Reducing Waste, Buying Responsibly

Natural Beach Stone Chime
Coast Chimes

Spending time on the local beaches is a great perk of my job. It fortunately takes a long time to find stones and driftwood acceptable for my needs, so I get to spend many hours walking along the Pacific Ocean. How lucky is that?

I am very conscious of our failing planet, the terrible price people pay for the convenience of plastic, or throw away poor quality stuff (yes, I see the plastic trash on the beach), and our high energy demands. It is with pride I invest so much thought and work into producing the very highest quality works I can, so that I know these will last for so many more years than typical garden and home decor. Further to that, I am pleased to have recently invested in a bike, and now I almost do not use our single car at all. I just ordered some high quality, made in Canada, panniers, not cringing (too much!) at the price, seeing as how many reviews mentioned the durability (again, avoid throw away stuff, no matter how cheap). With these, I will not only be able to do much of our grocery shopping, but I will also be able to go to the beach and bring home stones and driftwood without burning fossil fuels. I like that.

Below is the most recent collection of natural beach stones I found for use in my work. I just love beach stone. When they get wet from the rain or snow, they become even more beautiful!

See all my beach stone creations on my website: Coast Chimes

Recently Collect Beach Stones
from Roberts Creek, BC

Beach Ocean Pollution, EPS, Sunshine Coast, BC, Canada: Take Action!

Not Snow: Styrofoam (expanded polystyrene) Pollution
Ban EPS Now!

It's been a rough winter. Rough weather with multiple wind storms, and rough on the environment, with many docks breaking up. The picture above is not lovely snow on the beach; it is EPS waste from docks where it is used as flotation: nasty stuff!

Large blocks of EPS are used to float docks. Sooner or later, these blocks fall apart, or escape during storms. They then quickly break down into tiny pellets. These pellets are not biodegradable. They will be floating around for generations (some studies say up to one million years). Animals eat the tiny pieces, and have their digestive systems clogged.

There are more environmentally friendly alternatives, so there is no excuse. New docks must not use EPS, and current dock owners must change over. The federal government should have acted years ago, but better now than later. Please email or phone your MP and urge immediate action (it only takes a minute). You can find the contact information for your member here: Contact Your MP

Broken Down Dock EPS, Sunshine Coast, BC Beach

Large Pieces of EPS, Gibsons, BC, Canada

Sad State of Local Beaches and Oceans, Gibsons, Sunshine Coast BC

Wrecked Sailboat, Gibsons, BC

Being a beachcomber, for the past many years I have walked the local beaches. It's part of my job, as I use a bit of driftwood and beach stone in my artwork. I have been pretty happy over the years at the lack of trash and plastic on our local beaches: until this year. The past months I have noted a sad increase in plastic, cans, ropes, and especially styrofoam and fibreglass shards. I blame irresponsible pleasure boaters for the vast majority of this pollution. The styrofoam comes from docks that drift away and breakup. The fibreglass from pleasure craft that are left to crumble on beaches, such as the one pictured above.

The sailboat above landed on the beach two years ago. It seemed fine, and it surprised me that no one salvaged it, as surely the hull must have been of some value. But no. It sat there and then, after several large storms, started to break apart. Now it is not fine at all. Now there are from dinner plate to almost microscopic shards of fibreglass all up and down the beach. Ugly, and surely detrimental to marine life.

There have been several significant storms this winter, and now there are a bunch of dinghies, some more boats, and some industrial-type barges on the local beaches. Yesterday, another large fibreglass hull (picture below) washed ashore.

Where is the government? Department of Fisheries (DFO)? Local government (SCRD, Town of Gibsons)? I don't know. No one seems particularly interested in acting, but action (and the quicker the better) is exactly what is needed. Don't we all understand that our oceans (world) are at high risk, and do we not have even the gumption to deal with our own little part? I am not a boater, and I am not an expert, but it looked like the boat above would have been easy to drag off and deal with during the first year. Now it has holes in it, and it would be a more complex issue.

There is an 'eco-tax' on many things: paint, electronics, batteries, etc. Why not implement a yearly fee on boats and docks, maybe just a few dollars a foot, and use that money to set up a quick action group with a telephone number, a branch that would respond quickly-- much like oil spills seem to be dealt with? But from all I have seen (ie, no action at all) over the past months regarding the above boat, I expect it will be left to further deteriorate, spreading more micro-fibres across the region. Too sad!

The styrofoam is often first seen in very large blocks after escaping from under a dock. It quickly breaks down into small pieces, is extremely unsightly, and I bet very damaging to the environment and marine life. There is an absolutely horrendous amount recently on local shorelines. Terrible. Ban the stuff. There must be another way to float a dock?

Most Recent Fiberglass Hull to Land on the Shore

Fiberglass Fibres from the Sailboat at the Top