Our Daily Ocean: Day 238

On Tuesday, I went to Wrightsville Beach in the middle of the day and was shocked to find it completely packed (for a winter weekday).  Of course, my first thought was "doesn't anyone work in this town?"  And then it hit me... spring break for ECU, UNC and App State (and who knows what other NC universities!?).

 So, I learned a valuable lesson.  When living in a beach town, it is important to know when universities are on spring break... or just be shocked when there's no parking and the beach is packed in the middle of the week in winter!

Now, even though the beach was packed, I didn't see (or smell) anyone smoking! YAY! ... and there wasn't much litter to pick up!  In fact, even though we did our best to weave through the people sprawled out on the sand, we only picked up 5 cigarette butts!!



Clean Beach and Clear Waters: Wrightsville Beach from Wilmington and Beaches CVB on Vimeo.

... yup, first smoke-free beach in North Carolina.  And, we're STILL excited about it!

20 minutes on March 11, 2014 at Access 28
Litter by weight: 2 lbs 9.1 oz
Cigarette butts: 5

Total cigarette butts removed: 57,760

Our Daily Ocean: Day 227

There is a story on the beach.  Embedded in the sands.  Flowing in (and out) with the tides.  Stories of what once was, what is... and in some cases what shouldn't be.

With the coming of the new year, this is the time to look back yet be present in the now while also looking to the future.  A lot can change in a year and while we can't go back... we can always learn from where we have been to help us expand and evolve with each new day.  In 2014, I will complete this project of documenting and collecting.  I don't know what the year ahead holds.... I'm making plans and yet remaining open to possibilities. 

At the end of my yoga class on Sunday, we were read this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson and I felt like it was the perfect thing to hear this time of year... 

Write it on your heart

that every day is the best day in the year.

He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day 

who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.

Finish every day and be done with it.

You have done what you could.

Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt, crept in.

Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;

begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit 

to be cumbered with your old nonsense.

This new day is too dear, 

with its hopes and invitations, 

to waste a moment on the yesterdays.

20 minutes on December 30, 2013 at Access 28

Litter by weight: 2.4 oz

Cigarette butts: 21

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 227 days:

57,369

Our Daily Ocean: Day 193

We're so lucky to live here. Having grown up landlocked in the Midwest, I used to daydream about living at the beach.  My kids though have always had this... they don't know what life is like without the beach... and truth be told, they can and do sometimes take it for granted... so I remind them over and over again.

They get to end their day swimming in the waves with sea gulls and pelicans flying overhead.

On Thursday, we sat on the beach and watched as pelicans dove into the water to catch fish.  Like a torpedo they'd hit the water.  And as quickly as they went down they'd come up and with a gulp they'd eat any fish they had caught.   In that simple moment, it's easy to know why it's important that there's no floating plastic in their way.

Connecting to all that is at the beach is one of the best ways to encourage a strong understanding of the reasons to protect it and keep it safe for the animals that call it home.  For me, teaching my kids to respect and take care of the world we live in is one of the most important things I can do.  And thankfully, there are many other parents in my local area who feel the same.

Big thanks to Mother's United-- Advocating for a Healthy Community for hosting the beach clean up Thursday evening!

20 minutes on July 25, 2013 at Access 28

Litter by weight: 1lb 5.3 oz

Cigarette butts: 136  (not including 1 electronic cigarette filter)

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 193 days:

55,355

Our Daily Ocean: Day 189

The beach is a gateway to the ocean... and while large items such as plastic bottles, buckets, cups and such are easy to spot... the tiny plastic fragments, the clear wrappers, the shredded straws, and things like hair clips go completely unnoticed.  That is until we really open our eyes and start looking... and keep looking... 

What seems like such a long time ago now, my friend Bonnie of The Plastic Ocean Project said:

"...the problem with plastics in our marine environment goes unnoticed because most of it is underwater or broken down into small bits floating on the surface. Not that it takes a trained eye to see it; you just have to recognize that it’s there. Once you do, it likens to the "Magic Eyes" from the 90s. Remember staring at a random series of blotches until an image imbedded in the blotches could be recognized? Once your eyes discovered it, you could always see it. And you wondered why you hadn't noticed at first glance."

Her words have stuck with me throughout all of my beach cleanups.  A reminder of the importance to let my eyes focus on the variations in the sand... to pay attention to the details.

20 minutes on June 11, 2013 at Access 28

Litter by weight: 2 lbs
Cigarette butts: 20

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 189 days:

55,119

Our Daily Ocean: Day 170

As I prepare to do some traveling, my days are filled and getting to the beach before sunset to do a clean up has proven difficult.   Normally, I'd be a little disappointed... but ever since I committed to doing 365 non-consecutive beach clean ups and the smoking ban passed... I don't feel any kind of pressure.  There's plenty of time to do what I want to do.... 

My friend Sara, who inspired me to start these beach clean ups, is nearing the end of her 365 non-consecutive beach clean ups.  She's been collecting, weighing and documenting beach trash on her blog The Daily Ocean for the past 361 non-consecutive days and on Saturday, December 8 she'll do her 365th.  For her last 10 clean ups, she's giving away photos she's taken on during her clean ups.  "Like" The Daily Ocean on Facebook and learn how to enter yourself into winning one of her beautiful photos.

Another thing that Sara is doing for her last 10 clean ups is offering some advice, suggestions and solutions to how WE can help the ocean....

