Green Garbage Project

I’m back!

From the beginning, the Green Garbage Project has been our response to a world where trash is everywhere, even in the most pristine wilderness places. I don’t want to see a world where the oceans are dead, suffocated under a floating blanket of plastic. I don’t want to see the great apes and whales and countless other species go extinct. I want us to treat the planet and its resources like the gift it truly is.

I can think of no better way to celebrate the end of our trash-free year then with a trip to the wilderness, to enjoy those wild spaces we are working to save. Adam and I just spent a week backpacking and hiking through Olympic National Park in northwest Washington. What a week we had! Just in terms of wildlife, we hit the mother lode: sea otters, a mated pair of bald eagles, bears, coyote, elk, deer, and tidepools teeming with sea critters.

We visisted the western-most tip of the continental United States, taking an easy hike to a gorgeous lookout called Cape Flattery.

We saw this weird fish sculpture in Seiku, a small fishing village we passed through. Her name is Rosie, apparently.

We hiked for miles on some well-used trails and on some deserted ones. The most memorable moments from the trip came during the time we spent hiking along the Olympic coastline. To reach much of the coastline, you literally have to hike in – there are no access roads.

We visisted Forks, famous now due to the Twilight series and teeming with teen girls.

In case you can't read it ... this is the Vampire Threat Level sign.

We ended our trip in the Hoh Rainforest.

And yet, while we were trekking through the wilderness, we still encountered … garbage. And lots of it. Even when we were the only people around, outnumbered by eagles 10 to 1, we still found human trash everywhere. Tires, buoys, bits of plastic. We even found this plastic bag lodged inside a tidepool.