Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Our Daily Ocean: Day 249

Friday evening we volunteered once again for NC Audubon watching after the protected shore bird nesting area.  We've been fortunate during our volunteer time to not have any problems and get to spend our time watching the birds as they nest and take care of their babies.  Now that the dredging and beach renourishment equipment has been removed from the beach (woohoo!), we decided to walk from 44 to 43 to check the posting area and make sure no one was disturbing the protected area.  All was well and there was minimal litter to pick up.  Though we did find a plastic bag that was inside the protected nesting area, but thankfully it was just within reach!
 I've been reading a lot lately.  Mostly novels, but I recently picked up Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.  While not from that book, this quote from Edge of the Sea (1955) by Rachel Carson is one of my absolute favorites....


  "To stand at the edge of the sea, to sense the ebb and flow of the tides, to feel the breath of a mist moving over a great salt marsh, to watch the flight of shore birds that have swept up and down the surf lines of the continents for untold thousands of years, to see the running of the old eels and the young shad to the sea, is to have knowledge of things that are as nearly eternal as any earthly life can be." 



 June 13, 2014 at Access 44/43
Litter by weight: 10.4 oz
Cigarette butts: 3

Total cigarette butts removed: 57,960

Friday, June 6, 2014

Our Daily Ocean: Day 248

A very very windy evening at Wrightsville Beach meant lots of fun for my kids!  

Besides having to be very careful and not let my bag blow open... it was an easy beach cleanup.  With the wind, most of the litter was found at the edge of the dune grasses.  AND for the first time EVER.... there were fewer cigarette butts than anything else!  I picked up 6 plastic food wrappers, 3 sandwich bags and only 2 cigarette butts!!

 June 3, 2014 at Access 39
Litter by weight: 1.1 oz
Cigarette butts: 2

Total amount of cigarette butts removed: 57,957