The ‘Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage’ Are My New Personal Heroes
Let me introduce you to a bunch of badass senior women who have now cleared at least 6,000 pounds of trash from Cape Cod’s ponds.
Photo: iStock Latest Pollution
Let me introduce you to a bunch of badass old ladies diving for trash to clean up our beautiful but litter-ridden ponds—just in case you needed some good and wholesome news to get you through the rest of your week.
They call themselves the Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage, and they’re my new vision board. The ladies, who made the front page (!!!) of the New York Times on Saturday, are a crew of women, ages 65-86, who made it their mission to clean up as much underwater garbage from as many Cape Cod ponds as possible. And upon learning about them, I feel compelled to rearrange my entire life to grow old somewhere near a dirty lake, so I, too, can wage war against underwater garbage.
The group was formed in 2018 by Susan Baur, now 86, who found herself a crew of senior women who shared both her love for Cape Cod’s beautiful wetland ecosystems and her determination to wage war against underwater garbage. The women now survey and clean around 20 ponds a year (while also testing for harmful levels of blue-green algae). Over the past six years, they estimate they’ve removed at least 6,000 pounds of trash from ponds across the Cape. Six thousand pounds!!! During their recent dive covered by NYT, the group pulled about 1,000 pounds of trash from Lovells Pond.
“We are surrounded by so many really intractable problems. The water quality issues on Cape Cod are really serious, and the solutions have such a far horizon,” Member Maggie Megaw told the outlet. “This is so tangible and immediate. We show up at the pond and swim, and we bring back a big pile of trash.” My heroes.
Unfortunately, the group has now capped membership at around 30 members, so if you want to join, you’ll have to add your name to the longggg waitlist of Old Lady hopefuls. This club is exclusive! Additionally, to become a member, you must be at least 64, swim half a mile in under 30 minutes, and free-dive to 8 feet (A little “postmenopausal zest” is a must).
“You’re exhausted, you’re maybe a little sunburned, you’re filthy, and it’s the best feeling,” said Member Lisa Weiss. “I don’t quilt, I don’t crochet, that’s not how I’m going to fit in as I age. This feeds you in a different way.” I mean, quilting is cool too, but there’s something undeniably badass about the thought of these ripped women hauling trash and diving and making their difference.
I don’t have a team to root for now that the World Cup is over, so I guess I’ll just start wearing neon orange and start chanting “OLAUG” in the streets!
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