Earth Day 2021

I made my way down the muddy dirt road once more, shifting into 4-wheel drive to avoid getting stuck. I dodged massive potholes while reminiscing about my life in Costa Rica. 

One of my homes, Costa Rica

I had been gone from Costa Rica for two years, and as soon as I landed at the San Jose airport, all I could think about was going to my favorite beach, a secret oasis that only the locals knew about. I had raised my kids on this beach. It was pristine. It wasn’t like the beaches in Miami, crowded and full of tourists. No, this beach was untouched. 

My favorite beach

I’d driven this road more times than I could count, but this time it felt different. Instead of a casual trip up the road, it felt like I was coming home. 

I got to my house and walked down the hidden path to the beach. Each step brought back a flood of memories, playing with my kids in the surf, spending all day under the sun without seeing another person. 

We are nature

I walked out of the jungle, and there it was, my favorite beach. But it looked nothing like I remember. Instead of a pristine oasis, it was covered with trash and littered with microplastics everywhere. I’d only been gone from Costa Rica for two years, but so much had changed. All I could see was trash for miles.  

I had always cared about the Earth and knew the importance of taking care of it, but here, I had an epiphany. In only two years, so much had changed. It only took two years for plastic to completely overrun the place. This was when I realized that the microplastic problem in our ocean was getting severely worse.  

To honor that beach in Costa Rica and celebrate Earth Day, the Meadow Collective team and I spent our Earth week, picking up trash and plastic from one of my favorite outdoor spots in Miami. 

I’m not going to disclose its location, but if you want to help make the area cleaner and pick up trash from the area, message me and I’ll tell you where it is.  

This spot is a popular fishing area for locals, and when the Meadow Collective team and I arrived, we were shocked. Fishing lines with hooks were everywhere. We found beer bottles, chip bags, old hooks, bait bags, soda bottles, disposable masks, more microplastics than I could count, and even a pair of headphones. We could’ve been out there for a month, and we still wouldn’t have been able to pick everything up. 

How could people just leave their trash everywhere? Didn’t they know what they were doing? Didn’t they know the effect that their actions had on the water they were fishing in and the mangroves around them? 

Mangroves are a pivotal part of the Florida coastal ecosystem. They’re vital nurseries for many species of fish like redfish and snook as well as crabs and shrimps. And many endangered species like the manatee, Florida panther, Key deer, and hawksbill sea turtle depend on mangroves for survival. 

Mangroves are also extremely important for us. When Hurricane Irma hit in 2017, Florida mangroves prevented 1.5 billion in flood damages and saved close to a half-million people. The mangroves are protecting us, so it should be our job to also protect them. 

There is no Planet B

Microplastics and other plastic pollution have a detrimental effect on the mangrove ecosystem. Plastic waste can actually smother mangrove trees, and microplastics can become embedded in mangrove sediment, affecting the plant’s ability to extract nutrients from the ground.  

Do your part on Earth day or any other day and clean up your local park or a natural area nearby you. We only have one Earth, so we must do our best to take care of it for everyone.

#Earthday