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Each day Jo spends a few minutes helping to clear litter in her community

Jo

Yorkshire

I have a motto that has guided my life over the last few years - “I can’t change the world but I can change the little bit around me” - and litter picking and beach cleaning really helps me live by this. I pick up litter in Yorkshire - in the hills, on the beach, on the canals and on my way to work.

I have always collected sea glass from the beach but began to find plastic pollution and rubbish. I started picking it up and then discovered The 2 Minute Foundation online. I love being part of the community and meeting friends online all focussed on working together. I decided to paddleboard coast to coast to raise money for the charity, and The Wave Project, a surf therapy charity. I thought this would be a great way to share the message and the response was phenomenal.

I do a litter pick every day wherever I am. Some days a few minutes and others a lot more! I see beach cleaning and litter picking as part of my wheel of wellbeing - moving in the fresh air, being part of a community in real life and on social media, feeling part of a place by caring for it, having a passion and goal that is bigger than me, feeling proud I can make a difference in a world that seems particularly upside down at the moment, feeling grateful for the natural world... they all add to my own physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. 

I enjoy being part of the community of beach cleaners across the globe and I enjoy being able to make a small but consistent difference to the places I love and which I call home.