Our Daily Ocean: Day 211

On Monday morning, we accepted a break from our normal routine by going out for hot chocolate (in a reusable ceramic mug, of course!), checking some books out from the library and doing a beach clean up.  It was a good morning...

Since this was a break from our norm, I took the suggestion of my friend Kim and did my beach cleanup between accesses 19 & 18 (Oxford and Henderson Streets).  You see, Kim had text me a week before telling me how bad it always is at Henderson St.... and since my beach cleanups have been on the cleaner side lately... I wanted to see if it really was worse there.

 We walked in at access 19 (Oxford St.) and to be honest... the beach wasn't that bad.  BUT... as we walked north to Henderson St. (access 18), the amount of litter began to increase.

 I found bottle caps posing as seashells.

 Plastic fragments trying to pose as broken shells.  Some are easier to spot.... blue is a dead giveaway for plastic.

We also found lots of plastic straws-- 10 to be exact-- which seems to be a high amount for this time of

year.  

AND... we picked up more cigarette butts than I wanted to find.  161

 So... this clean up wasn't horrible.  I didn't leave the beach wondering how people could be so disrespectful.  But, nonetheless, I'm curious.  There was definitely an increase in the amount of litter we found as we approached Henderson St.  ... I'm feeling like I need to do more cleanups at these accesses and talk to the good people of the Henderson Street League for the Environment and Responsible Government and the team of Wrightsville Beach View.  Have any insight?  Feed my curiosity!

20 minutes on October 21, 2013 at Access 19

Litter by weight: 14.4 oz
Cigarette butts: 161

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 211 days:

56,431

Our Daily Ocean: Day 208

The past couple of weeks, I have been rocking out beach cleanups and moving forward with my goal to complete this beach cleanup project late next summer.  BUT... With rain and having a rib out (OUCH!) last week, I didn't make it to the beach once!  

So I'm working on getting back into the swing of things... and on Sunday, my husband and I did our first cleanup together in a very long time!  Turns out that even after him taking a long break in picking up litter on the beach... he still has an eye for it.  Though... good news!.... once again, there wasn't much to find! 

Interesting/disturbing fact:  During the 2013 International Coastal Cleanup... volunteers removed 958,893 caps/lids!  That's 958,893 times that people had the opportunity to do the right thing and instead way too many times that people got it wrong.  It makes me wonder why with all the data for just one day, that this whole Ocean Conservancy ICC hasn't become a HUGE catalyst for creating major change especially when it comes to extended producer responsibility.  Hmmm... 

Curiosity is ruling me right now.  

20 minutes on October 13, 2013 at Access 23

Litter by weight: 1.1 oz

Cigarette butts: 41

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 208 days:

56,108

Our Daily Ocean: Day 195

On Wednesday, while my two youngest were finishing up with camp, my oldest son and I did a beach clean up together at... I mean... under Johnnie Mercer's Pier.

Normally, I pick an access and walk as much of the access as we can in 20 minutes.  But when we got to the beach at 3pm, the sun was so bright for my non-sunglass wearing son that he asked if we could stay under the pier in the shade.  And for the most part we did.  We only ventured out from the cover of shade to pick up a plastic bag and a few other items that caught our eyes within 5 feet of the pier.  

But even though we limited where we picked up litter for 20 minutes... there was no shortage.  Just as the shade of the pier offered us relief from the harsh afternoon sun... so many other people take refuge there throughout the day shading themselves and their children from the sun in between playing in the waves.  

Plastic juice box straw wrappers were a sure sign that children had been under the pier... and we found lots and lots of those little wrappers.   But the little plastic wrappers weren't the only things we were finding under Johnnie Mercer's Pier.   Some notable items we picked up were 13 plastic straws, 15 caps, an unused still wrapped condom and two hair extensions!  We also-- surprisingly-- found 104 littered cigarette butts under the pier.  Hmm...

20 minutes on August 7, 2013 under Johnnie Mercer's Pier

Litter by weight: 1 lb 3 oz

Cigarette butts: 104

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 195 days:

55,553

Our Daily Ocean: Day 172

Well, hello 2013.  It's a new year and because so much has happened and so many things have changed since this time last year... I'm finding myself super reflective.  I guess that's what New Years is about... reflecting on our past to guide us as we move to the new.  Reminding ourselves who we were, who we are and who we could be.  My head is filled with optimism and hope... a new year brings a new perspective. 

This year, Wrightsville Beach will usher in the implementation of North Carolina's first smoke-free beach.  Very BIG deal.  Successful implementation means there will be fewer littered cigarette butts on Wrightsville Beach!  I'm so excited!  I look forward to seeing a change and helping raise awareness about the new ordinance.  ...and as I reflect back, I can't stop smiling because I was part of something big.  I helped create change because I believed... because I had hope.  Because I read the words "You are the difference" and I believed it.

