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I am aware that the giant pile of trash my hard-working volunteers were good enough to drag out of the Albany Marsh for free on September 19th is still there. Indeed, one of you was kind enough to leave abundant copies of this gracious note.
Every agency responsible for this location had months of advance notice about Coastal Cleanup Day and my event. Every agency responsible for this location also has extensive experience with the volume of trash my hard-working volunteers frequently remove from this heavily-polluted ecosystem.
Following my event, I immediately alerted every agency responsible for this location about the need for a prompt pickup. I then followed up twice, to no avail. Yesterday, I followed up a third time, and opened two new 311s with Albany and Richmond to boot.
Coastal Cleanup Day is billed as a public-private partnership, where hard-working volunteers like us do the work and government finishes it off by taking the trash to the dump. Clearly, government has failed that partnership here.
The Albany Marsh, Bay Trail, and other East Bay waterfront parks only exist because volunteers like us stepped up. Rather than posting snarky notes, why not direct your anger against the well-paid public servants who've dropped the ball - Albany and Richmond Public Works, the East Bay Regional Park, California State Parks, and more.
Ask not what the Trash Pandas can do for you, but what you can do for the Trash Pandas.
Every agency responsible for this location had months of advance notice about Coastal Cleanup Day and my event. Every agency responsible for this location also has extensive experience with the volume of trash my hard-working volunteers frequently remove from this heavily-polluted ecosystem.
Following my event, I immediately alerted every agency responsible for this location about the need for a prompt pickup. I then followed up twice, to no avail. Yesterday, I followed up a third time, and opened two new 311s with Albany and Richmond to boot.
Coastal Cleanup Day is billed as a public-private partnership, where hard-working volunteers like us do the work and government finishes it off by taking the trash to the dump. Clearly, government has failed that partnership here.
The Albany Marsh, Bay Trail, and other East Bay waterfront parks only exist because volunteers like us stepped up. Rather than posting snarky notes, why not direct your anger against the well-paid public servants who've dropped the ball - Albany and Richmond Public Works, the East Bay Regional Park, California State Parks, and more.
Ask not what the Trash Pandas can do for you, but what you can do for the Trash Pandas.
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A huge shout out to all the fantastic pandas who made it out to today's Coastal Cleanup Day in the Albany Marsh, including Linda, Scott, Nina, Jamie, Sophie, Kresta, James, Aileen, Rick, Sami, Loren, Vaugun, Dahlia, Audry, Autumn, Katia, Sean, and Rosemary. Each and every one of you did an absolutely fantastic job getting this fragile ecosystem far cleaner than it was before - the swamp monsters are waving their appendages in wild appreciation!
A special shout out to D12 Congressional candidate Jamie Joyce, who responded to my question about trash by showing up and busting her chops cleaning it up! This is absolutely the kind of get it done energy we need in DC - thank you!
We'd love your help at future cleanups! Sign up for email announcements, follow me on Instagram, or donate cleanup supplies or cash. Thanks everyone, very well done!!!
A special shout out to D12 Congressional candidate Jamie Joyce, who responded to my question about trash by showing up and busting her chops cleaning it up! This is absolutely the kind of get it done energy we need in DC - thank you!
We'd love your help at future cleanups! Sign up for email announcements, follow me on Instagram, or donate cleanup supplies or cash. Thanks everyone, very well done!!!
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Come join us for a trash cleanup in and around the Albany Marsh on Saturday, September 19th from 9 AM to noon!
We'll meet along the Bay Trail at the mouth of Cerrito Creek here. Please note that this site is only accessible by bike or foot, so plan on parking north around the dog park / Costco or south near the Albany Bulb - it's about a 10 minute walk either way. Or walk or ride from home!
If you're a solid yes, please RSVP below. Please make sure your spam filter accepts emails from eastbaytrashpandas@gmail.com.
If you do attend, please make sure to wear or bring long pants, a sun hat, layers, water, and snacks. Closed-toe shoes are a must, and rain boots can be wise given that it's a swamp full of trash. If you have a trash grabber and work gloves, please bring those as well - if not, I can equip like 15 pandas or so.
Thank you for being awesome!
