July 2023 Events & News
Welcome to the July 2023 newsletter
Dates – Pett Flower Show, Pett Level Independent Rescue Boat
Plastic Free July – ideas for all to reduce the need for single use plastic
Lotteries – are they sustainable?
Shellfish Times – local band, Thee Shamoozers, supporting the environment
Climate change volunteering – be the change & help the lobby for action
Youth participation – new group for a youth voice
The Fulmar (part of membership package) contains more info on these articles and other international, regional and local news.
Membership
A reminder to renew your 2023 membership if you have not already done so. We cannot collect payments by direct debit, so renewal is on an annual basis (1st January) via our website please. £10 for existing members or £12 if are joining us for the first time. Thank you to all our members for supporting Strandliners: we could not do it without you.
Andy Dinsdale
Past Events
PlasticBlitz, River Rother
The Thames21 PlasticBlitz saw Strandliners up the River Rother again, surveying areas for plastic pollution. We pick, sort, identify, record, bag & bin. This adds to evidence for Thames21 to use in their lobbying to prevent plastic pollution.
Our ‘Litter DNA’ piecharts are used on a local scale to monitor the plastic pollution trends. Although we found less litter this time, the pie charts are created using percentages (by number of items), so we can compare the proportions of each category. What changes can you see?
If it were not for our wonderful volunteers, this important work would be overlooked. Anyone interested in data collection and statistical analysis, we have data to be crunched! We can all be part of the solution to prevent plastic pollution.
Dungeness beach survey, Marine Conservation Society
Strandliners volunteers returned to the quarterly plastic pollution survey at the MoD Lydd Ranges, Dungeness. Every survey is at the same location on this little-used beach. The information collected shows more of an accurate image of what local marine litter really is, as there are fewer beach visitors able to make the difficult journey. We identified 521 items, 94% of which were plastic. Although our survey rubbish weighed less than 6 kg, we were able to remove a further 42 kg of rubbish from the environment on our way back! Again, this valuable data/information/evidence would not be collected without the hard work and effort of our volunteers.
News and Views
Plastic Free July
A global movement to try and encourage people to use no plastic, or at least less plastic, through the month of July. There are lots of ideas on their website.
Rother Community Lottery
Whilst Strandliners has been supported by the Rother Community Lottery in the past, we have come to the difficult decision that the prizes on offer do not align with our vision. Short haul flights and their carbon footprint, as well as tablets, home cinema systems and so on, which perpetuate the materialistic world we need to break away from. An answer could be items designed with a circular economy in mind.We thank those of you who have supported us in this way over the last year.
Shellfish Times
Shellfish Times (Song for Ruby) is the latest single from Thee Shamoozers, a lament about the climate crisis. Kim and Henry have generously shared this link with us and offered to donate all proceeds to Strandliners: theeshamoozers.bandcamp.com
Be the change!
Anyone can help, there are many ways to support Strandliners.
Can you help lobby for climate change action by giving some of your time to a Strandliners event? We are not asking you to do anything drastic, but are raising awareness of the link between plastic pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss.
You could join a survey, help with an admin task, analyse data, upload surveys, help with social media marketing and much more. if you have a few spare hours, an idea or skills you could share, we would love to hear from you. Young Strandliners
Strandliners is developing a ‘Young Strandliners’ group for 10- to 18-year-olds. Meeting once a month, we aim to create a team who are passionate about our environment, willing to learn new skills and take the challenge to our decision makers. Please contact us if you have children who would be interested in taking part.We have a small group starting in August, calling all young people with a passion to move away from a wasteful society.
Future Events
Come along and meet some of the Strandliners team at the following events:
Saturday 29th July – Pett Village Flower Show
Sunday 20th August – Pett Level Independent Rescue Boat
Chat about waste, recycling, “Plastic Free July”Identify sea beans – the ultimate beachcomber treasure – and the story of how Strandliners started, beachcombing postcards for sale (sea beans, smart lids, American lobster trap tags, nurdles), mystery object activity!
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Another way to help Strandliners reach a greater audience is through our social media presence. We are notoriously not amazing at keeping up with letting everyone know what we do but if all subscribers were able to support through liking, sharing and/or reposting it would really helpful!
Facebook – Strandliners
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Twitter – @StrandlinersCIC
Membership of Strandliners
Benefits of becoming a member include a quarterly online magazine, The Fulmar, a monthly raffle to win a sea heart, and opportunities to join beach, marine & citizen science workshops.