Litter in our waterways is a problem paddlers all over the world put up with. When I paddle on the Memphis riverfront, there are days when there's no litter in sight and there's no place more beautiful, but there are other days, typically after a period of heavy rain, when the mostly polymer-based flotsam is so thick I have to think about where I put my blade in the water.
From time to time I actually pluck pieces of litter from the water and toss them in the front part of my surf ski's footwell so I can dispose of them properly after I'm done paddling. Other times the problem seems so impossible for a lone little guy like me to solve that I just throw up my hands and don't bother.
Indeed, I believe the problem won't truly be solved until everybody pitches in. By "everybody" I do mean everybody--every single citizen of our society. And by "pitching in" I mean not just putting refuse in the trash can, but ceasing to purchase in the first place all the cheap plastic junk that's being manufactured in this world, as well as all the pseudo-food that comes in low-grade plastic packaging.
During the awards ceremony at Vicksburg a couple of weeks ago, a special award, the "Trash Line Award," was bestowed upon Mr. Kelly McGinnis of suburban Jackson, Mississippi. I wasn't really in the loop on the exact reason Kelly was selected for this award, but I think it had something to do with his unwavering commitment to the removal of litter from all our waterways. Photo by Paul Ingram.
Presiding over the ceremony are Laura Callaway and Cliff Geter. I believe the "M" on Cliff's ball cap stands for "Moratorium," as in "Let's declare a moratorium on the production and purchase of all plastic products that serve mankind in no meaningful way whatsoever and simply wind up polluting the lakes, rivers, and oceans where we paddle." Once that's happened, and we realize we don't need so much money to buy useless stuff or to pay our medical bills for the maladies caused by consumption of junk food that came in plastic packaging as well as the air pollution that results from polymer manufacturing processes, we can stop working so many hours at jobs we don't like and spend more of our precious lives paddling our boats on our beautiful litter-free waterways.
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