We'll meet along the Bay Trail at the mouth of Cerrito Creek here. Please note that this site is only accessible by bike or foot, so plan on parking north around the dog park / Costco or south near the Albany Bulb - it's about a 10 minute walk either way. Or walk or ride from home!
If you're a solid yes, please RSVP below. Please make sure your spam filter accepts emails from eastbaytrashpandas@gmail.com.
If you do attend, please make sure to wear or bring long pants, a sun hat, layers, water, and snacks. Closed-toe shoes are a must, and rain boots can be wise given that it's a swamp full of trash. If you have a trash grabber and work gloves, please bring those as well - if not, I can equip like 15 pandas or so.
Thank you for being awesome!
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In yet another wild departure from trash, the Pandas - well, specifically, this Panda - co-opted this patch of bare city dirt and dog shit to plant a prelegal native pollinator garden!
Native plants and insects spent millions of years evolving to get along. Like your LTR, they get - and need - each other. If you'd like to help your local ecosystem and fight the spiritual depravity of modern landscaping, please plant one of your own!
Here's what's currently on the menu - as you can see, the monarch caterpillars are going gangbusters, and I just had my first lady emerge from her chrysalis. If you'd like to buy more milkweed for their ridiculous appetites, here's a link to my Venmo! Plants are about $22 for a large, $12 for a small.
Native plants and insects spent millions of years evolving to get along. Like your LTR, they get - and need - each other. If you'd like to help your local ecosystem and fight the spiritual depravity of modern landscaping, please plant one of your own!
Here's what's currently on the menu - as you can see, the monarch caterpillars are going gangbusters, and I just had my first lady emerge from her chrysalis. If you'd like to buy more milkweed for their ridiculous appetites, here's a link to my Venmo! Plants are about $22 for a large, $12 for a small.
- California Poppy, Eschscholzia Californica.
- Narrowleaf Milkweed, Asclepias Fascicularis.
- Foothill Penstemon, Penstemon Heterophyllus.
- Warriner Lytle Buckwheat, Eriogonum Fasciculatum 'Warriner Lytle'.
- Dark Star Ceanothus, Ceanothus 'Dark Star'.
- California Cudweed, Pseudognaphalium Californicum.
- Red-Flowered Buckwheat, Eriogonum Grande var. Rubescens.
- Common Yarrow, Achillea Millefolium.
- Island Pink Yarrow, Achillea Millefolium 'Island Pink'.
- Self-Heal, Prunella Vulgaris.
- Junegrass, Koeleria Macrantha.
- Fiesta Marigold Monkeyflower, Diplacus 'Fiesta Marigold'
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I finally got around to setting up the technically unapproved but no one cares Albany Marsh trash can and needle bucket shebang a goodly number of you were irresponsible enough to buy me. I don't know all of your names, but I do like the cuts of your jibs!
Will this setup capture all the litter and needles at this site? No. Will it capture most of it, if we loosely construe the term? Yes. Like its red-headed stepchild up on Grizzly Peak, this can will agglomerate the trash. As I always say, agglomeration is 87% of the battle!
I also ogled the marsh in general. The site we cleaned last time is still pretty spotless, but the rest of the marsh could use another cleanup or two. If you'd like to waste part of your precious weekend dragging trash out of a swamp for free, sign up on our Volunteer page for the email announcements I've begrudgingly resolved to resume.
Thanks everyone!
Will this setup capture all the litter and needles at this site? No. Will it capture most of it, if we loosely construe the term? Yes. Like its red-headed stepchild up on Grizzly Peak, this can will agglomerate the trash. As I always say, agglomeration is 87% of the battle!
I also ogled the marsh in general. The site we cleaned last time is still pretty spotless, but the rest of the marsh could use another cleanup or two. If you'd like to waste part of your precious weekend dragging trash out of a swamp for free, sign up on our Volunteer page for the email announcements I've begrudgingly resolved to resume.
Thanks everyone!
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The pandas took a slight detour from pawing trash to volunteer with Sidewalk Trees & Gardens in Oakland today!
We planted 20 already-large street trees along this stretch of 81st near the Coliseum - in a few years these fast-growing planty plants will provide much-needed shade, cooling, and colorshapes that are good for our souls.
