As an anchor group for our Upstream Battle® campaign, Literati Guide to Inverclyde is planning a series of litter picks along the length of Inverclyde's shoreline between 15 March and 28 April 2024 as part of #SpringCleanScotland. In this wee blog they talk about the impact that they have had in the past year, the benefits of volunteering to clean up and invite you to join them at a clean up.
One of nature’s hunters, the Heron, sits atop a discarded bin bag at Murdieston Dam in Greenock.
We’re not writing this column to preach about societal norms and the impact each of us are having on our local environment.
No, no, no. That would be far too easy. No, we're writing this for two reasons:
- To ask each of you to think about change, to help understand and educate what each of us can do to positively influence and affect our local wildlife/environment; and
- To also take the time to thank everyone across Scotland for the work which they put in to support their local wildlife, environment and communities.
Literati guide to Inverclyde has been in existence now for over six years and is an anchor group working with Keep Scotland Beautiful to tackle litter from source to sea.
To put the impact environmental volunteers has into context, let’s focus only on four months of local activity from July to October 2023.
During this time there were 46 group based litter picking events across Inverclyde, including Port Glasgow, Greenock, Gourock, Inverkip and Wemyss bay to help remove single use plastics and other detritus from having an impact on both our wildlife and our environment.
At these events, 236 people have attended and lifted 326 bags of detritus OUT of our environment – that’s a massive 1,640kg in weight. The equivalent weight of eight adult bottlenose dolphins in just four months. Just how cool is that?
Now that’s what I call IMPACT.
The benefits of volunteering at a litter pick are also pretty cool too.
- You get to meet likeminded people;
- Do some light exercise;
- Spend time in and with nature; and
- Feel pretty good about the positive aspects of helping our environment.
As we move forward we are looking to highlight the support we have received from local business, continue with some hints and tips to help support the circular economy and your change process (reduce what you need, reuse what you have and recycle more effectively) and also shine a wee light on some of our volunteers and why they do what they do.
We’ve moved beyond opinion, it’s now about action – tell us what you do to support our wildlife and environment. Let’s share the stories and inspire others.
If you'd like to get involved, visit Literati guide to Inverclyde's website for more details.
