We raised a ruckus at River Ruckus Aug. 24! The festival is an annual event presented by the St. Johns Riverkeeper and Riverside Arts Market to celebrate the St. Johns River. 

The Girls Gone Green had a huge presence as we spread out to include a make your own t-shirt bag and grain bag sewing demo area. Reusable bags for the win! There are so many options for reusable shopping bags out there. Interested  in making your own t-shirt bag? It's super easy and best of all, no sew! Here's a tutorial. We decided to sew some grain bags on site to raise awareness for our Riverside Arts Market bag share program and using reusable shopping bags. 

There were several river-related activities throughout the day including free boat rides and a cleanup of the Riverwalk. 

​The St. Johns Riverkeeper once again this year had sweet reusable silicone cups for sale. Sweetwater Brewing Company, based in Atlanta, GA, was the featured brewery for the day. Sweetwater teams up with riverkeeper and water alliance groups to help raise funds. After all, you can't make beer without water, the brewery states. They even have a seasonal beer, Costa Kick Plastic Pilsner, a collaboration with Costa Sunglasses to raise awareness about plastic pollution!

The mission of the St. Johns Riverkeeper is to be an independent voice that defends, advocates, and activates others for the protection and restoration of the St. Johns River. The nonprofit organization is making strides in raising awareness about critical issues facing the river, including toxic algae and fertilizers to the threat of stormwater flooding. 

The St. Johns river is a brackish river, meaning it's a mixture of salt and freshwater. It's not unusual to see dolphins or jellyfish swimming in the river. It's also the largest river in Florida and one of the few rivers in the United States that flows South to North. ​

We love our volunteers! Are you interested in volunteering at one of our upcoming events? We'd love to have you!

We have several opportunities available depending on your interest. We will be setting up another grain bag sewing night soon! Even if you don't sew, we could use help prepping the bags. Come table an event with us and learn more about our organization!

We have some upcoming clean ups on the first Saturday of the month at Riverside Arts Market (715 Riverside Ave., Jacksonville, FL 32233) or at one of Keep Jacksonville Beautiful's International Coastal Cleanup sites. The annual Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup is Saturday, Sept. 21. The GGG will once again be site captains  at Riverside Park, located at 753 Park St., Jacksonville, FL 32204. The cleanup will take place from 9-11 a.m.

If you don't live in the area, see if there's an existing ICC cleanup near you, or start one and join people from around the world as we clean up litter Sept. 21!
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Email the GGG volunteer coordinator, Alicia Smith, at alicia@thegirlsgonegreen.com for volunteer opportunities. 
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Good times! We had a fabulous night turning grain bags into reusable shopping bags Aug. 13 at Tabula Rasa Brewing!! Thank you to the brewery for letting us use their space for this event again. They’ve been so supportive of our project and we always have tons of fun!

Shoutout to all the volunteers who donated their time and skills to making these bags that will be donated to the Riverside Arts Market for The Girls Gone Green/RAM bag share program. We couldn’t make this happen without YOU! The bag share program encourages consumers to use reusable bags over plastic. 

If you would like your own grain bag bag, it's time to get crafty! Ask your local brewery if they have any grain bags they'd be willing to donate to you for your project. (another tip: we also like to use discarded grain bags for cleanups in place of trash bags) You could even use a pet food bag. There are tons of instructions online! Here's the one we ended up using: www.communitychickens.com/diy-chicken-feed-sack-tote

Make a bag for yourself or a friend, or if you'd like to donate your handmade bags to the Riverside Arts Market, we'd be thrilled to have them! Just drop them (or any unwanted reusable bag – new or used) in one of the bag share bins any Saturday during market hours (10 a.m.-3 p.m.) or consider donating them to your local farmers market.

We will keep you posted on our next sewing night. We are always looking for volunteers. You don't need to know how to sew; we are looking for bag preppers and awesome people to hang out with, too! Don't worry, we'll put you to work!

​Together we can and will make a difference! 💚🛍🛍🤗

We kicked off our first much-needed cleanup in and around the parking lot where the Riverside Arts Market takes place on Saturdays in Jacksonville, FL!

Our first cleanup took place Aug. 3 and we collected tons of cigarette butts, straws, bottles, cups, a beanbag, signs and even a pair of undies. We will be holding cleanups on the first Saturday of every month. Our next cleanup will be Sept. 7. Volunteers needed! We will provide all supplies. Just swing by The Girls Gone Green tent to pick up a bucket, gloves and a grabber. 

Buckets and grain bags have been donated by local breweries and eateries. After the trash is collected in buckets, it's dumped into grain bags. By using grain bags instead of garbage bags, we are reusing an item that would normally be trashed – much better than using a fresh, clean garbage bag! Thank you to The Cleanup Cruiser for lending us their cleanup supplies. We even had little grabbers for the kiddos and loved seeing their excited faces as they helped pick up trash. Get youth involved whenever you can – they truly want to help and they are our future!

All litter has the potential to make it into our waterways. Remember, trash travels! Here in Jacksonville, we are lucky to have our beautiful St. Johns River​, and the Riverside Arts Market is situated on it. We want to catch trash before it collects on the coastline or floats out to sea. 

Would you like to get involved? Plan on coming to the next cleanup! You don't have to dedicate a huge portion of your day – every little bit helps. RAM takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. but we will be set up early. You can come cleanup before the market starts or stop by throughout the day. 

RAM is located at 715 Riverside Ave., Jacksonville, FL 32204. The next cleanup will be Saturday, Sept. 7. Questions? Email alicia@thegirlsgonegreen.com.