Our Daily Ocean: Day 143

World Oceans Day.  A day to celebrate and give thanks to our oceans for all they provide for us... which is a lot more than a nice view and good surf.  Yes, today I did a beach clean up.  How could I not?  But, that was just 20 minutes.  Most of my evening at the beach, I sat stretched out on the sand watching the waves roll in and my kids play in the surf... taking in the salt air and loving that I get to live where I live.

"I find myself at the extremity of a long beach.  How gladly does the spirit leap forth, and suddenly enlarge its sense of being to the full extent of the broad, blue, sunny deep!  A greeting and a homage to the Sea!  I descend over its margin, and dip my hand into the wave that meets me, and bathe my brow.  That far-resounding roar is the Ocean's voice of welcome.  His salt breath brings a blessing along with it."  ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

Good news on World Oceans Day... President Obama proclaimed June 2012 to be National Oceans Month.  He writes:  

"President John F. Kennedy once told us, "We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea -- whether it is to sail or to watch it -- we are going back from whence we came." During National Oceans Month, let us celebrate our heritage as a seafaring Nation by instilling an ethic of good ocean stewardship in all Americans."

"For in the end, we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught."  ~ Baba Dioum 20 minutes on June 8, 2012 at Access 39 Litter by weight: 15.5 Cigarette butts: 94 Straws: 5

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 143 days: 

45,624

Our Daily Ocean: Day 71

After over a week of being away from Wrightsville Beach... my family and I made it out after dinner for a 20 minute clean up on World Oceans Day.  :)

My favorite moment of the clean up was watching my kids chase after a plastic bag.  They were so determined.  Check them out... they didn't stop until they got it.  My kids ROCK!!! :)

 

After my kids got the plastic bag, we saw a mother and her two kids picking up litter and walking with a plastic bag.  I approached them thinking they had picked up the bag only to find out they brought it to the beach (because she had forgotten their reusables). We got to talking about sea turtles... so it was a great opportunity for me to share with them about how when plastic bags are floating in water they take on the appearance of jellyfish.  I didn't have to say one word more because in that instant, she connected to one of the many problems of plastic bags.  Next time... they won't be getting plastic bags!  YAY!! :)

20 minutes at Access 36 on June 8, 2011

Litter by weight: 11.4 oz

Cigarette butts: 295

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 71 days: 

21,347