Our Daily Ocean: Day 83

With the swell coming in on Thursday evening, the beach... err... the ocean was full of surfers.  The weather was perfect... still warm from the day... and the ocean rolling with full waves was even better.

  During our 20 minute clean up, I couldn't help but notice that the majority of cigarette butts were wet.  Of course, wet cigarette butts make me think about the toxins that are released as soon as the littered butt hits the water... :(

The other day, my aunt called me to tell me about a boat cruise they went on in Lake Okoboji.  She was so frustrated because when they stopped to go for a swim, she saw smokers throw their cigarette butts in the lake!!  BUT... good news!  My aunt took the time to write the company that did the cruise.  Here's a bit of what she had to say:  

"Cigarette butts are made of plastic and are not biodegradable. The filter is designed to trap toxins so when it hits the water, those toxins are released into the water. Which also means that they are no friend to the fish swimming below the surface. If you could PLEASE have ashtrays available and let riders know that if they have to smoke, not to throw them overboard. Thank you."

I'm happy to report that my aunt received an email from the company letting her know that they were "appalled that passengers would think it is okay to throw ANY type of trash into the Lake" and the issue was going to be addressed immediately.  (YAY!!!) 

My aunt isn't the only one paying attention to the cigarette butt litter problem.  Daedra of Strawesome did a 20 minute beach clean up at Lake Michigan and picked up a pile of litter that included bottle caps, straws and over 300 cigarette butts!  She writes:

"It was actually hard to stop picking them [cigarette butts] up because they were everywhere, but my back hurt so I had to stop.

I forwarded my findings to the park office and requested they install cigarette butt collection receptacles. If you saw piles of 300 cigarette butts on the beach you’d be grossed out, right? So, why is it ok when they’re spread out all over the land? It’s not!"

YES!!  Since I've picked up over 25,000 (yup! milestone!!).... I completely agree!!  High 5 to Daedra!!  Check out her entire post:  Just Beachy

Soooo... have you ever wondered what over 25,000 cigarette butts looked like?? (ok, me neither) But here they are...  25,180 cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC.  Thank you thank you thank you to all of my family and friends who have joined us out at WB and helped remove all this nastiness from the beach...

20 minutes on August 4, 2011 at Access 25

Litter by weight: 15.7 oz

Cigarette butts: 294

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 83 days:

25,180

Our Daily Ocean: Day 67

After an afternoon of playing in the pool, we headed to Wrightsville Beach with our friend Tracy and her two kids-- Liam and Emma.  We attempted to go to Johnnie Mercer's Pier, but even at 7 PM parking at the pier was packed... so we headed a few accesses down to Access 18.

It was a good call.  Looking north down the beach strand, people were everywhere... but for the most part everyone had cleared from access 18.  I say that's a good thing because when the beach is covered with people, it's often hard to know what has been left behind.

As usual, when we come to the beach with my kids friends... they do a lot of playing.  But what's great is that in the midst of playing they always find the time to pick up the litter that's around them...  running to us with handfuls of whatever they find.  In fact, Liam ran to me with a rash guard that he found in the water. (not on a person, of course ;) )  Have I mentioned that my kids favorite thing to find is beach toys??  By the end of summer, we're going to have a lot...

While I was walking over to take a photo for Tracy, I stopped in my tracks and said, "Did you accidentally dump your bucket???"  (Her answer was "no...")  4.5 trillion cigarettes are littered worldwide every year... I'm starting to wonder if that number is on the low side...

Awhile ago, someone told me the cigarette pack equivalent to how many butts we've picked up off of Wrightsville Beach.  I just did the calculation.... at this point we've picked up the equivalent of over 953 packs of cigarettes.  YIKES!  Also, this clean up puts our total weight of litter collected off of Wrightsville Beach to over 100 pounds.  *sigh* I have a feeling that number will easily double over the summer...

20 minutes on May 21, 2011 at Access 18

Litter by weight: 3 lbs 14.5 oz

Cigarette butts: 740

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 67 days:

19,073

Our Daily Ocean: Day 65

 Now that the weather is staying consistently warm... and especially nice in the evenings... we're heading to Wrightsville Beach A LOT more often.... and it's making our kids SO happy :)

On Thursday, I removed litter from Access 24-- my friend (and brother's girlfriend) Gabby's adopted beach access.  Gabby-- a student at UNCW-- does frequent clean ups at Wrightsville Beach and often contributes to the community cigarette butt count.  I was super excited to find out that, while Gabby was nannying on Thursday, they picked up litter at Access 36--my family's adopted access. (woot! Thanks Gab!)

As I was picking up cigarette butts... I started to notice a trend.  Camel cigarettes.  All different kinds, but the one that stuck out to me was this one with the little pink camel.  I keep thinking... "Gee... I wonder who they're marketing to??"  My thought is young women.... err... teenage and college girls.  Yes.  I said it.  And I believe it.  I mean... it's obvious right?!?  

Found this empty pack of Camels by the bench. (yes all of the butts were scattered around the pack)  

The writing-- "Seize the Hump Day"-- on the package caught my eye.  I found it comical, but then I thought about the people that rely on a pack (or more) of cigarettes to get them through the week. :(  

Question of the day:  How do you get over hump day??  (Me?  Wednesday is my favorite day!)

20 minutes on May 19, 2011 at Access 24

Litter by weight: 7.3 oz

Cigarette butts: 148

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 65 days: 

17,934