Close one door…another one opens.  Or in my case, start yet another project.  I just can’t help myself.

My name is Carla Cline and I am addicted to making things happen. (If only I could just get my kitchen table cleaned off and file all of the those papers!)

This newest occurrence in my life is the Flagler Beach All-Stars.  A community minded organization looking to make positive things happen in Flagler Beach. Here is the link to our page which explains a little about who we are and what are our intentions.  Take a look.  And then mark down on your calendar our first order of business.

We are hosting a Beach and Town Clean-up on March 7th at 8am.

We will be meeting at the pier with bags and gloves ready.  Sorry, we will not be supplying bottles of water, as I have an aversion to creating more trash than necessary.  While our goal is to obviously clean up, the bigger objective is to create Flagler Beach All-Star Ambassadors who will kindly advise people that leaving their trash behind is unacceptable.  My personal goal is to not having monthly clean-ups…but living in a place where litter does not exist.

How did I get here?

One of the first words both my children learned to speak was litter and teaching them to be mindful of the environment in such a simple way, by making sure they cleaned up after themselves (and others, unfortunately) was a priority.  There are still the occasional moments when I am in a parking lot and my five year old starts to reach down and grab some disgusting left-over something, to which I horrifically and dramatically (while envisioning it all happen in slow motion) grab her hand before contact can be made and utter, “don’t touch that.”  The look of confusion on her face makes me both happy and sad, as she wonders why all trash is not created equal.  My explanation is that the store we are patronizing will take care of cleaning up their parking lot, however we are responsible for picking up garbage in mother nature’s yard.  I know…we should not discriminate, but sometimes I just don’t have the handy wipes handy.

My trash issues stem from a few specific moments in my life, the first one being when I was 9 and living in Haiti (story here:). When we would visit town I remember passing their public beaches and being completely horrified by what I witnessed.  This is Haiti…the condition of the people and land in a majority of the country will rip your heart out.  But when you see their beaches being used as a landfill,  guess what- we all share the Ocean! The second one is completely embarrassing. I was middle school aged and recall a group of us frequently meeting at the beach on weekends.  While laying in the sun, being completely lazy and ridiculous, I actually remember digging a hole and burying my trash in the sand.  OMG! WHAT?! ARE YOU F_ing KIDDING ME!!  Is the dialog I have with myself when that memory is conjured up. How embarrassing 🙁  The last one is when I moved to California and was surfing in Oceanside.  I was getting out of the water and passed what looked like the remnants of a very awesome picnic.  Except that it appeared as though the folks just jerked their blanket out from underneath all their goodies and left everything for the maid to clean up.  Oh wait…she was off that day.  So sad.  And there you have it…the partial reason my brain cells fire when garbage is left unattended.

So what does this all mean? Not much- except that its really easy to throw trash away in the proper receptacle, so please exercise your ability to do so 🙂

Cheers and hope to see you next Saturday, March 7th, 8am @ the Flagler Beach Pier!