Our Daily Ocean: Day 166

All day yesterday and early today, Hurricane Sandy was just off-shore.  Thankfully, our area was only hit with a lot of rain and some wind.  As usual, when a tropical system stirs up the ocean... it's a must to get to the beach and see what has been spit out and uncovered.  It's super exciting...

My kids main goal while at the beach was to look for seashells.  I had planned on that being my main goal as well, but I just couldn't force myself to walk past the litter that was poking out of the wrack line.

Out of everything I picked up in 20 minutes, I only picked up one thing that wasn't plastic.

I picked up plastic straws, plastic caps, plastic wrappers, styrofoam, plastic umbrella tips, plastic toys, broken plastic pieces... plastic plastic EVERYWHERE.  Humph  Please please please make a conscious effort to reduce the amount of plastics you use... your decisions matter! :)

This is plastic, not sea glass.

My friend Tracy also went to the same beach access today to look for seashells.  She text me right away with a picture of the wrack line and said, "I want to clean this."  She had forgotten to take a bag, but as it would be, she found a zip-lock bag at the beach and filled it with litter!  Lots and lots of plastic caps and 127 cigarette butts!  Thanks Tracy!!!! 

20 minutes on October 28, 2012 at Access 41

Litter by weight: 1 lb 3.8 oz
Cigarette butts: 45
Straws: 11
Caps: 39

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 166 days:

52,382

Our Daily Ocean: Day 52

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you may know that I only decided to create this blog after a nudge from my friend Tracy.  She's awesome like that... always giving me inspiration and encouraging me to do more.  On Tuesday, Tracy and her two kids joined me and my three kids at Access 36.

As always, our kids played A LOT while Tracy and I picked up litter for 20 minutes... BUT... it never fails that even while they're playing they take the time to run to us with handfuls of litter.  It's engrained in them...  when they see a piece of litter... they pick it up.  They understand that everything and everyone is connected... 

 My friend Julie and her family have been doing 20-30 minute clean ups at Wrightsville Beach throughout the winter.  Of course, they're counting the cigarette butts they find.  On Sunday, Julie and her family went to Access 36 and removed LOTS of litter... and 412 cigarette butts!!! 

 For some reason, I was actually surprised by that number.  The last two times we had been to Access 36, the cigarette counts were 92 (Feb.) and 101 (Jan.).  In fact, the last time we picked up over 400 was on New Years Day at Access 16.  As we picked up over 300-- on World Water Day-- I began to contemplate what the difference is.... I've come to two conclusions.  

1.  During January and February, the beach front restaurant "Oceanic" was closed for renovations.  During those months, we didn't find much restaurant litter or cigarette litter.  Coincidence??  I don't think so.

Fact:  We picked up 21 straws in 20 minutes.  The majority found around the pier... most clear or black "mixed drink straws"... and many still wrapped in paper.

2.  Spring is here.... but it's been so gorgeous that it almost feels like summer.  80˚ temperatures mean lots of people heading to the beach.  (... and I'm one of them!!)  I'm loving the warm weather... not loving how some people are trashing our beach.  (ummm.....by "our"... I mean.. my... your... his... her... their... EVERYONE's... including the animals we share it with ;) )

While my friend Tracy was on the phone with her husband... I went to take some photos of our kids playing when I heard her call my name and say: "You have to get a picture of this."  When I saw the mess... my jaw dropped.  I thought to myself, "...this is not the wrack line."  And Tracy and I both were perplexed... where in the world did all of those "fresh" butts come from??  (hmmm....)  When I got home and looked at this photo... I saw something I didn't see while at the beach...

Footprints.  Bird footprints.  And they're everywhere.... in a mess they didn't create.

20 minutes on March 22, 2011

Litter by weight: 15.7 oz

Cigarette butts: 349

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrighsville Beach, NC in 52 days: 

15,572