Did another of my semi-regular clean-ups near the 7-eleven, KFC and Starbucks. I had been feeling a bit down after scrolling some analysis of movies I’m fond of about corporations and modern life, Idiocracy, Fight Club, Office Space and Falling down. But we don’t have to blow up buildings or fight with violence. As I was picking up some of the over 250 pieces of branded corporate detritus, a lady in a car stopped and said ‘thank you’. Made my day 😊

I’m attending the 3rd annual Australian Biosecurity Symposium on the Gold Coast. Seeing some familiar faces from 2 years ago, and making new connections and learning as always.

I visited the Biobasin after the rain, lots of rubbish gets washed here via the storm water drains. Over 100 pieces picked up.

So much rubbish in the drain next to Warrigal road. I concentrated on removing as much plastic as I could

Collected 2 bags, 231 items of rubbish close to home. And for this story I’m using the blue marker, which allows for privacy, as it randomly assigns the pin in the local area of the activity.

On Sunday I collected a bag of rubbish. Mostly KFC. People park in the street after going through the drive thru, and then just leave their rubbish. Really bad behaviour. The fast food chains or on my list of potential platform users.

Visiting Wilson’s Promontory National Park and Squeaky Beach. Our good friend Pete picked up a plastic chip packet, not only improved the view but helped the environment that extra bit.

My sister and I caught up with Mum and Dad's dear friends Brian and Sandy. We had a lovely lunch at Fitzy's in Toowoomba.

Having a wonderful chat with Paola about account based marketing 😊

I collected a bag of rubbish on my way to the Kings College bush regen working bee 😊

I visited Kings College for the first time since the early 1990s. Andrew and Thérèse were wonderful hosts for my tour. Andrew and the residents are doing wonderful work regenerating the vegetation along the river. Super impressed! So much so I’ve offered to come help next Wednesday. Watch this space 😊

All the rubbish on my walking route to the bus getting to me again ☹️ 226 seperate pieces, including 2 vapes which if separated into the 2nd bag with the bottles.

Was walking the dogs with Soyun at Sid Bigg park in Mudgeeraba when I noticed a Passionfruit vine in a tree near the scoreboard. It was easily removed, but I also removed 30 vine seedlings.

I was in central Brisbane eating my sushi when I was visited by this feral pigeon looking for some food. The feather on the pigeon’s head looked like a hat, and its feet were very deformed. (Interesting research on pigeon feet!). It reminded me that whilst removing invasive species from our natural areas is vitally important for biodiversity, they are living beings. Which means removal should be done as humanely as possible. Also, in our majorly altered environments like city scapes, pigeons and other introduced species can help nature reestablish an ecosystem, create a food chain. Provide a connection to Nature that many city dwellers lack. So I gave him/her some sushi, and left the mall with a smile on my face.

Someone held a party near my daughters’s bus stop with cask wine and vapes. No one else was cleaning it up, so I did, along with about 300m of roadside in 15min.

And here I was thinking Paris has a street rubbish problem… 177 pieces in just over 15 minutes in about 250m of one side of my local street 😢

Friday was the 2nd and last day of Hello Tomorrow. Whist we are not ‘Deep Tech’ it was certainly worthwhile coming to experience and learn from this innovative ecosystem. The way ahead for us as a company is forming. And another bags worth of rubbish, some 60 pieces was picked up along my walk to and from the venue. There are two causes for the rubbish other than its manufacture: in areas with large numbers of shops that unwrap plastic, the storage areas are inadequate, this despite daily visits by council to clean. Secondly attitudes. The second photo is a bottle tossed there casually by someone in front of me. I put it in the bin 10m away. Sad.

First day at the Hello Tomorrow conference in the impressive Le Centquartre in Paris. A ‘deep tech’ conference with many worthy ideas and plans to benefit our world. However, I also know we need to start now with action. I walked the 6km return trip to and from the venue. And I picked up rubbish along the way with my pick up stick. Into bins in the morning as I didn’t want to turn up with a bag of rubbish! And 80 pieces on my return. I suspect looking at the day in isolation I did more demonstrable action than the vast majority of the 3,000 delegates. And I got two compliments in French from passers by! 😊

Went to a shop called Leroymerlin. Sorta like a chic French Bunnings in the middle of Paris to get myself a pickup stick. On my way there I noticed this chip packet outside Cartier and wondered whether it would be there on my return. It sure was lol. So I picked up one piece of rubbish for every bin I saw on my way home. 13 in all. Imagine if a sizeable minority did the same regularly whilst walking. The rubbish would be sorted!

There is a lot of rubbish in Paris, much more than I remember from 10 years ago. Some places are worse than others. But it’s sad to see we’ll dressed young Parisiennes casually toss their cigarette butts in the beautiful cobbled streets 😢 I picked up a single bottle today in Maurecourt, but I’m feeling like making a statement by picking up rubbish wearing my greenbrand shirt!