So let me remind you (as I do every new year) 

You are the difference.

Pass it on.  Everything we do matters.

20 minutes on January 1, 2013 at Access 42

Litter by weight: 1 lb 6.6 oz

Cigarette butts: 271

Plastic caps: 27

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 172 days:

53,726

Our Daily Ocean: Day 106

Ever since we got home from California, the weather here has been down right perfect.  I'm not sure that it can get much better than mid-70's in late November!  Knowing the warm days are numbered, we've been trying to spend as much time at the beach as we can.  Sunday afternoon-- after a couple of hours playing in the sand-- we met our friend Bonnie at Access 43.

 Not long ago, Bonnie went to Access 43 and picked up litter for 20 minutes... her focus is on plastics... but she took the time to count the 390 cigarette butts that she collected.  I've added that amount plus the 118 cigarettes that Bonnie picked up last night to the Community Count (on the sidebar).  Bonnie's addition pushes the Community Count for Wrightsville Beach to over 10,000!!!

Big things are happening with Bonnie.  She was recently selected as a finalist in the international competition "IN SEARCH OF INCREDIBLE."  I was sooooo thrilled when I found out that she was a finalist because 1.) I told Bonnie about the competition and encouraged her to enter.  2.) Others are recognizing how AWESOME.. err... incredible she is.  3.) Her art is something that everyone needs to see.  AND... 4.) An opportunity to create more awareness about plastic pollution in our oceans.

More awareness to this problem of plastic pollution is the opportunity to reach more people.  Believe it or not... there are people who don't know about the Pacific Garbage Patch... there are people who don't know that sea turtles mistake plastic bags as jellyfish... there are people who have no idea that albatross are eating plastic and feeding it to their young... and dying on one of the most remote islands on earth.

Last night, we picked up 179 bottle caps in 20 minutes.  In those bottle caps, I see Midway.  That makes me sad.  So I continue to repeat myself... I don't want to miss anyone.  I make no assumptions... even if I think you know... I just want to make extra sure, because this is important.  One of the most important things we can do is to stop using single-use plastics.  I started with something simple: I stopped buying/accepting/drinking beverages in plastic bottles.  Every time I see the photos of the albatross, I am reminded that my decision makes a difference.

20 minutes on November 27, 2011 at Access 43

Litter by weight: 1 lb 14.8 oz
Cigarette butts: 448

This is the area that we focused on for 20 minutes.  The section that is "turned up" looking is the section that we cleaned.

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 106 days: 

36,335

Our Daily Ocean: Day 97

Once again we made it to the beach VERY late... this whole end of summer thing is really throwing me for a loop!!  I need to make a mental note to head to the beach 30 minutes earlier than I think I do!!  Check it out... this is what it looked like when we got to the beach!!!  Absolutely no time to spare... we headed right and got a move on doing our 20 minute clean up...

Walking around on Wrightsville Beach last night, something looked different.  There was a noticeable lack of litter.  Turns out that a local church group decided that-- since Labor Day had just passed-- it was important to do a beach clean up at  Wrightsville Beach.  Agreed!  High 5's to them!!! :D  Since they were picking up the majority of "bigger" items... it left us to focus on the "smalls."

During clean ups post Hurricane Irene, we've noticed a drastic increase in plastic caps.  My thinking is that those caps were buried in the sand and when the hurricane moved the sand around on the beach... she uncovered things (such as bottle caps).  Well... last night at the high tide line I saw this bottle cap peeking out from the sand.  Made me wonder how many more are buried...hmmm???  Guess we'll find out if we get another hurricane...

Over the weekend, I got messages from my friends Julie and Ginger.  Julie went to Access 36 with her family and picked up 370 cigarette butts.  Ginger and her husband John adopted Access 18 and in 15 minutes Ginger picked up 406 cigarette butts!!  Those amounts have been added to the community count on the sidebar!  The new Wrightsville Beach community count total is at: 9,617!!

Rewinding: A year ago on September 7, we did our 8th beach clean up!  At the time, the fact that I had 2,291 cigarette butts sitting in my garage was something that was so unbelievable to me.  Now... a year later....we have almost 34,000 cigarette butts.  And all it took was 20 minutes at a time...

20 minutes on September 7, 2011 at Access 19

Litter by weight: 1 lb 6.8 oz
Cigarette butts: 1,633

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 97 days: 

33,989

Our Daily Ocean: Day 93

Another day, another post Hurricane Irene beach clean up.  Yup... we've been out to Wrightsville Beach three days in a row!!!  Of course, my kids are still super excited about all of shells that are still lining the beach...

