MICHAEL DOWLING - NATURE’S GREATEST ALLY

By Michelle Livingstone
(click images to enlarge)

THE LITTLE RED WAGON

It all began with a little red wagon. Four-year-old Michael Dowling proudly tugged his beloved wheeled receptacle along the streets of North Vancouver, grabbing bits of errant litter and cleaning up the neighbourhood. A whisper of what this man of the land would become.

Things haven't changed much today, except the little red wagon has been swapped for a big blue bag - and he's a little taller. But the child who loved nature and enjoyed keeping it clean and pristine is still very much alive, kicking, and oh-so-enthusiastic to impart his creed and calling to the rest of the West End, if not the planet.

Born in North Vancouver to his Glaswegian father, Rick, “...one of the most successful Labour leaders in North American history,” and Dutch mother, Marga, who was an eldercare worker and shop steward for her union, Michael was raised with a sense of decency, neatness and a great love of the outdoors. His father built him a wonderful tree house among the four huge cedars in his backyard, and he recalls happy memories of playing in the forests around Lynn Canyon with his trusty black lab, Kizzy; fishing for trout, mesmerized by the water for hours and enjoying the plentiful trails.

**An always-smiling Michael with his ‘Nifty Nabber’.**

He credits his Dad for making him the man he is today. “.....a brilliant man with so many oratory, negotiation and construction skills. I asked a million questions as a kid, and he answered every one of them, or said he would find out.”

As a child, Michael wanted to be an astronaut, a pilot, or a marine biologist. He didn't venture to the final frontier, but he did spread his wings at a slightly lower altitude during fighter pilot training, and, finally, deciding to concentrate his powers on the ground, he volunteered for the Marine Mammal Program, allowing him to lead shoreline interpretive tours at Lumberman's Arch in Stanley Park.

With nature's restoration in his genes, as a Grade 2 student he wrote a personal manifesto entitled ‘Habitat’, replete with a little peace sign. It was small, but mighty, and read, “When I grow up, I want to live in the woods with the bears. And we should not do little because that would be bad. And we need clean water to drink”.

He still has this one-page dream, which is now gaining real traction and becoming a reality.

A big fan of Jacques Cousteau, he earned his scuba license and studied the sciences at Simon Fraser University in the late 1980s before pivoting to market management and real estate, where he was the top performer on his team for over ten years in the West End.

THE BIG RED FLAG

It was during the 1980s and 1990s, when Michael was excelling in stock investing, that another passion took over his life, though not as wholesome as nature. Addiction. Living the life of a rockstar was the norm for him, back then, and he regularly flew on Lear jets to Vegas and partied with well-known names, going full throttle and not expecting to see 30.

He says, “It almost killed me. In 2000, I went to the Salvation Army Treatment Centre in Mission, BC, and never drank or drugged again. I will be sober now 26 years, June 18 - my higher power willing! I have helped many others achieve sobriety over the years, and act as a life coach to many”.

Getting sober changed his life and gave rise to a serious devotion to helping others, ensuring Mother Earth stayed clean, too. In fact, he says his favourite way to relax is by picking up garbage on the shoreline in the sunshine. A great lover of birds and animals, Michael is very much at home “where the city meets nature and the sea.”

He enthuses: “Nowhere can you walk to probably 100 different country cuisines, abundant culture events, and 20 kilometres of oceanside seawall; meet great, colourful proud people, have incredible amenities, and mature, tree-lined streets, alongside the Aquatic Centre, with water taxis, music and entertainment events, marathons, movies, and best of all - a massive forest at its tip surrounded on all sides by an ocean and seawall. A true wildlife offering in a city is extremely rare, if not unique globally. We need to be in the trees, hugging and being close to an old-growth tree is valuable, if not priceless, for our spiritual, emotional, psychological, and mental health. Humans need to be in nature, as we are nature, not just look at it and take selfies of it.”

CLEAN WATER HELPS WILDLIFE THRIVE

Michael has evolved into something of a supreme garbologist, with an uncanny ability to gauge how long a piece of garbage has been festering in situ. Litter not put in its correct place is literally hazardous to the space. Flora and fauna are suffering because we don't walk five meters to the next garbage can.

Let's break this down a bit; unlike the litter.

Cigarette butts. They may rank amongst the smallest pieces of litter, but their domain is indeed mighty. Smoked by over a billion people worldwide, they account for 845,000 tons of litter per year and take around five years to decompose. But that isn't all. According to a 2022 report by Luis Villazon for the BBC Science Focus Magazine:

" Cigarette butts are mistaken for food by fish, seabirds and turtles and are frequently found in the stomachs of dead animals washed up on the beach. Even when the butts are simply floating free in the water, the chemicals trapped in the filter during smoking – mainly nicotine and ethylphenol – are also toxic to marine life. The five trillion butts discarded each year are enough to render all the water in China’s Three Gorges Dam completely lethal to aquatic life”.

So, not only is there a chance that cigarettes will harm you, but they are also very likely to harm creatures who don't have a choice.

Next up, chip bags and candy wrappers. In fact, any plastic covering or bag left to its own devices is sure to be seen blowing around, a kite without a string; adorning nonconsensual trees for the next 200 years, give or take the odd century. The additional menace is that they never biodegrade. Breaking down into progressively smaller and smaller pieces, they remain a sustained and credible threat to wildlife and marine ecosystems.

Coming in at number four in the ‘You’re trash, if you leave trash’ chart is the humble soda can. Left languishing on the ground, this literal bad boy can take anywhere from 80 to 200 years to decompose, leading future generations to seriously question their ancestors' beverage choice.

