Our Daily Ocean: Day 235

On Sunday, as I drove to Wrightsville Beach to do a quick cleanup before taking my son to his hip hop class, I thought I knew what I was getting into.  Well,  I was wrong.  While getting onto the island was a breeze, there was loads of outbound traffic and the beach was still packed (ok, packed for February)!!  Apparently, I forgot that it was UNCW homecoming weekend.

I haven't seen major crowds at the beach in such a long time that the sight was a bit overwhelming at first.  Where to walk?  Which way to go?  Does that belong to someone or was it left behind?  There are so many more variables to contend with when people have their chairs, toys and blankets laid out.  Not to mention the larger groups playing various beach games (like volleyball and bocce ball).  It's a lot to weave through while searching the sand for what doesn't belong.

It's hard not to start thinking about summer and what the litter problem will be like with the increased number of visitors to our beach.  I wish there was a way to reach those people before they arrive.  A way to connect our love for the beach and ocean to an understanding and commitment to care for it... even in the midst of getting lost in what it means to be at the beach.

20 minutes on February 23, 2014 at Access 17
Litter by weight: 2 lbs 1.8 oz
Cigarette butts: 16

Total cigarette butts removed: 57,712

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