Three Fingers Up! — Aitäh Eestile!— World Beach CleanUp — From the Baltic to the rest of the World!

There have been people committed to keeping beaches clean for a long time. A lot of these people have been and will remain nameless. When we are lucky though, some of these people also share their work which is a great source of inspiration for the rest of us. Not only are these individuals taking care of the planet by taking care of our beaches and our oceans, but they are also raising awareness by sharing their exercise. A wonderful peaceful demonstration of sorts.

This beach cleanup exercise has since become an event, and even if some organizations refer to the Month of September as Coastal Cleanup Month, the story of making it an eventful day started not so long ago in the Baltics.

For those of you who still have not had the great fortune of visiting the Baltics, you are missing out. It is known lately for offering technology solutions and facilitated digital incorporations, however it is also a fabulous and magical stretch of land sitting on the east of the baltic sea. Within that stretch the main countries most often referred to are Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.

The reason I am making a point of this is due to the fact that the World Cleanup Day was born in Estonia in 2008 where on a single day 50'000 volunteers gathered to do a country-wide cleanup effort. This large gathering served as a demonstration and a showcase of what could be done.

The exercise of the cleanups are most often associated with the names of Linda Maraniss or Kathy O’Hara who were already organising cleanups in the 80s in the United States. You can find more on their outstanding and dedicated work when looking at the Ocean Conservancy website, which you should do in all cases!

This year, despite Covid, many gathered around the world to do their bit for the beaches. The amount of associations, NGOs and dedicated people have multiplied and it is all visible throughout social media, as well as on beaches around the world. This year, many more people were exposed to the exercise and even many more people were made aware of the opportunity to participate and engage in being part of the solutions.

If you hear of the ‘Three Fingers Up’ expression, or if you see people making the ‘three fingers up’ sign, be informed that they are actually showing a ‘W’ which stands for the three W’s: World-Without-Waste!