"Rain, Rain, Go Away…."

August 4, 2014

When our alarm went off this morning, we could hear the thunder, but we went to the beach anyway!  Why?  Because if there were sea turtle tracks in our zone, I was not going to let a little thunder keep me from finding them!

However, there were no tracks.  And… by the time we got to the beach, there was only a drizzle of a rain, so it was good we went.

It has been raining all weekend, so we did not think we would find much trash today; and therefore, we made the decision to split the zone.  John walked one way and I walked the other.  This makes our task quick and helps us to get to work on time!

We did collect about 1.5 bags of trash as listed at the end of the photos.

“Because there's nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it's sent away.” 
― Sarah Kay

John leaves only his footprints on the beach as he picks up other people's trash.

Our trash collection today:

2 cigarette butts (there were more, but we were in too much of a hurry to collect all of those)
6 food wrappers
2 lids
5 plastic bottle caps
4 straws/stirrers
1 piece of rope
1 pair of rusted needle nose pliers with plastic grips
2 pieces of foam
3 pieces of plastic
1 burned and melted candle????
4 plastic bottles
3 plastic cups
3 plastic/foam packaging
1 tshirt
2 matching flip flops

Wrightsville Beach has a no smoking ordinance and is the first beach in the state with this type of policy.  The ordinance and the placement of signs has helped decrease the cigarette butts on our beach.  However, I have noticed an increase in the cigarette butt litter lately.  That makes me think that enforcement or education about the ordinance may have decreased.  Let's keep our beach clean and educate the public about our "no smoking" policy.

Far and away, the greatest threat to the ocean, and thus to ourselves, is ignorance. But we can do something about that.

Sylvia Earle