week 11: Rick and Jill find a false crawl in zone 4

Hi Ginger,

Thank you for letting us know about Masonboro.  I am so very saddened that you saw and experienced this.  But hopefully we can do something to change it.

Following are the trash reports for this week.  Much better than the week of the 4th.

Tuesday, July 10, Zone 4 - 1 full grocery bag (plus a false crawl : )

Friday, July 13, Zone 0 - 1/2 grocery bag - just odds and ends

Best,

Jill

The "masonboro" information that Jill is referring to was an email that I sent to the KIC Volunteers.  I am including that email below.  ~Ginger

HI All,

I hope you are well and enjoyed your 4th of July.  I have updated the blog and encourage you to have a look.  Click here to see what you all are finding on the beach.  There have been lots of fireworks remnants reported including huge boxes of fireworks.  We know that fireworks contain plastics in both the container and the explosives, so this is not good for our beach or our wildlife.  I have to give a special thanks to Clem who picked UP an estimated 50 bags of trash from zone 5 the day after July 4th.  You can read his blog here.

MASONBORO

I went to Masonboro for about 20 -30 minutes on the 4th to see what all "the fuss" is about and I was absolutely astounded at what I witnessed.  The island was covered in people who were completely drunk.  Many could not walk and had to be carried to the boats.  When I stood still, people kept stumbling into me and did not even realize it b/c they were so drunk.  We witnessed one fight that seemed "friendly", but I understand there were others that were not so "friendly".  But the worse for me, was the amount of trash that was floating in the tide line.  I immediately started picking it up.  Yes, Masonboro.org was on the island and picking up trash as well and supplying trash bags, but there was no way to keep up with it all.  I picked up cans, plastic cups, stray flip flops, plastic balls, sandwich bags, bottle caps, and clothing articles all floating in the tide line.  I do not even want to think about the articles that had already been washed into the sound.  It was very sad and is still sad to me as I recount the experience in this email to you.  I honestly could not take one step without picking up trash from the tide line.

Many of the intoxicated people were being shuttled back to the south end of WB where the problems were continuing.

I applaud Masonboro.org for their efforts because without them, the island would have been completely trashed, but in my humble opinion the crowd and the trash was too much for this one agency to manage.  Mayor Cignotti also witnessed the event and you can read his comments in the Lumina News article here.

WE MAY BE IN A BOOK

Also on our blog, you will want to visit Susan's post to read about Caren Cooper who is writing a book on citizen science.  She interviewed Nancy Fahey, Susan, and me during her visit.  I do not have any detalis about the book yet, but I find it exciting that WBSTP and KIC could be featured in her book.

KIC TRASH DISPLAYED IN ART

Also, Bonnie Monteleone has been featured in the following video.  Bonnie is a friend of KIC and she used some of our beach trash to help spread the message about plastic pollution in the form of art.  Please view Bonnie's video as the message is very meaningful and it is a great reminder of why we started doing this project 4 years ago.  Also, please share Bonnie's video with your friends and contacts.  Part of her mission is to help spread this important message and to educate others on the importance of keeping our ocean healthy.  Bonnie has, and continues to work very hard and tirelessly on her project---let's help her by sharing her video.  

SMOKING BAN TO BE CONSIDERED AT CAROLINA BEACH

Last, but not least I went to Carolina Beach last night to attend their town council meeting because they were having a public hearing regarding a possible smoking ban on the beach.  And guess what????  The town council members listened to the citizens!!!!  No, there is not a ban in place yet, but it looks like it will likely happen!  CB will be drafting a smoking ban ordinance to discuss in their August meeting.  I will keep you posted.   I respect if everyone does not support such a ban as I know we all have different opinions.  One reason I support the ban is because of the sheer number of butts that I see and collect from the beach.  The filters in the butts contain plastic that we know does not biodegrade and ends up in our Oceans.

The smoking ban issue at WB will be determined in November when the voters go to the polls.

As a final friendly reminder, please send in your reports if you have not yet done so.  I too have not yet tallied my trash from Monday, but hope to get to it before next Monday :-D

Good Work Everyone.

Remember:  We depend on the Ocean, and the Ocean depends on us.  Keep It Clean!