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Leo Ariel's avatar

Lovely Holi photos! I would say any tool that allows you to pick up trash without having to bend over would be a nice solution. The act of “bending over and getting up” is quite tiresome and requires a lot of work (in a physics sense). The challenge is exacerbated by hot temperatures, uneven surfaces, and the average distance between each piece of trash. Perhaps a pair of long plastic snatchers would minimize the pain of picking up litter.

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Karena's avatar

Oh my, Leo! You were reading my mind! Each time I bent down I recalled a little contraption my father called "the picker-upper". As he aged, he would use it around the house to pick up his socks, or a piece of paper that had fluttered to the ground.

I should be more lithe and flexible, but 100 bottle caps in, I wanted that so badly!

Interestingly, the discarded plastic bags were really useful as I used them to collect the caps as I went along. Visually the field was a work of art with blue solo cups littering the site.

We don't want to place a litter box on the site as that will encourage all the truckers to use our site to get rid of their roadtrip trash. So we are now turning it into a "leave not trace space".

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Michelle Elisabeth Varghese's avatar

Holi is so fun! I’d love to be in India one year for that.

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Karena's avatar

Holi happens soon after carnival which is a big deal in Goa.

Plan!

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James Bailey's avatar

Beautiful photos Karena! We are in Waikiki and spent a big part of yesterday walking near the beach, picking up plastic bags and cups! I’m not sure how the design could be different but I do know that if people were more intentional with their choices….

Thank you for bringing us the intentions of your actions and the color in your world 🙏❤️

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Karena's avatar

Thank you for clearing the beaches as you vacationed, James. When I was a child our beaches were clean and clear. Of course, we had so much less "convenience" of plastic - we packed our food in banana leaves, or packaging that went home with us, we drank water we had brought along in glass jars.

I liked the tethered cap solution, because -- coming on the heels of the Galapagos trip and seeing young turtles with six-pack plastic rings around their necks -- we need to be thinking about how our solutions do not create new problems.

No one ever invented something in order to cause harm - from dynamite to plastic sporks they were each created to solve an existing problem!

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James Bailey's avatar

Karena! So much truth in what you wrote. I hope you’re having a wonderful trip. Ours is good - only been here 24 hours and still have six days to go. I just published a piece before I left so I have the weight of that off my shoulders now too. 😎

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Cindy Villanueva's avatar

What a lovely post--I think Holi is such a glorious celebration. I wish we had it in the US. This made me smile!

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Karena's avatar

The birth of spring is such a moment of joy, renewal and rebirth! At 34C, it is really the middle of summer already in Goa, but up north the thaw is starting.

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