10. Take it off the sand and take it out of your life.

9. Use reusable grocery bags

8. Get a group together and go clean the beach.

7. Buy less food in plastic packaging

6. Pick a place and make it yours.  (.... mine is Wrightsville Beach)

5.  Challenge yourself to be bolder with your talents and creativity for the ocean.

4. Feel overwhelmed with the pollution in the ocean?  Let it fuel you to action!

Whatever it is that you can do... do it.  Trust me when I say that it all matters.  When at the beach to do my most recent clean up, the beach seemed so clean that I almost decided not to do a clean up.  ...and just as I had that thought, I looked down and found a piece of sea glass.  I reminded myself that every little bit matters and although this was one of my smallest cleanups, it still matters.  Everything we do matters. :)

20 minutes on November 27, 2012 at Access 28

Litter by weight: 4.8 oz

Cigarette butts: 37

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 170 days:

53,180

Our Daily Ocean: Day 31

Over a year ago--long before I started doing 20 minute beach clean ups at Wrightsville Beach-- I started this blog as a way to share with my family and friends the little things that I do and the changes that I make in order to make a positive impact on the world we live in.  The idea is simple... 

"What we do (or don't do) has an impact on the world we live in."  

The 20 minute clean ups have essentially become a MAJOR reflection of the power of what one person can do.... we can choose to be a solution... or we can take an alternate path...

Last week, Shannan Bowen wrote a really nice article-- Filmmaker targets cigarette litter, smoking at the beach-- about me and my project for The Star News (that's our local newspaper).  What I love about the article is that Shannan was able to-- from a brief phone interview/conversation-- really tell the whole story of this project.... and when I read it... I can honestly say that it made me feel like I'm doing part of something important.  :)

After running some errands-- we're beginning a bathroom remodel!!-- we headed to Wrightsville Beach Access 28 for our 31st clean up!  I wanted to do a clean up at 28 because I'm really wanting to try to start going to the accesses that we haven't done clean ups at yet.... 

AND.... I thought we hadn't been to 28... ooopss... I was wrong.  But... I'm glad I was wrong because I learned something today.... 

hint: the lesson is in the numbers.

The last time we went to Access 28 was on September 24, 2010... our 12th day.  On that day, we collected 14.8 oz of litter and 951 cigarette butts.  Twas the season. 

 Today, December 19, is a different season.  The amount of fresh cigarette butts have started to disappear.... finding instead... old withered filters.... slowly breaking down over time...

Not to keep repeating myself... but for anyone who doesn't know.... cigarette filters are made from a material called "Cellulose Acetate."  Thousands of (plastic) fibers that will never biodegrade.  Nope.  NEVER.  So what happens when the cigarette filters get smaller and smaller??  It's called photodegradation.  (That's what's happening with the plastics in the oceans.)  The filters photodegrade into smaller pieces... BUT... the source material-- cellulose acetate-- never disappears.  Instead, it becomes diluted in our environment... becoming part of our environment.

That's OUR environment.  That's the environment we put our feet to every day...

Just because we can't "see" a problem... doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.  And just because we can't "see" a solution doesn't mean that one doesn't exist.

Want to make a difference in (Y)OUR world... it's easy... and you don't even need a special degree to do it... 

20 minutes on December 19, 2010

Litter by weight: 5.6 oz

Cigarette butts: 77 (do you see what I learned today??)

Total amount of cigarette butts picked up off of Wrightsville Beach, NC in 31 days:

11,744

Our Daily Ocean: Day 12

Friday evening, as we were heading to the beach we decided to go to Sweet and Savory for dinner.  

Before we started doing beach clean-ups on a regular basis, we were hit or miss with requesting no straws when we ordered our drinks... but seeing how many straws are littered... it just makes sense to start refusing them 100%. 

 If I take one they make one.  

Now when we order our drinks we say this: "No disposable cups for the kids and no straws."  Suddenly, we've decreased the demand for straws by 5 in just one minute... that's pretty cool.

SO... after our yummy and plastic-free dinner... we went here:

It's 2,619 miles from Wrightsville Beach, NC to Santa Monica Beach, CA where my friend Sara who writes The Daily Ocean is picking up litter on her local beach for 365 non-consectutive days.  A few weeks ago, a reporter from the LA Times called me to talk about Sara and how I came to be inspired by her to start my own Daily Ocean on the opposite side of the country.  Read the AWESOME article that Tony Barboza wrote about Sara and her crusade here.


While picking up cigarette butts my husband and I always talk about our observations.  I think that I should share a few.

* Cigarette butts are well camouflaged.  They're so well camouflaged because their colors-- browns, tans, and whites--match the sand and shells.

The above picture was taken on my knees and zoomed in.  Here's what it looks like just walking by:

 * Cigarette butts have a fear of being alone.  It's true.  It's rare to find a butt all by itself... we find them in groups, pairs, trios and even trails...

* Back to the whole camouflaged thing... so many people don't see the butts on the beach because they blend so well with their surroundings.  We're thinking, "What would the beach look like if cigarette butts were hot pink??"  I'll tell you this much... no one would ever question the fact that there IS a cigarette butt litter problem... on our beaches, in our parks, on our streets, in parking lots, in front of businesses...

Over 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are littered worldwide EVERY YEAR... that's a HUGE problem... not just on Wrightsville Beach.  In a couple of weeks, I'm going to visit Sara and her friend Mark.  Mark is doing something that I'm a huge fan of... creating a solution to the cigarette butt litter problem-- The Bait Tank. 

20 minutes on September 24, 2010

Litter picked up by weight:  14. 8 oz

Cigarette Butts: 951

In this pile are 13 straws.... start refusing straws.  Supply works on demand. ;)

 Total amount of cigarette butts picked up off of Wrightsville Beach, NC in 12 days: 

6,346