Our Daily Ocean: Day 49

For the first time in a LONG time... on Saturday...while I was picking up litter at Access 16... a man-- who happened to be walking his dog-- stopped and said, "Are you picking up cigarette butts??.... thank you." :D

Of course, if you've been reading this blog... I pick up cigarette butts and a whole lot of other litter off of my local beach.  The reason I have focused so much on cigarette butts is because there are SOOOOO many.  I feel like if we can change the mindset of this habit to flick cigarette butts to the ground... then it can help create even more consciousness to the entire litter problem plaguing our world.

Looking at the photo above... do you see what I see??  Condensed and trapped toxins in the cigarette filter.  To quote my friend Mark:  "Once that filter hits water-- a stream, a lake, a river, an ocean-- those toxins leach out."  Those toxins happen to be deadly to fish... and that's "no bueno!!"

On Wednesday, my friend Mark-- creator of The Bait Tank-- visited us.  While he was here, he got to see the two Bait Tanks that are currently installed at Wrightsville Beach.  Here's the newest one... donated to the Town of Wrightsville Beach by Butch and Bonnie.  YAY!!!

More Bait Tank news:  Mark is a finalist in the Green Awards!!  Voting is happening right now!!  Check out his video and vote everyday until March 27 at https://www.thegreenawards.com/Default.aspx?v=74

20 minutes on March 12, 2011
Litter by weight: 1 lb 2.1 oz
Cigarette butts: 103

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach in 49 days:

14,964