My new favorite way to relax is to watch the clean-up of rivers on TikTok. I don’t know why I enjoy it so much. It’s starts with an awful mess and ends up beautiful! There is just something uplifting about seeing Mother Nature get a boost!

The videos I’ve been seeing are high-speed, cramming a clean-up that took at least a day if not a few days, into TikTok’s three minutes. Many of the videos are coming from rural Asia and SouthEast Asia where there isn’t the infrastructure of garbage pick-up and citizens may not have the means to haul garbage with a vehicle.

The problem is compounded with a climate that encourages lush growth of invasive plants. River and canal sides are thick with vegetation, huge leaves and fallen branches. These further trap garbage.

Isn’t that delightful? If you’re on TikTok check-out @saigon_xanh, @sambencheghib, @binhduong.xanh and @sungaiwatch. While you’re there, check out @4oceans, who are cleaning the oceans, making groovy bracelets and developing great new technologies for large scale cleaning.

Enjoy!