Our Daily Ocean: Day 62

After a brief conversation the other night, I've been mulling over this thought:  "How do we get people to show up to make a difference??" .... and I'm not talking about people showing up to lobby Congress.  I'm talking about the simple things....

As a mother of 3 young children, it would be easy for me to say that I have too much going on... not enough time... and make up so many reasons why I can't do something... why I can't show up to make a difference... but, I don't.  

At some point, I realized that whatever I can do... no matter how small it seemed... I was doing something.  And doing something is always better than doing nothing.  For some reason, I've connected to this idea that "I am the difference." (you are, too ;) ) And I consistently have to remind myself of that fact... especially when I do clean ups.  
Saying those words helps me to connect the things in my everyday life to the bigger picture.  Hence the words "everything we do (or don't do) has an impact on the world we live in" in this blog header.  I strive to connect the dots between my actions and the things that are happening in our world....

That's why I am making a conscious effort to eliminate single use plastics (recyclable or not) from our household.  (This process is taking time, patience and a lot of rethinking)  Knowing that plastics are swirling in our oceans, being buried in landfills, being littered, poisoning, entangling, suffocating, choking... the life out of every living thing on this planet.... forces me to look at how I am connected to it all.

So... I show up to make a difference with my reusables: shopping bags, produce bags, water bottle, glass straw, real flatware and dishes.  I say 'no thank you', I write a letter, I change where I shop, I change what I consume... I consume less.  ....And, of course,  I take 20 minutes at the beach and make it a little bit cleaner.  <--- ok, so my daughter is editing this post and she just told me that it's "not a little bit cleaner... it's actually A LOT cleaner." :)

"I am only one, but I am one.  I cannot do everything, but I can do something.  And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do."  ~Edward Everett Hale

20 minutes on May 11 at Access 36

Litter by weight: 11.6 oz
Cigarette butts: 256* 


*Fact: 98 cigarette butts were removed from the Oceanic Restaurant's employee break area.  Yes, I'm going to call Oceanic!

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 62 days: 

17,496