Our Daily Ocean: Day 46

On our way home from playing miniature golf... I mentioned to my husband that I really wanted to head over to Wrightsville Beach.  My reasoning was simple:  Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous and because it was such a warm day the beach was super busy.  In fact, it was so busy that when we went to Wrightsville Beach yesterday for our 45th clean up... I had originally wanted to go to Access 16... but it was so busy that we couldn't find a parking spot.  With the temps in the mid-50's, parking today was easy peasy.  Walking up to the beach, we found our first piece of litter.  The ubiquitous plastic bag.

Like cigarette butts... once I started taking notice of plastic bags... I started seeing them everywhere.  And quite frankly, it's ridiculous.  Plastic bags are a complete waste.  Carrying reusable bags is so simple.... or carrying out our purchases without a bag also works.  If there's one thing that all of us can do it is to ALWAYS say "No Thank You" to plastic bags.  I'm beyond serious.  Say "No Thank You"... say "I don't need a bag"... say "I have my own bags"... and if someone puts your purchases in a plastic bag... take out your purchase and say "No thank you... I don't use plastic bags." (...and may I suggest reading this and ditching produce bags too.)  .... ok... rant is now over ;)


There's something so interesting about finding cigarette butts stained with lipstick.  Interesting because I know something about the person who smoked the cigarette and tossed it on the beach.  The cigarette has a kind of personality... an identity of sorts.

 We found lots of litter on the beach today.  If you'd like to see photos, you can check them out here.  

As we were walking off the beach strand, my husband looked down at the curb and said, "You should take a picture of this."  I took the picture and said, "I'm going to clean it and count."  In (maybe) 2 minutes... I counted 64 cigarette butts, a plastic spoon, and a plastic lid.

After my friend Bonnie watched my Brita FilterForGood short film, she immediately wrote me (while I was still at the Sundance Film Festival) about The BaitTanks.  Once she saw The Bait Tank that we donated to Wrightsville Beach installed, she contacted Mark and is going to donate a Bait Tank to Wrightsville Beach and have it installed at Access 16!!  YAY!!!

To quote myself from the film, "...what would it be like if we could come together?... what kind of difference could we make together versus being one person..." (... love that Destin got me saying that.)  

We're coming together... and it's making all the difference. :D

20 minutes on February 20, 2011

Litter by weight: 14.1 oz

Cigarette butts: 177

Total amount of cigarette butts picked up off of Wrightsville Beach, NC in 46 days: 

14,701