The story behind our new documentary: Shoreline
When summer finally comes around after a long and grueling winter, many Canadians make the most of the warmer days by heading to the beach to unwind and soak up some much needed Vitamin D. But what we don’t realize is just how much garbage is in the water and on the shores. It’s easy to enjoy a day by the lake and to not think twice about the health of the environment that we all share.
The reality however, is that our Great Lakes are suffering from a lot of pollution. In fact, there is enough plastic flowing into Lake Ontario each year to fill 28 Olympic sized swimming pools . A Greener Future has seen this pollution firsthand, having picked up more than 1.6 million pieces of litter to date, ~90% of which is plastic. The litter we find on the shores of Lake Ontario is more than just the odd coffee cup or straw that someone may have left behind, it’s also takeout containers, plastic bags, construction materials, fishing gear, styrofoam, and a plethora of unidentifiable plastic pieces.
Plastic grocery bag floating in Lake Ontario. Photo by Chelsea Brash.
Each year, A Greener Future hosts 100 litter cleanups along the shores of Lake Ontario through our Love Your Lakes program. During a “normal” year, hundreds of volunteers attend our cleanups and we can pick up anywhere between 80,000 to 110,000 pieces of litter in just two months. But, the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything.
In order to help stop the spread of the virus, all of our public cleanups in 2020 were cancelled. Knowing firsthand how much litter is out there, Rochelle Byrne - Founder and Executive Director of AGF - knew she couldn’t let an entire year go by without at least trying to clean up the lake our organization works so hard to protect.
After doing hundreds of shoreline litter cleanups it became apparent to me that year after year things weren’t getting better. We can keep cleaning up the mess, but if we don’t stop waste at its source we’re never going to solve the problem.
- Rochelle Byrne
From this moment, Love Your Lake changed. It became an awareness campaign that AGF supporters could follow along from the comfort and safety of their own homes. Byrne knew she needed to do something big to get attention, so she took on the challenge of becoming the first person to ever stand up paddle the length of Lake Ontario - all while raising awareness about plastic pollution in the lake.
She paddle boarded 430km over the course of 18 days throughout the month of July, starting in Kingston on July 1st and ending in Niagara-on-the-Lake on August 1st.
Rochelle Byrne after a day of paddling Lake Ontario. Photo by Chelsea Brash.
While Byrne was on the water the rest of the AGF team stayed on shore doing litter cleanups. By the end of the project, they had picked up a whopping 41,992 pieces of litter along the shoreline, despite only having 2-3 team members at most cleanups.
This year, AGF will be releasing a documentary titled Shoreline which follows Byrne's journey across Lake Ontario while drawing attention to the issue of plastic pollution in the lake. With beautiful imagery, filmmakers Paul Whitaker and Chelsea Brash transport viewers to the shoreline, showcasing all of the good, the bad and the ugly realities that Lake Ontario faces.
Shoreline is an inspiring story highlighting the intersection of recreation and environmental stewardship. Throughout the film, Byrne exemplifies perseverance and determination in both her ambitious endurance challenge, and in her fight to protect the lake she loves so much. Brash, who is also featured in the film, walks viewers through what a typical litter cleanup looks like with our organization at an unmanaged beach on the edge of Scarborough that is littered with plastic debris, demonstrating the fact that no Lake Ontario shoreline goes untouched by the pervasive issue of plastic pollution.
Despite the disheartening reality that plastic is polluting our precious lake, Shoreline offers hope and solutions for those who care to take action.
A Greener Future will be hosting an advanced screening of the film at their virtual Stand Up For Lake Ontario fundraiser on April 1st, 2021, followed by a Q&A with Rochelle Byrne.
“To ensure a healthy environment for future generations, awareness and education are needed to empower individuals to take action. We can achieve a litter-free environment if we work together,” - Rochelle Byrne.
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Public Relations Intern, A Greener Future