Litter Pick In A Canoe

Volunteering to do a litter pick is a noble and great thing, doing a litter pick in a canoe is still all of those things.  It’s also major fun!  London’s canals are full of rubbish, it’s an environmental travesty quite frankly.  I came across everything from a mattress to a pair of sunglasses wrapped in socks.  Plastics of all types and colours contaminate the waterways of London and can float by just as often as the leaves. 

Seeing this everyday drove to me volunteer with the Lower Regents Coalition to try and clean up as much as I could.  It’s been an age since I sat in a canoe.  ”It will all come flooding back” I said to myself – it did, but I looked like a right wally getting in and out.  Anyway…. 

The Lower Regents Coalition in partnership with Moo Canoes give volunteers free use of the canoes to do the litter pick.  Moo Canoes is a local business based in the Limehouse Basin, Limehouse.  They hire their canoes for people to use on the canals and once a month collaborates to help with the clean up operation.  The whole operation is free for volunteers and no booking is necessary.  Just turn up and you’ll be kitted out with a life vest, gloves, waterproofs and litter picking gear. 

There is a health and safety briefing and some training to go through first.  This doesn’t take too long though and then you’re off!  

“It’s the best way to pick litter!”

Organiser Molly Gadenz says:

“We’ve been running for three years now. Myself and Dave who started the group had been working on the canal with other organisations and we naturally progressed to adopting the stretch from Limehouse Basin to Mile End.”

“We both live nearby, so it made sense to want to look after somewhere in our community.”

“We started with litter picks, and progressed from there. Moo Canoes, who are based in the Basin, support us so we can pick up rubbish on the water. Hopefully it’s a bit of fun for everyone taking part too.”

At the core of your spirituality you will find that helping others is part of your very essence.  Those that help Mother Earth will ultimately help others.  There are those of us yet to learn the biggest lessons about the care of our Earth.  Living in one of the biggest cities in the world I see on a daily basis the outcome of people’s need to pollute our home. 

Picking up their rubbish may promote the thoughts that ‘it’s not my job’ or ‘they should pick up their own rubbish’.  View it another way, view it as the lessons you have learned once upon a time you hadn’t.  I’m not saying that you were the kind of person to empty your rubbish in to the canal but you weren’t perfect.  It takes the kind of person that will give their time to help clear up to allow others to see them and learn.  I personally was prompted to help after seeing others taking the lead.  

Doing a litter pick and removing some of the pollution from the waterways will help the wildlife that live their, the people that walk by there and you.  Giving your time to pick litter is rewarding, I certainly came away with a sense of having done some good.  The reality is that you may never be able to remove all the rubbish, but the more people that help a little bit the better off we all will be. 

Doing a litter pick in a canoe was one of the most fun volunteering days I have ever done.  To get involved click here.

“Cleaner environment, brighter mood, contact with your spirituality”

Realiser was born from a dream to be in a realised state, a state of awaken.  To be able to see the most obvious things having missed them for so many years.  Subsequently I wanted to create something to serve as an example of how it could be.  If only we might spend the time loving that we spend hating.  Above all spending the time to be kind to others for no reason.  You get the idea.  I will travel around doing what I can and would love for you to join me.  Follow my path here…