Mayors, Instagram Influencers, and Fake Plastic Trees

Welcome to your April 2019 Keeper’s Report from your Charleston Waterkeeper! This month we weave together a few local mayors, an Instagram influencer or two, and Radiohead’s Fake Plastic Trees. And, we do it all for clean water. Read on to find out how (or if) we’ll pull it off . . .

Ban on bans

Bad news: on April 4 the ban on bans got a favorable report in subcommittee. It still has to go through the full Labor, Commerce, and Industry Committee, and then get an up or down vote on the Senate floor all before Wednesday, April 10th. That’s an uphill climb, but we’re not out of the woods yet—contact your Senator today and ask them to oppose the ban on bans!

Post and Courier: Plastic bag bans survive–for now–as SC lawmakers take more study time

Meanwhile, in local news, Publix, Harris Teeter, and Walmart are all ready to comply ahead of the April 16 deadline when the Town of Mount Pleasant’s ban takes effect. That’s great news! And, it goes a long way toward making your rivers and creeks cleaner and healthier.

Post and Courier: Publix, Harris Teeter grocers go plastic-less ahead of Mount Pleasant plastic bag ban

Floodwater is polluted water

BREAKING: the greater Charleston area is growing. Acre by acre, development is re-plumbing the Lowcountry with ponds, pipes, and outfalls. We see the consequences of that every day—flooding, contaminated fish, plastic pollution, closed oyster beds, and unsafe water quality after rainstorms. More on that in:

Yale Environment 360: As high-tide flooding worsens, more pollution is washing into the sea

Post and Courier: Charleston floodwaters are crawling with unsafe levels of poop bacteria

Our rivers and harbor are speaking to us, folks. The only question is: will we listen?

Love a local mayor!

On March 20 Mayor Tecklenberg, Mayor Haynie, Councilman Owens, Mayor Goodwin, and Mayor Carroll all made the trip to Columbia to testify against the ban on bans and stand up for you and your waterways. Any way you slice it, that’s awesome! We are very proud of these guys and you should be too. Say thank you the next time you see them around town (or hit the links above)!

Roast like a pro

Oyster roast season is almost over. But, there’s still time to learn to roast like a local! Beer cans, oysters knives, hot sauce bottles, swag, saltine wrappers, and plastic condiment cups don’t go in the oyster barrel. Shell only. DNR staffers and volunteers have to separate all that trash from the shell before it can be recycled back into your waterways to make new oysters and new habitat. Help ‘em out!

Boots on the water: see what it’s like to build an oyster reef with 600 bags of clean shell

The Real World

If you’re like us, you get tired of Instagram influencers, orange tiles, and cheese sandwiches. We prefer real people doing real things in the real world. So let’s put down our keyboards and phones and get together:

4/8 CultivateSciArt: make some art and learn from our scientist Cheryl Carmack about why Charleston is a #1 city with #2 problems.

4/9 The Devil We Know: this film will open your eyes to a class of chemicals that’s in our local dolphins and in each one of us. Don’t miss this screening with the College of Charleston’s Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, the Masters of Environmental Studies Program, and Office of Sustainability.

4/11 Drink for the CAWS with Cooper River Brewing Company: come grab a beer, meet your hard working Charleston Waterkeeper team and let’s talk clean water.

4/13 & 4/14 High Water Festival: stop by our tent and say hello! We’ll have lots of great gear to support the CAWS, a fun surprise, and of course, plenty of #tipsforcleanwater!

4/22 Earth Day Cleanup with Free Fly: don’t just like a few Earth Day posts, get outside and do something good for you waterways!

4/27 Ashley River Cleanup with Magnolia Plantation and Gardens: this cleanup is in a very special section of the Ashley River that needs some love. Join us and our friends at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens to help restore this historic section of river!

Fake Plastic Trees!

We found Thom Yorke’s fake plastic tree in Filbin Creek! We’re still missing his shopping cart though. No wait, we found that in our last Filbin Creek cleanup! Goofiness aside, a huge thank you to Rheos for sponsoring our 2019 Kickoff to Spring Clean in Filbin Creek at Hendricks Park (they make floating sunglasses, no, really, check ’em out). Forty-five volunteers braved the cold on the first day of Spring to make a big impact for clean water. Filbin Creek didn’t disappoint—we removed almost 1 ton of debris in under two hours!

Click here: cool pictures of happy and hard-working volunteers

Big thank you to Toadfish Outfitters, Flood Tide Co., Carolina Surf Brand, Healthy Human, and Yoloha Yoga Factory for all the great gear donated for our raffle! Interested in sponsoring a cleanup, water quality testing, marine pumpouts, or other Charleston Waterkeeper program?

Let’s talk: [email protected]

That’s a wrap, folks . . .

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