The past two posts I've mentioned how Hurricane Irene has completely reshaped the southend of the beach... so in an effort to really share how different the beach is... we went back to the far southend of Wrightsville Beach :)  Here's what the southend looked like (looking from Access 42 to 43) back in January on our 36th beach clean up:

This is what it looks like now...

While at the beach on Saturday, I talked to some people and most often I heard people say "this is just horrible" about the fact that so many of the sand dunes were gone.  While it does look a lot different without all the dunes... it is exactly how nature intended it to be.  I watched this great educational film entitled "North Carolina: The Beaches Are Moving" about barrier islands and how they are constantly changing... and how this change (even the drastic changes from a storm) is natural and good.  It's long, but it's definitely worth watching :)  By the way, if you didn't know... Wrightsville Beach is a barrier island!

I now interrupt this lesson on barrier islands to jump full on into a semi-rant about plastic caps!!!  On Friday, Susan with the Wrightsville Beach Sea Turtle Project picked up 122 plastic bottle caps.  On Saturday, Tracy and I picked up 92 bottle caps... Sunday, I picked up 25... AND now (on Monday evening), I along with Michelle-- another beach sweeper!!-- picked up 115 plastic bottle caps!!!

Ok, so maybe you're wondering where all the bottles are that go with those caps??  Hmmm... not sure what happened to the bottles... but I have an idea about WHY there are so many freaking bottle caps.  The story I make up goes a bit like this:  Beachgoer takes cap off of plastic-- water/soda/gatorade/Vitamin-Water-- bottle... cap isn't attached in any way so it easily gets lost... and one way or another gets buried in the sand.  THEN... one day a big storm comes and moves all the sand... and VOILA! the mess that was once buried is now uncovered for us to see...

So... maybe this wasn't as big of a rant as I thought was going to come spewing out... but here's the deal. Maybe you no longer drink bottled water... rock on! That's awesome.  How about rethinking all of the drinks that come in plastic bottles with plastic lids??  Gatorade, sodas, flavored waters... little by little stop purchasing them and start filling a reusable beverage bottle instead.  Do it so our beaches stay being made of sand... do it so we find shells and not plastic... do it to save wildlife... whatever it is... find a reason and go with it. (please)

20 minutes on August 29, 2011 at Access 43

Litter by weight: 3 lbs 12.1 oz
Cigarette butts: 182

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 93 days:

28,207

Our Daily Ocean: Day 91

The whole time that Hurricane Irene was barreling down here on Friday and Saturday, I kept thinking about going to Wrightsville Beach.  So... obviously, as soon as Wrightsville Beach lifted the "RESTRICTED ACCESS" on Saturday late afternoon... my friend Tracy, her daughter, my two youngest and I hopped in the car without any hesitation and headed to Wrightsville Beach! :)

Hurricanes are so powerful... reshaping the beaches... giving and taking.... helping the ocean purge.

 I can't tell you enough how the beach after a hurricane (even a big offshore storm) is one of the most amazing things!  I'm continually left in awe of the ocean's power...

The power to change the beach is the power to uncover things that had been long left behind and buried in the sand... now left uncovered by the oceans waves.  Normally, I kick over the wrack line and pick up all of the litter embedded in the organic debris: plastics, straws, caps, cigarette butts... but the wrack line was so littered on the surface that it was hard to focus, let alone dig deeper.

Honestly, I haven't been overwhelmed in awhile... but I really couldn't find focus... there was just so much.  For example, Tracy and I picked up a record 92 plastic bottle caps.  It was insane... every direction we looked bottle caps were there.

I've been trying to figure out how to explain the overwhelmed feeling I had on Saturday... then I hopped on over to WB-- Keep It Clean and read this:

"As I was walking today, one thing that I found really overwhelming was the number of cigarette butts. There were so many that I couldn't even focus on picking them up-- I didn't know where to start. It got me thinking about how Mother Teresa once said, "If I look at all this mass, I will never act." .... if we see one cigarette butt on an otherwise pristine beach, it is easy to pick it up, throw it away, blame the sole smoker for being careless, and move on. But when we walk down the beach and see 1,000 cigarette butts, which ones do we pick up? Where do we start? And whom do we blame? I think this is why so many people walk past the cigarette butts and don't stop to pick them up. The enormity of the problem is so great." 

It completely sums up how I felt picking up litter on Saturday... there was no end in sight... sure I had 20 minutes... but this wasn't a day at the beach... this was DAYS and MONTHS at the beach spit out by the ocean... that's a lot to take in...

(A little more than) 20 minutes on August 27, 2011 at Access 41

Litter by weight: 8 lbs 11 oz
Cigarette butts: 344 (though Tracy said there was probably more like 34,400.)

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 91 days:

27,755