Shawn Bath of Clean Harbours Initiative
We love Newfoundland. We lived there at the beginning of my ministry and while I didn't much like attempting to pastorg five outport congregations, none of which cared much for the others, we fell in love with the beauty. Arguably, our theology of Creation was shaped in the wild beauty of The Rock and we have returned many times. We are actually contemplating another visit this summer, even though we've been there twice in the past three years.
This morning I heard the first episode of a new series called The Fix on CBC Radio's The Current. Host Matt Galloway chatted with Shawn Bath, a diver and fisher from Bay Roberts, Newfoundland. Shawn heads up the Clean Harbours Initiative which has a staff of one -- Shawn. All by his lonesome, with occasional assistance, Shawn dives in fishing coves and harbours to haul up the junk people have thrown into the sea. So far he has retrieved at least 9,000 kilograms of garbage, although he notes he doesn't weigh everything. The items include car tires,"ghost" fishing nets (adrift) old batteries, household appliances...the list goes on.
Shawn gets no funding to do this, and in fact he has given up paid work to devote himself to the task. He comments that Newfoundlanders have derived a living from the sea for generations and it makes no sense to treat it as a trash can.
There is an expression in Newfoundland, "dat's a sin!" to describe bad or destructive behaviour. Defiling the planet, including its waters, is a sin against the Creator. I was mightily impressed to hear about Shawn's project and his determination. He has a vision of a government funded clean-up of harbours with several teams working through the year. I know he's not holding his breath on this, but God bless him in his work.
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