The team goes into the water like a determined search party. Each person plays a crucial role. Some navigate kayaks on top of the water. Others wear snorkeling and diving gear to see what they can find under the surface. Another looks out for the 50+-pound snapping turtles and directs the others away from them.
It’s a well-organized undertaking.
Their mission? To clean up the freshwater ponds around Cape Cod by removing decades of litter and trash that have collected along the bottoms and shorelines.
Their biggest find so far? A blue porcelain toilet firmly lodged in the muck eight feet down at the bottom of Johns Pond. And the feeling of finally pulling it out of the water on a rainy day, even as a full-sized eel emerged from the throat of the toilet? Priceless.
Susan Baur – an accomplished journalist, author and psychologist – has been swimming in these New England ponds for two decades and is curious by nature. For years, she loved swimming with her “turtle buddies” – earning her the nickname “Turtle Lady” – but the amount of trash around her was disheartening.
So in 2017, along with two friends, she founded Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage (OLAUG) to clean it up. They aim to service about 20 ponds a year in season, hauling out 20-100 pounds of trash from each one.
But picking up trash in water is not as easy as you might think.
Members of the group must be able to freestyle swim half a mile in 30 minutes or less (and at least a mile overall). They have to comfortably dive down 6-9 feet to pick up trash while wearing a mask and snorkel gear. And they must have the stamina to be in the water for up to 90 minutes at a time (much of that treading water).
That’s exhausting no matter what your age – which makes the fact that members must be at least 64 years old even more impressive. Susan is still going strong at 85!
OLAUG doesn’t charge for their services, so members don’t get paid. Instead, they work for “cookies and hot chocolate.”
Despite all this, what started with three women has grown to well over 20 today, with a wait list of applicants so long they’re looking into starting chapters in other areas to accommodate more volunteers.
So what’s the real reason OLAUG members keep diving for trash under such challenging conditions?
Some might clean up these ponds because it’s the right thing to do, and certainly it is. But Susan says the deeper motivation they do this messy, often thankless job is pure joy.
It just makes them feel happy. It gives them purpose. Instead of “dwindling” as expected at their advanced age, they sense their “life and joy expanding” as they “feel closer to the natural world.”
As she recognizes, “Happiness is not powered by natural and fossil gas. It’s powered by being part of nature and seeing that we all live in a common world.” It’s being part of something greater than yourself and making things better for those who come after you.
We couldn’t agree more.
What makes you happy? What brings you joy? Stay curious about what’s possible and then grab a friend or two and get moving!
Whether it’s for the environment or another worthy cause, doing what you love in a way that helps others in your community and the world is something we can all get behind.
And you probably won’t have to jump into a trash-filled pond to do it.
As the world celebrates Earth Day this week, we salute the women of OLAUG and all the Impact Heroes out there doing what they can to make this planet we call home a better place to live and thrive. We appreciate you!
(Photo credit Stan Grossfeld/The Boston Globe)