I can't recommend this organization enough - we all need more green! Follow them on Insta and sign up for future events if you're feeling inclined. Great work everyone!
We planted 20 already-large street trees along this stretch of 81st near the Coliseum - in a few years these fast-growing planty plants will provide much-needed shade, cooling, and colorshapes that are good for our souls.
I can't recommend this organization enough - we all need more green! Follow them on Insta and sign up for future events if you're feeling inclined. Great work everyone!
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A truly fantastic day cleaning a truly enormous amount of trash out of the Albany Marsh with Sophie, Elisa, Brendan, Sylvia, Scott, Tara, and Andy! You guys all worked like famished pandas in a freshly-filled dumpster and are an absolute chocolate-covered hoot to work with - very well done!!!
One of the highlights of today's shebang was my attempts to use the honest-to-god mall ninja grappling hook one of you fantastic people was unwise enough to buy me. Grapple fever is a hard sickness to cure, but my abject failures to snag a floating mattress seemed to do the trick. Still, we got that shopping cart - well done, Scott!
Our meetup site being the place to eat fast food, inject drugs, and apparently lose at least one shoe, I'd like to lock a bootleg trash can and needle bucket to the nearby fence. I could also use another tranche of trash tons. If anyone's feeling generous, I've updated my Amazon Wishlist accordingly!
Thank you so much everyone, very well done!
One of the highlights of today's shebang was my attempts to use the honest-to-god mall ninja grappling hook one of you fantastic people was unwise enough to buy me. Grapple fever is a hard sickness to cure, but my abject failures to snag a floating mattress seemed to do the trick. Still, we got that shopping cart - well done, Scott!
Our meetup site being the place to eat fast food, inject drugs, and apparently lose at least one shoe, I'd like to lock a bootleg trash can and needle bucket to the nearby fence. I could also use another tranche of trash tons. If anyone's feeling generous, I've updated my Amazon Wishlist accordingly!
Thank you so much everyone, very well done!
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The Pandas - well, specifically, this Panda - padded all the way down to San Jose to help local cleanup hero Andy / Pengweather and his 25+ Peng Pals clean an enormous amount of crap out of Coyote Creek. Everyone did an amazing job and busted their busy little chops for hours in the rain - solid work, folks, and very well organized Andy!!!
As an aside, it's a real shame that the people who developed the Bay didn't have a better eye for natural beauty. We could have preserved these creekside corridors as lovely lush parks with paths and picnic areas for everyone to enjoy and wildlife to flourish. Instead, we paved them over, fenced them off, and built boring strip malls and stroads - snore.
Sooner or later, we'll wake up to the fact that mountains of cash and crap aren't making us happy and that community and flourishing nature are where life's real wealth is at. Restoring Coyote Creek to what it looked, sounded, and felt like 500 years ago - minus the grizzly bears and wolves - would be a fantastic step in that direction!
As an aside, it's a real shame that the people who developed the Bay didn't have a better eye for natural beauty. We could have preserved these creekside corridors as lovely lush parks with paths and picnic areas for everyone to enjoy and wildlife to flourish. Instead, we paved them over, fenced them off, and built boring strip malls and stroads - snore.
Sooner or later, we'll wake up to the fact that mountains of cash and crap aren't making us happy and that community and flourishing nature are where life's real wealth is at. Restoring Coyote Creek to what it looked, sounded, and felt like 500 years ago - minus the grizzly bears and wolves - would be a fantastic step in that direction!
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A huge thank you to the 50+ fantastic folks who made it out to Point Isabel to grab trash and cheer our local cleanup hero Andy today! Y'all did an absolutely bang-up job - seriously, such piles! - and were such a joy to work with! Very well done!
If you'd like to join us at a future cleanup, sign up here and follow me on insta! And if you don't mind getting your political paws dirty with some good old fashioned direct democracy, check out our Tidal Marshes page to learn more about how we can de-schmutz this marsh!
Thanks again everyone, see you at the next one!!!
If you'd like to join us at a future cleanup, sign up here and follow me on insta! And if you don't mind getting your political paws dirty with some good old fashioned direct democracy, check out our Tidal Marshes page to learn more about how we can de-schmutz this marsh!
Thanks again everyone, see you at the next one!!!
