Our Daily Ocean: Day 188

When it comes to summer traditions, meeting friends and taking a picnic dinner to the beach is ours.  It's a great way to end the day.  Kids playing.  Laughter.  Catching up.  Waves. Birds.  Simple.  Relaxed. Carefree.

Just going to the beach to hang out and then randomly doing a beach clean up while we walk and chat is what 20 minute beach cleanups are all about.  In fact, this beach cleanup was spawned when my and Tracy's kids wanted us to walk down to the Lifeguard Tower.  I grabbed my bag and by the time we walked down and back... we had done a 20 minute beach cleanup.  Easy.

I have good news to share!  Two sea-turtle nests have been laid at Wrightsville Beach.  And my good friends Ginger and John found the first nest of the season!  Read more here.   I also wanted to share that as they were searching for the eggs in the nest, they kept uncovering cigarette butts and other various plastics.  The mother sea turtle created a womb in the sand... and it was littered with our mess.  Let us all encourage and challenge each other to do more.  Refuse single-use plastics.  Pick up litter when we see it.  Write companies.  What ever it is that you can do, now is the perfect time to start.

20 minutes on May 31, 2013 at Access 40

Litter by weight: 6.5 oz
Cigarette butts: 17

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 188 days:

55,099

Our Daily Ocean: Day 185

Welcome to Wrightsville Beach, the first smoke-free beach in North Carolina!!!   We worked hard to make it happen and we're "thumbs up" happy about it! I'd like to express my personal gratitude to everyone who took the time to write the NC legislature asking them to oppose SB703 and preserve our smoke-free outdoor spaces.  Thank YOU so very very much!!

Ok... so onto last night's record low clean up... what? wait... what's that?  Yup, I said it (again). Record low cigarette butt count.  My friend Tracy and I did a 20 minute beach clean up while our kids played. The two of us together picked up 14 cigarette butts at Access 39.

Curious about how this compares to past clean ups at Access 39?

November 24, 2010 = 166 cigarette butts
August 25, 2011 = 176 cigarette butts
June 8, 2012 = 94 cigarette butts

or how about this one from Access 38 on May 14, 2011.  Same time of year.  178 cigarette butts.

I have always believed that smoke-free beach ordinances help reduce cigarette litter... but to see it happening already... I'm thrilled!!

On another note, sea turtle nesting season is upon us again!  (yay!)  That means the WB Sea Turtle Project Volunteers will be spending their early mornings walking the beach in search of turtle tracks.  As they walk the beach, many volunteers pick up litter.  Since 2009, they have removed 2,284 bags of trash from Wrightsville Beach.  You can follow along with them on their blog WB Keep It Clean 

When Tracy found that piece of coral it made me think about how it's a lot more fun finding beautiful mementos of nature than it is to find plastics and other trash.  As my friend Ginger says: 

"A clean beach means a healthier ocean in which sea turtles and other life can swim and live and play freely."

20 minutes on May 16, 2013 at Access 39

Litter by weight: 3.7 oz

Cigarette butts: 14

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 185 days:

54,926

Our Daily Ocean: Day 158

Since August of 2010, I've done a lot of beach clean ups.  Because I spend a good amount picking up things at the beach, I've found a fair amount of sea glass ... I've even found and returned a cell phone... but mostly, I've picked up more trash than I would have ever thought possible (and this project is still far from over).

On Sunday, while finishing up my 20 minute beach clean up with my friend Tracy, she found something very rare and what I think is one of the most incredible beach finds EVER-- a roll of film!!!!

A completely intact roll of film!!

Now I'm not sure how long it takes for a film canister to start to rust... but from what we can tell everything looks completely sealed and most likely there are pictures inside just waiting to be developed.  Yes, Tracy and I are both SO curious about what's on this professional black & white film, that Tracy is taking the film to have it developed! (stay tuned!)  

20 minutes on September 16, 2012 at Access 36

Litter by weight:  1 lb 11.2 oz

Cigarette butts: 343

Straws: 31

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 158 days:

50,603

Our Daily Ocean: Day 128

There are times when I wish I could explain either through pictures or words more clearly some of the things we find on Wrightsville Beach.... but sometimes, as much as I try... the pictures don't begin to tell the whole story and words seem to come up short.

Through words and pictures, I can only touch on how bad some things really are.  There is nothing like being there and seeing it for yourself-- as my friend Tracy can surely attest.  Yesterday was one of those days when we cleaned a section... looked back... and could see exactly where we missed.  Cigarette butts, bottle caps, fragmented plastics, styrofoam, straws... and.... condoms. humph  There were so many cigarette butts and plastic bottle caps (89) that Tracy started calling the area we were cleaning "cap and butt beach".

As I was going through everything that Tracy and I picked up yesterday... I paused at this Gatorade bottle that Tracy found tucked away in a sand dune.  I looked at the deteriorating cap and thought about all of the ocean samples that have yielded plastics.  I thought about Kamilo Beach.  I thought about the albatross on Midway Island....whales, sea turtles, fish...   *sigh* Looking at the cap, I knew that pieces of plastic so small had broken off and are now part of our sand at Wrightsville Beach...

Here is a plain and simple fact:  If we don't change how we use plastic... One day our beaches will be made of plastic sand.  It's already happening.  We now have the task of stopping it from happening further.  How do we do it??  How do we stop our oceans and beaches from turning into plastic?  Easy.  We reduce how much plastic we use.  We rethink our needs and realize that we can go without _______ because the convenience of today isn't worth the inconvenience of cleaning up the inevitable mess tomorrow.

