Two weeks from John and Ginger in zone 4

Yes, it has taken me two weeks to get my trash reports together---yikes, but no worries, I'm on it!!!

I have to say that in general, it seems the last two weeks have been cleaner in zone 4, but we are still finding lots of stray pieces of plastic.  If you wonder why I am so concerned about the effects of plastic in our ocean and in our environment in general, you may want to view (or re-view) this video by Captain Charles Moore.  When I discovered this video a few years ago, it forever changed my life about plastic.

I also just purchased Beth Terry's book about how she went plastic-free.  I frequently visit her website to get plastic-free ideas, but I find having her book is more helpful b/c she includes the research on plastic and reminds us of why we need to reduce our plastic consumption.

First of all, let me say that the sunrises on WB are just amazing!

week 10-July 9, 2012

week 10--July 9, 2012

week 10--July 9, 2012

Pre-dawn surf.  Week 11- July 16, 2012

week 11- July 16, 2012

We collected 5 bags of trash each of the two weeks (10 bags total).  While we don't focus on picking up butts because we don't want to miss any turtle tracks, I can't help but pick them up when they are right in front of me. Unfortunately, I found way too many during week 10 and took lots of pictures that look like this one:

Here is some of what we collected in week 10:

7 plastic bottles
54 butts
4 cans
2 flip flops
3 plastic cups
1 styrofoam cup
2 cloth dinner napkins
1 stainless steel fork
1 plastic spoon
10 bottle caps
2 beer bottle caps
1 plastic keg lid
3 other plastic lids
10 toys or toy pieces
1 plastic wall socket cover (on the beach???)
1 pair of reading glasses

1 compostable cup (not compostable in the ocean)
18 straws

1 towel
1 plastic kite that was nailed to Crystal Pier
1 plastic nose clip
2 Ziploc bags
1 plastic bag

Here is some of what we found during our week 11 clean up:

1 plastic flosser
1 cigarette lighter
1 glass cup

1 swim flipper
2 plastic bottles
33 cigarettes/butts

1 can
1 flip flop
3 plastic cups
1 plastic spoon
22 bottle caps
2 plastic lids
13 toys or toy pieces
1 pair cheap sunglasses
1 1/2 pair of swim goggles
1 compostable cup (not compostable in the ocean)
26 straws
4 Ziploc bags
1 plastic bag

Can you find the plastic bag?

1 belt

1 sock

1 torn Hooters t-shirt

2 bikini top inserts (different sizes and different colors---just like us!)

We also came across an alligator and one dead cock roach!