Our Daily Ocean: Day 195

On Wednesday, while my two youngest were finishing up with camp, my oldest son and I did a beach clean up together at... I mean... under Johnnie Mercer's Pier.

Normally, I pick an access and walk as much of the access as we can in 20 minutes.  But when we got to the beach at 3pm, the sun was so bright for my non-sunglass wearing son that he asked if we could stay under the pier in the shade.  And for the most part we did.  We only ventured out from the cover of shade to pick up a plastic bag and a few other items that caught our eyes within 5 feet of the pier.  

But even though we limited where we picked up litter for 20 minutes... there was no shortage.  Just as the shade of the pier offered us relief from the harsh afternoon sun... so many other people take refuge there throughout the day shading themselves and their children from the sun in between playing in the waves.  

Plastic juice box straw wrappers were a sure sign that children had been under the pier... and we found lots and lots of those little wrappers.   But the little plastic wrappers weren't the only things we were finding under Johnnie Mercer's Pier.   Some notable items we picked up were 13 plastic straws, 15 caps, an unused still wrapped condom and two hair extensions!  We also-- surprisingly-- found 104 littered cigarette butts under the pier.  Hmm...

20 minutes on August 7, 2013 under Johnnie Mercer's Pier

Litter by weight: 1 lb 3 oz

Cigarette butts: 104

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 195 days:

55,553

Our Daily Ocean: Day 63

On Friday, my family and I went to Access 4 for my husband to get his SUP on.   Access 4 (known as "L shaped lot"), is at the far north end of Wrightsville Beach.  I've made a conscious decision to not go to the north end of the beach very often as I've found the middle section of the beach to need the 20 minute clean ups the most.  Before Friday, we hadn't been to 4 since filming and haven't done a clean up there since our 25th clean up back in December!!

The other day, I was reading one of my favorite blogs "The Flotsam Diaries."  Normally one to blog about his discoveries on his local beach in Maine... Harry left Maine to do an archeological excavation.  As usual, Harry shares his observations... but this time while uncovering the "trash" of a forgotten society he makes the connection that their trash is only valuable because it is SO rare.  Being that the trash that our modern day society is creating isn't at all rare....I wonder what archeologists of the future will uncover about us??

But... we don't have to be archeologists in the future to tell a story about a people in a time or place.  Take access 4, for example.  I commonly refer to access 4 as the "family access."  AND... one 20 minute clean up is enough for the trash to prove it.  The number one kid related item that we found were juice box straw wrappers.  I think I've said this a million times... but just in case anyone has missed it.  I get why parents buy juice boxes.  They're super convenient and kids like them.  In fact, my kids used to love them.  BUT... as convenient as they are, there's another super convenient option.  We take reusable water bottles to the beach.  We can fill them with whatever we want and best of all there's no (accidental) littering.

More signs of families... especially kids were everywhere.  I especially love this volcano that I came across. The cigarette butt.... not so much. :(

Whenever I find band-aids on the beach... I immediately think of my friend Sara, who writes The Daily Ocean blog.  She always wonders why people wear them to the beach... they come off in the shower.  Hmmm.... Speaking of Sara.  To date, I've added 97 lbs 2.2 oz to The Daily Ocean Community Count.  Anyone can and is encouraged to add to The Daily Ocean Community Collection Count... go here to learn how :)

20 minutes on May 13, 2011 at Access 4

Litter by weight: 14 oz
Cigarette butt: 112

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 63 days:

17,608

Our Daily Ocean: Day 58

Saturday evening, as I walked up to Wrightsville Beach... I saw an overflowing trash can.  I looked around and saw trash everywhere... and in those quick glances... I knew that the beach was going to be trashed.  And I was right.       The beach was a complete mess... every direction we looked there was litter strewn about the beach.  Access 16 was in disarray and so my brain felt the same way.  But as much as I am bothered by how the beach was left by Saturday's beach goers, I wasn't completely shocked.  Looking at the state of the trash cans and recycling bins (above)... it was easy to see that even someone with the best of intentions could easily come up short.

Thankfully, we had extra help from Gabrielle Steele from the American Lung Association, who found me thanks to my Brita FilterForGood Film... emailed me and is now going to join us at Wrightsville Beach from time to time doing 20 minute beach clean ups!!  YAY!!

We also had help from my friend Bonnie of The Plastic Ocean Project, and Shirley... Bonnie's 83 year old (!!) mom.  As Bonnie says about her mom, "She's a testament that we can all help whether we are the ones who create litter or not."

Together the 5 of us removed nearly 16 pounds of litter from Access 16.  (ummm... yeah...just 5... my kids played the entire time and they had SO much fun!!)  As usual, nearly everything we picked up at Wrightsville Beach was used for just moments and then left, tossed, misplaced, blown and/or forgotten on the beach.  And... whether the litter happens purposefully or by accident... is usable or not... it's still litter.  

 

As warmer weather is now here and beach season is in full swing... I've decided to start separating and counting (most) everything that we find on the beach.  One thing that we find too often are plastic straws. *sigh* We picked up 22 on Saturday.  I'm committed to not using straws and I'm also very committed to helping others rethink their straw use.  Have you taken the time to participate in Glass Dharma's Glass Straw Earth Day Initiative??  It's easy. Write a letter to your favorite restaurants, copy your letter into the comments of my blogpost and email your letter to Glass Dharma.  Do ALL three steps by April 30 and Glass Dharma will mail you a FREE glass straw!!  Check it out here: Write a Letter... Get a FREE Glass Straw!!

Want to help with something else??  Sure you do!  ;)  NC Senator Thom Goolsby has sponsored a bill to repeal the plastic bag ban that is currently in place in the North Carolina Outer Banks.  If you or anyone you know lives in North Carolina, please take a moment to participate in this Surfrider Action Alert to preserve the plastic bag ban in the NC Outer Banks.  Please and thank you.

20 minutes on April 23, 2011 at Access 16

Litter by weight: 15 lbs 13.6 oz
Cigarette butts: 335

Go here see a full run down of what we picked up.  Also, all shoes and clothes that we remove from WB are donated and recyclables recycled. :)

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 58 days: 

16,627