Monday, April 11, 2011

Our Daily Ocean: Day 55

Sunday we went to one of our least visited accesses:  Access 33.  We hadn't been there since our 17th clean up on November 1, 2010 and at that time it held the record (at 85) for the least amount of cigarette butts picked up in 20 minutes.  BUT....no records were made on Sunday.  Cigarette butts were everywhere.  Our beach clean up went a bit like this:  Step, lean, pick... step kneel, scooch, pick.....
 Fun fact:  Yesterday was the 100th day of the year.   Fun Fact #2:  I looooooove finding sea glass.  I feel like it's a gift of sorts from the ocean....


Have you heard about the campaign "Boycott the Baggie"??  It's a small step to stop using one disposable product a day.  It's a commitment that I made years ago... more years than I remember.  I'm wondering if my kids even know what they are... hmmm... they definitely know what they look like...
Just like baggies are useless trash... so are single-use cups.  Seriously.  Get used to carrying a cup... it's not hard to grab a mug when you walk out the door... it just takes remembering.
My tip for being forgetful:  If you forget.  Go without.  
Trust me... go without enough and that whole remembering thing will catch on. ;)
As I'm thinking about it... nearly everything we pick up at the beach is a single use disposable product.  Cigarettes, baggies, cups, plastic utensils, lids, individually wrapped foods, straws... the list goes on and on.  What will you REFUSE today??  May I make a suggestion... how about saying no thank you to a straw in your drink?? (please and thank you)
One of 12 straws that we removed from WB on Sunday.
Sooo.... just after I took the "group" photo of all the litter we removed from Wrightsville Beach... my husband and I watched a man fiddle around with his fishing line.  It was a complete tangled mess.  Such a mess that he got out his pocket knife and cut it free.... immediately dropped it to the ground and never once looked back....
I know not what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.
20 minutes on April 10, 2011
Litter by weight: 6.5 oz
Cigarette butts: 241

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 55 days: 
15,969
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3 comments:

  1. BERNIEApril 12, 2011 at 9:11 AM

    Wow, photos and column get better every time. Quote and photo with fishing line-fabulous.
    FYI, Burlington VT boy is urging folks to stop using straws. Some restaurants in the area have agreed and taken action. See the local news article at, http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=14229825. (Article is titled, "Burlington boy hopes this is the last straw".
    Bernie
    www.litterwithastorytotell.blogspotcom

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  2. UnknownApril 12, 2011 at 9:15 AM

    :) Thank you.

    I just love Milo's project... and actually wrote about it on Day 48! http://itstartswithme-danielle.blogspot.com/2011/03/our-daily-ocean-day-48.html

    Thanks for the link... will share!! :)

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  3. BERNIEApril 14, 2011 at 9:42 AM

    Can we afford (environmental budget of the planet) single use products? Yes sometimes they are a necessity; mostly they are convenience at best, purely marketing induced at worst. There is an area twice the size of Texas covering the ocean with plastic trash. Scientist estimate 80% of this came from land. I wonder how much of this was used only once before being tossed. Someone recently expressed this outlook, "I know not what the future holds, but I know who holds the future".
    Each our actions, every day, contribute to a larger result. We walked into Eden, what will we walk out of?
    http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20110413/OPINION03/110413007/Letter-Bottled-water-means-jobs-Vermont

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