Gum. That nasty, sticky stuff stashed under school desks worldwide, takes a mere 50 to 500 years to decompose. Conjured from synthetic rubber and plastic polymers, it resists natural breakdown and will hang out on sidewalks everywhere for centuries, unless physically removed. Still, at least someone else can chew your gum in 100 years. History in the scraping, one might say.

**Garbage comes in all ‘ships’ and sizes.**

Next in line, but a true contender, is the ubiquitous plastic bottle. This crunchy, opaque beauty will still be there, questioning why the stars don't come out in the daytime and how come it doesn't have legs, for a grand total of 1,000 years, if the planet manages to hobble on that long.

But the winner of this bizarre and most unpleasant competition is the glass bottle. Yes, it looks lovely, yes, it feels nice, but this harbinger of cuts and slices will take a millennium to decompose. Not that we, or possibly even the planet, will be around to see it, but that shapely cola bottle that you left so carelessly on the ground will now absolutely always be the ‘real thing’, forever. And ever and ever. So, if you are going to be that person, at least put a message in it. Perhaps something like, ‘Don't drop trash’? Thinking mindfully for a minute can make a world of difference, and a difference to the world.

THE BIG BLUE BAG

Having found everything from abandoned scribbled-out suicide notes to frayed and worn marriage proposals, there is never a dull moment on the trail of the lonesome chip bag. However, it is the drug paraphernalia that poses the trickiest of problems, but our man Michael is on the case.

**Just an average day's trash for our hero of the beach.**

“When I find a crack pipe or a needle head, it's like a Sherlock Holmes investigation to find where the user threw the rest of the stuff. I am getting pretty good at finding the stash.”

But it's not all dirty tissues and used tomato ketchup sachets. Amongst the fun things he has discovered are diamond rings, pocket knives, broaches, tons of coins, a copper energy bracelet and many now antique marbles.

“I like to laugh and say that God likes to keep me humble, and for my cleanup shifts, he always pays me at least five to ten cents. And it's true, almost every three hours of clean-up I find a ten-cent coin minimum - it's adding up over time.”

Giving full meaning to the adage, 'One man's trash is another man's treasure'.

Michael performs this herculean task at least ten hours per week, holding fast to his golden rule of: “If it's human-made and I see it, it's getting picked up. I go into a zen-like, highly focused zone. It is actually very spiritual. It's hard to describe all the positive benefits you and everyone else receive. It's the greatest feeling I have ever had because of its meaning and the great results. I guess I equate it with my contribution to saving the planet”.

His vision for a cleaner world really takes shape when I ask him what he would do if he had a magic wand and were Mayor for a Day.

“I would build a binding plan into the Official Community Plan, whereby there was a measurement matrix that rewarded each neighbourhood for being tidy, and they got a tax break for it. Ireland has their ‘Tidy Towns’ award, and I would like to see that kind of model with incentives for the ‘overall health of your neighbourhood award’. People are motivated by two things: shame and praise; I choose praise and alignment versus shame and divisiveness. The true intrinsic value of a community is its cleanliness: safety, culture and amenities follow, but cleanliness first attracts all the others.”

THE CALL TO ACTION

Technology is, of course, phenomenal, but it can also wreak havoc, and possibly not in a way we can even yet imagine. Michael believes it plays a big part in our disinterest, discord, and disconnection from the world.

He urges: “Drop your not-so-smart phone, get off anti-social media and go play outside in the forest. Take the lead to reconnect with your friends in nature. Pick up the garbage around your home and spread the word that we need to save our communities and our Earth home before we lose it. With the iPhone's birth 17 years ago, what do the next 17 years look like in the mental health field, with artificial intelligence and smartphones messing with our youths’ minds? Again, this is why I pick garbage: to keep life simple, see results that are healthy for the community, and be of service in a truly helpful way.”

Hitting the midway mark in life, his calling is to take this further and leave a legacy for the future; something tangible, something wholesome. Something that isn't beyond us and that we can all excel at.

“I am thinking about creating an organization to help others get involved with cleaning and protecting their urban community. I have decided to plant my flag for good in the West End and thus wish to leave something of value here to protect, preserve and educate to rally a sustainable initiative and be a model for other communities in the Lower Mainland and beyond.”

**A STRETCH OF SHORELINE AFTER MICJHAEL’S WORK IS DONE — LOOKING THE WAY IT ALWAYS SHOULD.**

As the visionary founder, Michael would continue with promotion and attraction, but would like a little extra assistance as the project grows.

“I would like organizational/admin help for the day-to-day logistics, and a society lawyer willing to give their time, pro bono. For recognition in setting up the society, anyone who offered help would be a founding partner.”

And as an incentive to the much-needed ‘boots on the ground’ team, Michael will supply you with your first ‘Nifty Nabber’ garbage grabber and Big Blue Bag - free! He’ll also teach you how to pick up that pesky litter efficiently and safely.

And so we close this thought-provoking and inspiring chat with Michael’s wish for the world.

“This one made me cry, actually, and I am so grateful you asked this. Here it is: Love each other and your higher power as you would like to be loved. This creates world peace and ends wars. Care for yourself and others through anonymous acts of kindness. Protect nature and immerse yourself in it. Be aware and awake in your connection to it, and its priceless vitality for our lives.”

Michael Dowling, he of the Little Red Wagon and Big Blue Bag, scanning the shores and spreading the word of a brighter future, for ourselves and Mother Nature.

GET IN TOUCH - LEND A HAND

The West End Journal’s Stanley Park Notebook columnist Jacqui Birchall is currently gathering the stories of other West Enders who devote time to cleaning up our parks and beaches and other corners of the community. If you are one of these folks, or a business that encourages its employees to clean the park and beaches, please contact her at jacqui.westendjournal@gmail.com and share your story.

If you’d like to join Michael in his plans to build a local team of volunteer cleaners, contact him at michael@michaeldowling.ca.