Angela Riley makes it her business to do something about wave-tossed trash piling up on Nova Scotia’s shores.
The 33-year-old Eastern Passage woman scours the shoreline near and far, often with two-year-old son Archie in tow, transforming the washed-up treasure into a business and, more recently, a unique Halloween display.
“I am someone who is very interested in the health of the Earth and especially the ocean, because that is what’s close to me,” Riley explained in front of her home with the methodical sound of waves lashing the coast of nearby Shore Road as a backdrop.
Riley grew up in Beaver Harbour, about 10 kilometres east of Sheet Harbour along Highway 7.“Both my grandparents and a lot of my family were lobster fishermen,” Riley said. “I grew up by the shore for most of the beginning of my life and that’s where my love of the ocean came from.
“That’s why I moved here. It’s like a little piece of home. Fisherman’s Cove holds a special place in my heart.”
The tourist attractions, the quaint shops, the boardwalk and non-COVID-times community events like Pirate Days in Eastern Passage grab a piece of many a heart.
It provided the ideal place for a sea lover like Riley to settle down with husband Dean Tower and sons Riley, 6, and Archie.
Still, the man-made trash that the ocean constantly regurgitates on shore created a nagging feeling inside Riley, a feeling that she says turned into a mild depression.
A guitar player, singer and songwriter, Riley regularly attended rallies to demand government and general action against changing climate, but she still felt there was more she could be doing.
“I was one of the people who went to the rallies and sang with my guitar,” Riley said. “I am a big supporter and it’s all positive but getting out there and actually doing something about it is making me feel like I’m being more productive.”
Some two months ago, she got down to business.
“I wasn’t outputting my energy very positively so I decided to turn that around and start a business that cleans the shorelines called Scotian Shores and also we want to create an awareness of some of the problems that we are having,” Riley said.
The business sells hand-made products and Riley said every product sold removes one pound of garbage from a beach or shoreline. The products include bracelets made of sea glass and keychains. With each bracelet sold, $2 is donated to another ocean preservation group like the Cape Breton Environmental Association or the Halifax chapter of Sea Shepherds.
“The rest of the money kind of goes to our supplies and getting the people out to clean up.”
Riley said the group has organized one big cleanup so far but is looking forward to many more.
Last week, in a typical day in the life of Riley, she picked up nearly 30 kilograms of wrecked lobster traps, styrofoam, rope, cans and wire from burnt tires along the shoreline near her home.
Halifax Regional Municipality accommodates Riley through scheduled pickups of what she can’t recycle, reuse or repurpose.
With Halloween fast approaching, Riley decided to set up a spooky display in her front yard made from items she picked up along the coastline, personal and family shoreline cleanups that have taken her from Eastern Passage to Chezzetcook, Dartmouth, Halls Harbour, Beaver Harbour and as far as Inverness in western Cape Breton.
From old wooden lobster traps, Riley has erected three grave markers, commemorating various sea animals that were once common in Nova Scotia but are now extinct, including the great auk (a seabird), the Labrador duck and the sea mink.
The grave markers are accompanied by Keith, the can man made from discarded beer cans, the carpet monster and other spooky figures made from tires, rope, buckets and metal.
The sign at the end of the driveway that attracts many passersby reads: "A Scary Fact, the decorations in this yard are made from trash found on the shorelines of Nova Scotia."
Riley said she hopes the display, also advertised on Scotia Shores website, will make people think about the shoreline garbage problem and about helping out in future cleanups that will be promoted by the former Great Nova Scotia Pick-Me-Up program.
Riley said she will keep some of her Halloween display to reuse, of course, next year.
She said her children’s future is all the motivation she needs to maintain her beachcombing activism.
“I worry for their future. I want them to see that I care and hopefully by me caring, they will care, too. My six-year-old and my two-year-old, if they see garbage they can pick it up, so if they can do it, you can, too.”
Riley said her six-year-old son “actually breaks my heart sometimes.
“He’s like why do people pollute, why don’t they care about our Earth. … I try to keep positive about it. If I’m really negative about it, then he’s going to be negative. He likes to come out to the cleanup and help out and see everybody. I think it makes him pretty happy to see other people doing it.”
