During my stay in Tofino, I walked along the main streets in the village and discovered the Float’em Garden. I thought I’d share the artist’s message and the story behind the objects in the garden with my blog readers.
About the Float’em Garden
The Float’em Garden is located along the sidewalk on Third Street between Campbell Street and Main Street in Tofino. It’s an outdoor public art installation comprised of eleven individual assemblages made entirely from marine debris. Pete Clarkson, the artist and a park warden, has been creating his unique marine debris art since 2000. The Float’em Garden was opened in June 2018.
Art from recycled marine debris
The Frog formerly known as Prince 
Life Boy
Pondering the Future 
A Flotsam
Float’em Pole 1 
Float’em Pole 2
Message from Pete Clarkson
Here’s an excerpt from Pete Clarkson’s message inscribed at the Float’em Garden:
“I hope you’ll take a moment in this spectacular place to enjoy the Float’em Garden, and consider your own role in the marine debris story. As these objects remind us, there’s no longer an ‘away’ when we throw things away. Everywhere is somewhere, and the ocean is downstream of everything. The daily decisions we make – what we buy, what we throw away, what we value and support – can add up to a chorus of positive action. Let your actions show how much you care. We can all make a difference!“
I find the Float’em Garden art installations visually interesting and the message behind the marine debris thought-provoking. It’s a good reminder that we are all connected and we need to reduce waste that is harmful to our environment.
Practicing the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle)
My family and I have made a diligent effort to practice the 3Rs in our day-to-day living. We follow our municipal waste reduction movement and help keep items out of landfill. Some of the actions that we’ve taken:
- Borrow books or DVDs from public libraries.
- Buy locally-grown fresh produce as much as possible.
- Cook and eat most of our meals at home with no food waste.
- Donate clothes and linen to recycling organizations.
- Put recycling, organics, and garbage into the right bins. Blue bin for recycling, green bin for organics, and black bin for garbage in our city.
- Read or subscribe online for news and community event notifications.
- Re-purpose cookie tins and glass jars for storage.
- Trade in old items when purchase their replacements (where trade-in is offered).
- Use refillable water bottles.
- Use reusable bags for grocery shopping.
We shop consciously, plan ahead, buy only what we need, and consider the impact of packaging when making purchases.
I wonder to what degree Pete Clarkson’s message and similar environmental reminders affect consumers’ shopping habits, especially around the holidays when people tend to have more purchases and more social gatherings.
How does the marine debris story from the Float’em Garden affect your shopping habits? How well is waste managed in your city? I’d love to hear your comments.
Copyright © 2024 natalietheexplorer.home.blog – All rights reserved.
Natalie the Explorer 
Hi, Natalie – I also love the Float’em Garden in Tofino. It is very thought-provoking. Like your family, my husband and I constantly strive to be mindful of the impact that our day-to-day choices have on both our health and the environment. We constantly review what works, what doesn’t work and what we can improve. Reading stories like Peter Clarkson’s inspires me to continue to try even harder!
LikeLike
Hi Donna – Pete’s message inspires me to continue to try even harder, too. Thank you for your environmental-friendly efforts. I love to keep our oceans clean and love it even more when my blogger friends are also doing it.
LikeLike
Lovely garden (that we apparently somehow missed when we walked around Tofino this summer) and great message. My husband and I work hard to lower the amount of waste we toss, but we – and just about everyone – can do more.
LikeLike
Hi Janis – Pete’s message makes me think what more I can do to reduce waste. When I look at what the stores are selling for the holidays, they all look nice but some of the packaging makes me cringe as I know they’ll be thrown away. It’s wonderful to hear you and your husband also work hard to reduce waste.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Any art that makes us think is brilliant. I am with Janis, we can all try harder, and it is challenging some weeks when out grocery shopping to buy products with less packaging Don’t get me started on how much wrapping is involved when purchasing furniture.
LikeLike
Yes, it can be challenging to buy products with less packaging. We can all try harder and give feedback to the companies to make more eco-friendly changes.
LikeLike
There needs to be a cost reduction in buying products made out of recycled materials. Most products are out of the reach for most customers.
LikeLike
Beautiful art!
LikeLike
Thank you, Shiju, for your comment.
LikeLike
What a fantastic art installation Natalie and the message is brilliant! I like your ideas on the 3 Rs and believe we all need to be doing more. Thanks for showing this to us! #lifethisweek
LikeLike
Thank you, Debbie, for your comment. I think we can all continue to practice the 3Rs a little harder.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love this – art with a message. We have been taking similar steps to be more environmentally friendly at home. I think if we all make some small changes, together we can make a big difference
LikeLike
Thank you, Sammie, for your comment. I agree that by practicing the 3Rs, together we can make a big difference.
