stone Soup Festival aims to bring awareness to the issues of food security, the benefits of sharing resources and eating ‘local’ and celebrating the diversity of food in our neighbourhood, the environment and its importance to the culture of our community. This is a free family friendly event that happens from Noon – 5:00 pm.
Britannia Community Centre
Recycling and repurposing has been a way life for us long before it was on everyone’s radar as it is today. Honestly, it pains us to throw things away. Out of sight is not out of mind for us. It has to go somewhere and if it’s just tossed, it will likely be in a landfill. That’s not to say that we don’t toss things away, we try to keep that to a bare minimum. So we are always pleased to see new ways to recycle and repurpose items. On that vein, we’d like to introduce you to 
ILiveInEastVan.com 