Our Daily Ocean: Day 246

Memorial Day weekend is considered the official start of beach season.  It's also the start of what any of us who clean the beach would call the "trashing of the beach".  Beach goers come in droves for their moment at the beach... and they live in the experience... but somehow a sad majority forget to respect and protect this natural wonder that they rush to visit.  Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the beach on Memorial Day (I heard the horror stories of trash lined beaches)... but I did make it out to Wrightsville Beach on Saturday evening to do a beach clean up with Bonnie Monteleone and her daughter Tricia (not pictured).

Bonnie is a good friend and a local environmental hero of mine.  Her nonprofit-- Plastic Ocean Project-- educates through field research, implements progressive outreach initiatives and is currently working on 5 solutions to address the global plastic pollution problem.  Plus she created an eye-openning art exhibit entitled "What Goes Around, Comes Around" that will be traveling across the US this summer and throughout the rest of 2014 (and hopefully beyond).  

AND... yes, there's more... for  Jack Johnson's All At Once campaign during his recent tour (happening now!), Plastic Ocean Project was chosen to be a partner to receive direct and matching donations from the Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation!  Any donations made now through September 1, 2014... Jack Johnson will MATCH (doesn't matter if the donation is $1 or $100)!  

Learn more about Plastic Ocean Project (POP) and how to donate here.

Are you ready for the run down of what Bonnie and I picked up during Saturday's beach cleanup?  Here we go... from most to least items found!

Cigarette butts: 44 (this is a fantastic improvement!)

Food Wrappers: 28

Straws: 14

Toys: 10

Misc. plastics: 8

Caps: 3

Boogie boards/broken leash: 3

Zip ties: 3 (these are from the beach renourishment project)

Cups: 2

Clothing/eyeware: 2

Plasticware: 1

See the common problem?  ... PLASTIC.  Plastic. plastic....  

May 24, 2014 at Access 36

Litter by weight: 1 lb 7.1 oz

Cigarette butts: 44

Total amount of cigarette butts removed: 57,932

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

Our Daily Ocean: Day 25

Last week when I spoke to Jane of the Raleigh News & Observer... she asked me a question that I get asked often as of late, "When will you stop?"  Hmmm....

Thanks to my friend Bonnie for trusting me to update The Plastic Ocean Project blog while she's in the South Atlantic Gyre plucking and documenting plastics, I've been staying current with what they're doing and what they're finding... the other night I read 5 Gyres blog and could finally answer the question, "When will *I* stop??"  

"Slowly but surely, we're showing the world that it's crazy to think you can clean this up, that gyre cleanup starts on land...And here's the pill I swallow every day when I wake up, go on deck and look at ocean - plastic particles, just below the surface, cover 75% of the surface of the earth. Yes, they're dispersed, but we're 1700 miles from land and everywhere we look, we find it. Everytime. Without exception. And the good companies we buy it from sponsor conferences and say that's okay. Well, it's not okay. It's not okay that convenience can break the entire ocean." 

~ Stiv Wilson

What we're (all) doing by cleaning up on land is saving the ocean from another load of plastics that would have been destined to end up being ingested by marine animals or swirling about in our oceans.  Sure my project has been about cigarette butts... BUT... cigarette butts are a prime example of people's lack of consciousness to "where" their discarded litter actually goes and the impact that they have on the environment.  If we can change "that" mindset... I have nothing but hope for the possibilities :)

My kids and I (along with one of our dogs) went to Access 4 on Tuesday.  It's only the second time that we've been to the North end of Wrightsville Beach.  The north end is completely different than the south end.  One of the most notable differences is the sand.  It's so light and powdery that it's easily blown by the wind and forms a blanket (think like snow) over everything.  The wrack line was completely covered in a good 4-6 inches of sand.  Another difference that I noticed while we were picking up litter was the lack of litter.  Something to do with less people?? or maybe it was all covered in a blanket of sand??

20 minutes on November 30, 2010

Amount of litter by weight: 3.7 oz

Cigarette butts: 44 (yes, this is the lowest yet!!)

