70-Year-Old Grandma Cleaned 52 Beaches In Just One Year And Proved It's Never Too Late To Save The Planet

May 03, 2019 by apost team

It’s easy to take things for granted when they are readily available. The beach, freely given to us by the earth is one of the most beautiful scenery you will ever come across.

Unfortunately, human activity takes beaches for granted and have been turned into dumpsters. Pat Smith wasn’t happy with the condition her local beach has been gradually taking so she took it upon herself to stop the menace. She was on a mission to reclaim the beauty of the beach.

On her 2018 year’s resolution bucket list, she decided to add a cleaning schedule. The 70-year-old grandmother was determined to clean one local beach every week for a whole year. In 2018, she managed to add fifty-two beaches to her cleaning list. With a year having fifty-two weeks, she managed to reach her target.

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While talking to Cornwall Live, Smith got motivated to start the mission when she took her grandchildren to the beach. After a storm hit the shores, it left a large pile of garbage destroying the general aesthetic of the beach. Following her dedication and tenacity to see her mission complete, she has encouraged other volunteers along the way who join her on missions to clean the beaches.

Unlike most people, Smith isn’t forced to handle these clean-up projects. She does it willingly despite her age and lack of support from authorities. Smith encourages people to take up environmental clean-ups as fun duties that could be coupled when doing other tasks such as jogging, nature walks or dog walking. She insists that human beings are entirely responsible for the degradation of environment and littering of rubbish everywhere. Smith continues to lecture that if everyone became more accountable and disciplined enough not to throw litter just anywhere, we wouldn’t have the same environmental discussions. The grandmother goes ahead to give shocking statistics that show the irresponsibility on our beaches. She has picked 563 pieces of garbage in one and a half hours on just one beach!

From experience, the trash comes from people disposing off plastic anywhere in the beach. She warns that it will become a disaster if people don’t stop taking environmental cleanliness on a serious note.

With an aim to curb massive use of single plastic straws, she launched the Cornwall’s Final Straw Initiative. Smith hopes to see people use better alternatives to plastic and become aware of their destructive behaviors.

Will you join hands with Pat Smith and help her save the world from impending danger? Passing this piece to your friends and family may encourage people to go out there and save the world.