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 146

On Saturday evening, my family and I did something that we hadn't yet done this summer-- dinner on the beach.  Going to the beach in the late afternoon with a picnic dinner and staying until the sun sets is by far one of my most favorite things to do.  For me, it's the best time to be at the beach.  The temperature is perfection and the crowds start to dwindle... plus not having to lather up with sunblock is another major perk ;)  Chances are we're going to start hanging out at the beach in the evenings as much as we can... so if you want to do a beach clean up with us sometime...  stop by access 36 and join us!

Access 36 is our adopted beach access and home of the ocean front restaurant Oceanic.  Many times on this blog, I have complained let out my frustrations (here, here, and here) about the amount of straws that blow off of the Oceanic dining pier and litter the beach.  I took the time to email Oceanic about the problem and even talked to the manager and regional manager about some possible solutions to the problem of their littered plastic straws.  And, I have news!  While we were picking up straw after straw after straw... my kids noticed something on the straws that were still in wrappers "Straw Made From Plants" .... "100% COMPOSTABLE"

And I'm stoked.  I like to think that all of my "encouragement" led Oceanic to making the switch from plastic to this compostable straw.  Is this a perfect solution?  No.  But, it is a step in the right direction.  I'm happy that Oceanic was listening and made a change.  YAY!!!

  Now, we did pick up A LOT of straws during our 20 minutes.  48 to be exact.  Here's the tally:

8 compostable straws (Oceanic)

25 black straws (Oceanic)  

13 juice box straws

2 miscellaneous 

Want to know the best solution to this whole straw problem?  Simple.  It starts with a simple phrase.  

"No straws please. Thank you."

(or pick yourself up a reusable straw from GlassDharma or Strawsome)

It's time to reconsider our habits and go without.  

20 minutes on July 7, 2012 at Access 36

Litter by weight: 1 lb 4 oz

Cigarette butts: 224

Straws: 48

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 146 days: 

47,563

Responsibility Is Not Convenient

After doing our 81st clean up at Access 16, we headed further down the beach to Access 39 so that my husband could stand up paddle board.  When we walked up the access I saw this overflowing trashcan that normally would have made me so frustrated...

Even though trash was falling and blowing out all over the beach, I wasn't frustrated because I knew that  I could fix this problem.  I said to my husband,

"I'm not leaving it like this... I'm going to get a trashcan."  

Hoping to find a near empty trashcan... I walked to the next access and then to the next... both trashcans were half full.  I hesitated and thought to myself... "What am I doing?? ... I don't know if I can do this... wait, I have to do this.  Responsibility is NOT convenient."  I made the decision to choose the closer of the two and I drug it across the beach...

In the midst of dragging the trashcan, I called my friend Ginger to let her know that I had officially lost it.  Dragging the awkward, sticky, ant infested trashcan across the beach wasn't easy... but this is the way I saw it:  There was a problem that needed to be fixed.  Do I wish that people would have taken their trash with them instead of leaving it on the beach??  Absolutely.  But they didn't.  I can't change that.  I can't change what happened before me... I can only hope to change what happens after me.

 Responsibility is not convenient.  Doing the right thing takes extra effort... but trust me... it's always worth it. :)

Talkin' Trash

Trash.  It's everywhere.  The average American produces 4.5 lbs of trash a day.... adding up to over 1,600 lbs per year.  Over the weekend, my family along with Bonnie Monteleone took a "field trip" to Norfolk, VA to... well... learn.  On Friday morning we headed out bright and early to meet Kathy with TFC Recycling.  Our first stop:  Hampton/NASA Steam Plant.

The Hampton/NASA Steam Plant burns garbage to make steam for NASA's research such as testing space shuttle aerodynamics in over 60,000 hours of wind tunnel runs!  Since 1980, the plant has processed more than 2,235,257 tons of trash!!  Holy guacamole!!  While I'm honestly torn about the whole burning trash thing... I think it's pretty impressive that in the past 10 years alone they've been able to save 29.9 million gallons of fuel and natural gas by burning something that would otherwise have been buried in a landfill.  Hmm... 

Admittedly, I was overwhelmed by the amount of trash that we saw.  Ok... I was overwhelmed by the nasty stench as well.  As we stared up at the towering (and super stinky) pile of garbage, I couldn't help but think of the trash that we produce.  There's something about looking at the waste of thousands to really put everything we're doing-- Rethinking, Reducing, Refusing, Reusing/Composting and Recycling-- into perspective. 