20 minutes on March 20, 2012 at Access 43

Litter by weight: 1 lb 10.2 oz
Cigarette butts: 394

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 128 days:

42,518

Our Daily Ocean: Day 114

On Tuesday, while waiting for my daughter in the school pick up line... I sent a text to my friend Tracy letting her know that we were going to the beach.  I mean, how could we not go to the beach on a 75˚ day in January?!?  Litter project aside... I just wanted to walk... and I just wanted to sit on the beach and BE there feeling the air and listening to the ocean....

Of course, as much as I just wanted to do nothing but BE there.... I can't BE there without doing my part to help keep Wrightsville Beach beautiful.  So, I took a nice stroll down the beach and took 20 minutes to pick up litter.  During my short walk, I found a wide array of litter that included 30 bottle caps, 11 plastic straws, a balloon, and 181 cigarette butts.  Then I sat down next to my BFF and we talked and talked while our kids ran around having so much fun. Before we knew it the sun was setting.... the perfect ending to a perfect afternoon at the beach.

Dear Wrightsville Beach, we love you.

20 minutes on January 24, 2011 at Access 43

Litter by weight: 1 pound
Cigarette butts: 181

Total amount of cigarettes removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 114 days:

38,368

Our Daily Ocean: Day 94

Last night, my two youngest and I stopped by Lovey's Market & Café to pick up some food for a picnic dinner at the beach with our friends :)  We ended up staying at the beach until it was pitch black and everyone was gone (yes, even all of the surfers)... the only thing we could hear was the crashing of the waves... ahhh.... the perfect music :)

When we first started our 20 minute clean up, I wandered over to Oceanic.  The wrack line was still pretty crazy, so I did quick sweep for straws.  Super happy that I didn't find any that appeared to have blown off of the pier!!  But, I did find this little guy... ok... he's kind of big!  AND... yes, I had to do a double take at first ;)

I don't always mention it, but I have the most awesome interaction with kids on the beach. When they figure out what we're doing they're most often the ones who come to me and say "thank you" or  quickly look around for something they can pick up to contribute to helping clean up the beach.  Kids are awesome like that.  Last night, as I was picking up litter, I heard a faint "Excuse me, what are you picking up?" As I looked up, I saw a little boy with his parents.  I told him that I was picking up trash and with that he said, "Here's some trash" Then he and his (maybe 2 year old) little sister each handed me a cigarette butt.

While I was picking up cigarette butts and bottle caps... my friend Tracy was slowly picking up little balls of styrofoam in the wrack line.  It was tedious (and slightly frustrating) work... one move of the wrack line and the styrofoam blew everywhere... Tracy was committed to getting as much of it as she could... and thinks that it's about time styrofoam was banned!!  I mean really, why are they still making that crap anyway????

20 minutes on September 2, 2011 at Access 36

Litter by weight: 1 lb 13.8 oz

Cigarette butts: 244

Wondering where my "group" photo is??  Well, I put my camera on manual focus to take this photo of Tracy holding this starfish that she found while sifting through all of the styrofoam... forgot to change my settings back, didn't pay any attention and took a blurry "group" photo!! oops!!  (shrug) Starfish are much more beautiful than a pile of trash anyway! ;)

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 94 days: 

28,451

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

Our Daily Ocean: Day 76

For some unknown reason, I've been completely slacking when it comes to posting.  We hit the beach, clean it up... and count the mess... but the post just lags behind.  Hmmm...  Must be something about summer.  :)   Having not been out to Wrightsville Beach as much as I would've liked during the month of June, I'm making the commitment to get out to WB a lot more this month.

My mom and sister have been staying with us... so, on Friday, I asked them which access they wanted to go to.  My mom's response, "I want to go see how bad it is at the pier."  Wish granted.  We, along with my mom and sister, met my friend Tracy at Johnnie Mercer's Pier-- aka Access 16. 

My mom, my sister, and Tracy.

Since it was the start of the Fourth of July weekend, I had prepared myself for a disaster.  BUT... strange thing happened.  There was plenty of parking, the trashcans weren't overflowing and while the beach was definitely littered... it wasn't anywhere close to what we've seen in the past.  Thank goodness!

From the very start of this litter project, I've always been adamant about the fact that I am "never expecting perfect, I just want to get to better."  When I go to the wrack line and can pick up a handful of cigarette butts and plastics in less than a minute... I can honestly state: It's not better. (yet)  Wrightsville Beach is working on the cigarette butt issue.  From what I understand, they're passing out pocket ashtrays.  Not sure how to gauge whether or not it's working because we're still picking up a large amount of cigarette butts.  Hmmm...

Aside from counting cigarette butts, I also count other things including straws.  Friday we picked up a record number of straws:  64 in 20 minutes!  WHOA!  I'm sending my tallies to the WB-- Keep It Clean blog... and since May together we've removed 557 straws from WB!!!  YIKES!!  Please, please, please... when ordering your drink say, "I don't need a straw."  If you like to use straws... how about getting a reusable straw to carry with you??  I have some from Glass Dharma and I absolutely LOVE them!!   Another thing, skip the juice boxes.... take a reusable container and fill it with juice.  No straw or plastic straw wrapper to be littered is a good thing for the beach!! :)

20 minutes on July 1, 2011 at Access 16

Litter by weight: 8 lbs 3.6 oz  

Cigarette butts: 703

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 76 days:

23,117

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