Total amount of cigarette butts picked up off of Wrightsville Beach, NC in 25 days:

10,442

Our Daily Ocean: Day 16

The past 2 weeks have been an amazing whirlwind.  My project that was selected as a finalist for the Brita FilterForGood Film Project received more support than I could've ever dreamed up.  Who would've guessed when I started doing these 20 minute clean-ups and counting cigarette butts that it would turn into this??  Ok... I know one person who did.  For anyone who doesn't know the story (I've told it more times than I remember)... when I first started counting the cigarette butts my friend Tracy had text me with a message telling me that I needed to make a movie.... AND... go to Sundance. (hahaha... I was rolling...  I'm not laughing anymore.)  I've been quick to call her my fortune teller.  What she did (like so many others) was help facilitate this... opened my eyes to follow the signs.  How it happened was simple...Tracy wanted SO bad to go to Jack Johnson that she asked me to "like" Brita FilterForGood on Facebook to give her better odds of winning tickets ... so... I did. (she didn't win JJ tickets.)  BUT... what happened... is a couple of weeks after she made her comment to me about making a movie... I went on Facebook and as I was scrolling, I did a double take... obviously... at this point you know what I saw. :)

Yesterday, as the votes were coming in for my project, my kids and I went to Wrightsville Beach... it seemed only fitting that we go back to where we started on Day #1:

Access 43... ahh... the place of all of our family pictures.  Families, fishermen/women, surfers, and lovers spend their time at Access 43.  It is so beautiful there... dunes... grasses... birds... it's so beautiful it's breathtaking (ok... I admit... the beach always does that to me... I LOVE the beach). 

Before starting this project of picking up cigarette butts, I was (and still am) an avid litter picker-upper.  I learned about the problems of litter (including cigarette filters) from my friend Jennifer (she's a superhero!!).  It was Jennifer who told me about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and introduced me to my (now) friend Bonnie... which inspired me to ALWAYS pick up litter on my local beaches.

While I clean up litter on the land... Bonnie goes out to our oceans and helps sample and study plastics in our oceans.  She's been to the North Atlantic Gyre, sailed with the Algalita Foundation to the North Pacific Gyre (aka Great Pacific Garbage Patch) and NOW Bonnie is going to be traveling on the Sea Dragon with 5 Gyres, and Pangaea explorations from Rio to Cape Town sailing across the South Atlantic Gyre where she and a team of more AMAZING people will be sampling the ocean for quantities of plastic.

Why should we care? 

As Bonnie says, "Besides the fact that millions of marine life die each year from our floating plastic, I have witnessed prestigious island beaches where fragments of plastic, beaten down by the ocean, wash in as children swim.  If we don’t stop plastic trash from entering our oceans, all of our beaches will share the same fate.  Of all the environmental issues our oceans are facing, this one is the easiest one to fix and it starts with research in order to promote awareness and inspire change."

We need the research to support change.  They need YOUR support  for the research.

Bonnie is currently fundraising for this research mission... that leaves next weekend!!  She needs OUR help!!  Bonnie has been such an inspiration for me... she's not a scientist... she's just a "normal" person who read something and became inspired to get involved.  Of course, we've donated to Bonnie... SO I'm asking here....if you can help Bonnie... don't hesitate... whether you can give $10... $20... $50... every bit helps.  Check out her cause on Facebook or visit her website to donate!

Ok... back to the butts...

Did you know that cigarette butts are "toxic at rather low concentrations"??

 

 YUP...  based on a study by San Diego State University they found that "even one butt in a liter of water can kill the fish in a period of 96 hours."  (NASTY!)  They don't just look bad in the environment... they're BAD for the environment!! (Shocker)

 OK... so I don't want to forget to share the *romantic* side of Access 43 ;) Signs of "love" were everywhere... socks, underwear, shirts, panties... and lots of things that I refuse to touch!  Thanks to my kids finding a long metal pole... I didn't.  Here's a "rated PG" picture:

I appreciate people being safe... but geez... if you wrap it.... make sure you trash it!! (I can't believe I wrote that and am not going to delete it! haha!)

20 minutes on October 29, 2010

Litter picked up by weight: 2 lbs 11 oz

Cigarette Butts: 265

Total amount of cigarette butts picked up off of Wrightsville Beach, NC in 16 days:

7,625