 I am thankful that we-- as a family of 5-- produce far less trash than the national average.  In fact, looking at the weights that I've shared in the My Plastic-Free Life Show Us Your (Plastic) Trash Challenge... we produced less than a pound of trash for the whole month of April.  Sometimes it takes a nasty ass 60 foot tower of smelly garbage to make a girl realize she's doing good ;) 

Our next stop was TFC recycling, where Kathy gave us a tour of their facility where they sort all of the recyclables.  It was absolute craziness... how fast the machines work, the technology of the machines and watching the guys look for things that "don't belong" on the conveyor belts-- like plastic bags-- was so impressive.

I've always been one to wonder what the deal is with plastic bags for recycling companies.  I mean... they're accepting all these other recyclables... why in the world can't they just take the plastic bags and separate them like they do the rest of the recyclables???  Here's the simple truth:  As the recyclables are sorted through a series of conveyors... the plastic bags end up getting stuck in the rollers of the conveyors.  When the rollers are all twisted up with plastic bags... they have to shut down their entire operation to clean out the bags.  So... what does Kathy think about plastic bags??  She thinks they should be banned!  Take that ACC!  Plastic bags suck.  By the way, have you heard??  ChicoBag is being sued by three of the largest plastic bag manufacturers.  Check it out and give your support to ChicoBag. 

So... I, of course, had another epiphany while looking at the at all of the recyclables speeding down the conveyor belts and the blocks of recyclables baled for market.  The overwhelming amount of waste is something that we as a society need to really SERIOUSLY rethink.  I'm not saying that we all need to "give up" everything that we've become accustomed to... I'm saying we need to scale back and go back to school on the whole "Needs & Wants" lesson.

Example:

Need: Food
Want: Food packaged for convienence

In the midst of all of the trash and recyclables that we bore witness to on Friday... doubt also popped into me.  My thought:  Does what we're doing even matter??  All of this trash... all of this waste.  Is what we're doing as a family a futile effort??......
It gave me pause.  As I looked at the blocks of baled recyclables in disbelief. I stopped myself from questioning our efforts... and remembered that along with not buying things like bottled water... I have not bought something as simple as laundry detergent or fabric softener in over a year.  I remind myself that my "one" is important.  By not contributing, I am contributing something more.  We as a family are making a difference through simple everyday actions.  Ordinary regular people make the biggest differences in the world every single day.  It's not about setting out to change the world... it's about the simplicity of setting out to change our habits.  It's about making the decision to do something different... rethinking "Needs & Wants"... and most often that means understanding that the majority of what we think we "need" are just wants.  Ok... so maybe I lied.  It IS about changing the world... because when we change our habits... when we change ourselves.... we ARE changing the world.  

*YOU* are the difference.

Our Daily Ocean: Day 62

After a brief conversation the other night, I've been mulling over this thought:  "How do we get people to show up to make a difference??" .... and I'm not talking about people showing up to lobby Congress.  I'm talking about the simple things....

As a mother of 3 young children, it would be easy for me to say that I have too much going on... not enough time... and make up so many reasons why I can't do something... why I can't show up to make a difference... but, I don't.  

At some point, I realized that whatever I can do... no matter how small it seemed... I was doing something.  And doing something is always better than doing nothing.  For some reason, I've connected to this idea that "I am the difference." (you are, too ;) ) And I consistently have to remind myself of that fact... especially when I do clean ups.  
Saying those words helps me to connect the things in my everyday life to the bigger picture.  Hence the words "everything we do (or don't do) has an impact on the world we live in" in this blog header.  I strive to connect the dots between my actions and the things that are happening in our world....

That's why I am making a conscious effort to eliminate single use plastics (recyclable or not) from our household.  (This process is taking time, patience and a lot of rethinking)  Knowing that plastics are swirling in our oceans, being buried in landfills, being littered, poisoning, entangling, suffocating, choking... the life out of every living thing on this planet.... forces me to look at how I am connected to it all.

So... I show up to make a difference with my reusables: shopping bags, produce bags, water bottle, glass straw, real flatware and dishes.  I say 'no thank you', I write a letter, I change where I shop, I change what I consume... I consume less.  ....And, of course,  I take 20 minutes at the beach and make it a little bit cleaner.  <--- ok, so my daughter is editing this post and she just told me that it's "not a little bit cleaner... it's actually A LOT cleaner." :)

"I am only one, but I am one.  I cannot do everything, but I can do something.  And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do."  ~Edward Everett Hale

20 minutes on May 11 at Access 36

Litter by weight: 11.6 oz
Cigarette butts: 256* 


*Fact: 98 cigarette butts were removed from the Oceanic Restaurant's employee break area.  Yes, I'm going to call Oceanic!