LikeLike
We all need keeping on track with this. Even more we need manufacturers and stores to listen and respond when we request less packaging and plastics, Natalie. There is no apparent end in sight! Thanks for the reminder. 🙂 🙂
LikeLike
Aside from practicing the 3Rs, we need to use our voice to let companies know, and spread the message to people in our community like Pete Clarkson has done. Thank you, Jo, for stopping by.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oooh, more Tofino information. We have not been to Tofino for a few years. It is now on our must see list. 🙂 Another reason I love the Blogosphere. Pete Clarkson’s message is important. Great list on practising the 3R’s. You remind me how we always want to emphasize experiences as gifts. Great post, Natalie!
LikeLike
Meaningful or fun experiences as gifts are much better than stuff that we don’t need. Thank you Erica/ Erika for stopping by. My next post will be back to Ontario 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Natalie, Returning to share #MLSTL and shared SM🙂
LikeLike
Thank you, Erica/ Erika, for returning and sharing on SM. Have a great day!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have never heard about the Float ’em Garden. Thank you for educating me. What a beautiful way to get a point across.
LikeLike
My pleasure to share the Float’em Garden with my blog readers. Thank you. Laurie, for your comment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a wonderful thing he’s done, and a very necessary message too.
LikeLike
Thank you for your visit and comment. Feel free to share Pete’s message and art with others.
LikeLike
Definitely an unusual and pretty way to bring the problem to our attention. Nice photos of the artwork.
I’m glad to see you at ‘My Corner of the World’ this week!
LikeLike
Thanks, Betty, for hosting and for your comment. Have a great day!
LikeLike
HI, Natalie – I’m stopping back in from #MLSTL. I have shared this post on my SM.
LikeLike
Thank you, Donna, for stopping back and sharing on your SM. Have a great evening!
LikeLike
That is such a lovely place. Very sweet. #MLSTL
LikeLike
Thank you, Patrick, for your comment.
LikeLike
This art brought both a smile to my face and a tear to my eyes. How true…when we throw things away there is no real away. Thank you for sharing this magical garden and this thought-provoking art. Have decided to make this Christmas the holiday we show the earth some love. Going to give metal straws, reusable plastic ziplock bags, and reusable K-cups that you fill with coffee yourself.
LikeLike
My pleasure to share the Float’em Garden art and message with you, Leslie. Anything we can do to reduce, reuse, recycle is good for all of us.
LikeLike
I love it when people recycle junk into art. This is also a great environmental reminder too isn’t it Natalie. I am disgusted at the amount of plastic and other rubbish that is piling up in our oceans – hopefully art like this will bring it to the attention of people and make a difference.
Thanks for linking up with us at MLSTL and I’ve shared on my SM 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you, Leanne, for hosting and sharing on your SM. Yes, it’s disgusting to find trash on our beaches where there are trash bins nearby and sad to see debris in our oceans. We can take actions to show how much we care, including raising awareness and encouraging everyone to practice the 3Rs more often.
LikeLike
I meant to leave a comment when I read this on Monday, but for some reason… Anyways, I love the idea of recycling or upcycling flotsam into pieces of decorative art. It’s such a fabulous exhibition.
LikeLike
The Float’em Garden has a happy beachy vibes even though all art pieces are made from marine debris. Pete Clarkson has a web site that shows more of his artworks. I also saw another art piece that he’s done for a local shop in Tofino. I like how the colours bring hope from a sombre story behind the debris.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is really cool! TFS! Visiting from MSTL.
LikeLike
Thank you, Amy, for your visit and comment. Have a nice day!
LikeLike
What a fun place Natalie and I love that you always share interesting places that you have visited. Thanks for sharing at #MLSTL and happy travels. xx
LikeLike
My pleasure to share this garden, Sue. Thank you for hosting MLSTL. Have a wonderful week!
LikeLike
Great messages in the art and the stories of recycling. In Australia’s waterways we have cleaned up quite a bit thanks to regulations on fluids entering the water and as part of Clean Up Australia there are programs and events to remind people about ‘where’ rubbish can be recycled. It does not always work. Sigh. Thank you for joining Life This Week, next week’s optional prompt is 46/51 Gift Idea For Teachers 18/11/19. Sure hope to see you link up again. Denyse.
LikeLike
Thank you, Denyse, for sharing about the clean up efforts in Australia. I look forward to next week’s link-up. Have a great day!
LikeLike
Hi Natalie,
Not sure what I actually think of the garden installation, but I heartily embrace the ideology behind it – the 3 R’s. We think very hard about that at our house and try to reduce the use of packaging, plastics, etc. If we cannot avoid them we try to reuse them at least once. Even simple things like using your own grocery bags can make a difference.
Thanks for and interesting post…#MLSTL
LikeLike
Hi Nancy – We practice the 3Rs diligently at home. I agree with you, even simple things like using reusable grocery bags can make a difference.
LikeLike