Our Daily Ocean: Day 70

There's a statement regarding holiday weekends that we tend to stick to: Go to the beach on a holiday weekend?? Haha.  No thank you.  As much as I love the beach, I certainly don't care to be there when it's super packed.  And so, we avoid the crowds and stay clear of the beach on Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day.  But, for the sake of this project (and the promise of ice cream), we made our way to Wrightsville Beach on Sunday evening.  Once again the beach was packed and once again the beach was trashed.  

Through all of the beach clean ups that we've done, I always stay optimistic about the future.  How can one not stay optimistic in place so beautiful???..... 

However, Sunday was different.  As we were doing our clean up, we watched as several groups left their trash on the beach.  Of course, my husband took the time to let the litterers know that they needed to pick up their trash... but get this... they denied it with a turned up nose and a "That's not mine."  FACT:

When you blame others, you give up your power to change.

You know what I immediately thought of when I saw this bottle of Smart Water  Dumb Water??  Jennifer Aniston.  I choose to refer to Smart Water as Dumb Water because paying for over-priced water that is packaged and shipped across the country in plastic bottles is not so smart.  You know what is smart??  Refilling a reusable water bottle.  Save money and the environment!!  Genius!  Take a sec to tell her and Tom Brady to stop endorsing Smart Water.  (By the way, the cap was about 4 feet from the bottle)

In the comments on Day 68, I shared some thoughts with Ellen, EcoCatLady and Susan.  During the past few clean ups, a lot of people start to (try to) give their trash to my kids.  Seriously.  Do we look like we're maids??  We're not wearing or carrying anything that looks like we've been hired to clean up after people... we come with our surf camp bag and some kids buckets dressed just like anyone else.  So, I had this thought... how do we let people know that they need to be responsible and that we're not their personal maids???  By having our kids wear shirts that say: (front) I'm not your maid, (back) Pick up your trash!

When we had just about finished our 20 minutes, I saw a guy picking up cigarette butts and walking them to the (overflowing) trash cans.  As soon as I was able to make contact with him, I thanked him.... and as I did, he said, "It's pretty bad when they pass out bags (pictured above) and things for cigarette butts and it still looks like this..."   With those words...hope is nearly restored.

"We have the Bill of Rights.  What we need is a Bill of Responsibilities."  ~Bill Maher

20 minutes on May 29, 2011 at Access 17

Litter by weight: 7 lbs 1 oz

Cigarette butts: 487

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 70 days: 

21,052

A Day at the Park

A week ago, I took my kids to the park.  We hadn't been to this particular park since last summer and I was pleasantly surprised at how different it was.  First of all, the port-a-potties had been replaced with actual restroom facilities.  YAY!  And, there were several large recycle bins for plastic bottles and aluminum cans.  One problem... as we walked up... I saw the trash can was overflowing with plastic bottles.

The sight immediately made me think about my daughter's field trip a few days earlier when I was throwing away a piece of trash...one of my daughter's teachers said, "Don't look in the trash."  She knows me... she knows that I would have serious issues with what I saw-- plastic bottles in the trash.  I said, "I don't know why it bothers me so much.  Why I just can't let it go."  (I'm constantly apologizing for things like this.  But my daughter's teachers... awesome that they are...told me that I have inspired them... way to make a girl feel good and way to make a girl Rethink apologizing for wanting to make a difference ;).)

Anyway... back to the overflowing trash can at the park.  As we were walking up, there were people leaving... so I walked past the trash can.  I waited for the people to be on their way...and while I waited I picked up some litter.  Here's one of many pieces I picked up around the playground.

Then, once they headed to the parking lot... I made my move.  I grabbed the recycle bin-- that was only a couple of steps away from the trash can-- and pulled it closer and took off the lid.  Then a friend arrived with her kids and my oldest son in tow.  I went to apologize for digging through the trash... but then said, "This is what I do." :)  My friend stood and talked to me as I pulled every bottle and can out of the trash... even found bags of bottles!!  Yes... there were moments when it was all a little gross... especially the can with cigarette ashes all over it. YUCK!

When I was done... by done, I mean... got every bottle/can that I could see...I put the bins back and THOROUGHLY washed my hands. ;)

The Story of Bottled Water

World Water Week has officially begun... start the week by watching this video and then-- if you haven't done so already-- sign the pledge and "Take Back the Tap"!

"There is enough water for human need, but not for human greed."

-- Mahatma Gandhi

Detergent-Free Laundry!!!

Back in December, a friend sent me something about magnets that clean your laundry and while I was completely baffled... I was also intrigued by the idea... AND...I SO wanted to believe in it.  I sent the info onto my husband who quickly told me "no way."  I pressed the subject...because I thought it would be SO amazing to not have to use laundry detergent... but he stood strong.  Then... as if by fate... I was reading the reusablebags blog, where the opening sentence was:

"When I told my husband we were considering adding a product to use instead of chemical-laden laundry detergent packaged in wasteful plastic containers he said, "This might be where I draw the line on your hippy environmental stuff." I laughed, but I understood where he was coming from."

I was immediately sucked in... I could hear all of the words coming out of my mouth.  It was "so" me.  I read the entire blog post and sent it onto my husband (and Mom).  I waited for a response from my husband... knowing full and well that he was going to tell me "no way" or laugh at me being SO naive.  BUT, much to my surprise, he came home at lunch and asked me when I was going to order the laundry stuff???!!!  I honestly thought that he was joking or testing me.  BUT... he said, "If it works then great, if it doesn't... you can send it back, right?"

So, on my last drops of detergent and fabric softener, I immediately placed my order through reusablebags.com for the chemical-free laundry ball and a set of dryer balls with a jar of fragrance sticks.  (I also ordered some other reusable products including new water bottle lids, and 3 oz airline approved tubes for my upcoming trip to LA.)  So... when my package arrived... I was so excited!!  I can honestly say that I really dislike doing laundry... with a family of five... it's never ending... but for the first time... I kid you not... I was so excited to get a load going!!

I waited... a little excited and nervous... for the first load to finish washing.  And when it did, I pulled out the wet clothes and smelled them.  AND... they smelled CLEAN!!  Of course, that's what I was hoping for... but I kept telling myself that it just might not.  Then after I dried the clothes, I smelled them again.  I just want to make sure that my desire to use less resources... isn't clouding my judgement ;) Needless to say, my nose has smelled A LOT of laundry these past 2 weeks!!  The good news is that after 2 weeks of using NO laundry detergent or fabric softener... everything smells SO clean (and static free)!!  Even though I totally wanted to believe in it... I'm honestly really amazed that it actually works!!  AND it lasts 700 washes!!  For real.

Obviously, I'm completely ecstatic about this for a number of reasons.  No products going into the water... no plastic bottles... no truck to deliver the plastic bottles filled with soaps to the store... no driving to the store to get more!!

So the other night, my Mom told me that she ordered her reusable laundry products!!!  And told me that she was going to get her neighbor to buy them too... create a "ripple" of her own!!  YAY!!