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 62 days: 

17,496

Want to get your kids involved in helping clean up their world??  Join the 90 Days to Earth Day Challenge!!  It doesn't matter where you live... this is a COAST to COAST challenge and all K-12 students are invited to participate!!  Of course, I've registered my 3rd and 1st grade children for the challenge.  They're both super excited and we've decided to expand our clean up efforts beyond the beach because.... all drains to the ocean.

90 Days to Earth Day   

Attention Grades K-12

3rd Annual 90 Days to Earth Day challenge begins January 22

The challenge? To pick up as much litter as possible between January 22 and Earth Day, April 22, focusing on trash that is closest to making its way into our life support system – the ocean.

Streams, creeks, rivers, the Intracoastal Waterway and beaches are the targets of Ocean Cure’s annual 90 Days to Earth Day challenge. A local non-profit best known for providing surf camps to medically fragile and at-risk youth, Ocean Cure removed two-and-a-half tons of trash during its annual clean-up challenge in 2009 and 2010, recycling 80 percent of it. Now in its third year, 90 Days to Earth Day hopes to attract an unprecedented number of participants from North Carolina’s coastal region, making the first two years look more like a “warm-up” session. Participating grade K-12 students will have the opportunity to win prizes donated by local area businesses, with those completing a photo or video essay of their trash collection efforts eligible to win the grand prize, a week-long surf camp and Engrain surfboard from Indo Jax Surf and Kiteboard School.

Click here for rules and registration forms. Please fill out the registration form and mail it to Kevin Murphy at 607 N. Lake Park blvd. Carolina Beach, NC 28428. Any questions please contact him at 910-431-0594 or KMurphSBU@gmail.com.  **The challenge starts this Saturday, Jan. 22... send your registration form in ASAP!! :)

The ocean provides much of the food, water and oxygen we need to survive. It absorbs half of the carbon dioxide (CO2) that we pump into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels and most of the extra heat produced by the greenhouse effect.

Get involved. Your efforts will make a difference. 

Our Daily Ocean: Day 35

The first day of the new year.... our 1st clean-up of 2011 and it couldn't have been a more perfect day.... 64˚ meant flip flops... the New Year is looking good!!!

Looking up and down the beach strand... there were so many people that it looked like it was September at the beach (except the water is a frigid 47˚!!).  We were joined by my friend Bonnie Monteleone of The Plastic Ocean.  Bonnie is finally back from sailing across the South Atlantic Ocean with 5 Gyres... so we spent a good portion of our time talking about plastics in our oceans, beach clean ups and people coming together for this common cause-- our tiny blue marble... our planet... our home.

In 2010, I had a moment where I was thinking about how there are so many people doing things to make a positive impact on this world... then I said to myself (and a few people).... "What if we all came together??  Just imagine what that would be like..."**    Because when we come together... we can accomplish so much more.  As one, we are just a voice in a crowd... going about our lives doing what we do.  BUT... when we come together... together we have the ability to rise above being a crowd of individuals... and our voices become one and we rise above that crowd.  **(So you know... moments after saying that, I contacted my (now) friend Sara Bayles who writes The Daily Ocean blog... and you know where that led ;) )

I call them "friends."  Bonnie said that they're "butting up to each other." ;)

As we were picking up cigarette butts in the wrack line and then this straw... Bonnie said, "Like things travel together."  They sure do... that's why we're friends ;)

In 2010, I also changed my way of thinking.  I went from saying, "I want to help" to "I can help" to "I am helping."  I stopped wishing that I could make a difference.  And realized that I am the difference.  That's something that we all need to realize.  If no one has told you this year... let me be the first: 

You are the difference.  

"We spend January 1st walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched.  Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for potential."  ~Ellen Goodman

20 minutes on January 1, 2011

Litter by weight: 13.5 oz

Cigarette butts: 431

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 35 days:

13,279

(Please) Make A Difference Day

Today, October 23, is National Make a Difference Day.  

Now's the time to make a difference...making a difference is easy... get inspired by watching this video... please (and thank you) ;)