A steamy Friday morning in Zone 3

Can't you tell just from looking at this photo that it was a steamy morning at Wrightsville Beach? Clear and cloudless!

This morning, as I began to walk through Zone 3, I felt optimistic and encouraged. There was not much litter at all around Johnnie Mercer's Pier, which is always a great surprise. Most of my zone was fairly clean, despite the very hot temperatures over the last couple days, and what I suspect was probably a pretty busy beach week. The majority of what I collected in my zone consisted of plastic bags, chip and snack packages, plastic straw wrappers, wipes, paper towels, and other items that tend to blow away from people's picnic spots.

This however, changed when I came to beach access #30 and the hotel that is located nearby (I can't remember off of the top of my head which hotel that is). Behind the hotel, there was a very large amount of litter. I filled half of my bag just from this small area. There were also four people hanging out, watching the sunrise and taking photos who left trash in this area between my first pass and my return trip. That was very disconcerting.

My total for today was one full bag of litter, which is equal to 4 grocery bags. Among the small bits of trash, this also included:

-4 sand toys
-1 pair of goggles
-3 Kool Aid Jammers drink packets
-2 styrofoam cups
-2 plastic cups
-2 paper McDonald's cups
-6 soda/beer cans
-9 plastic bottles
-1 electronic cigarette
-1 hat
-2 tee shirts
-1 broken pair of flip flops
-17 plastic straws
-61 cigarette butts
-1 condom
-1 doll's head (body MIA)

Today I took a minute to meditate and send lots of positive energy out to the folks who are suffering from the terrible wildfires in Colorado. May the winds stop, and the rains begin!

Peace,
Susan