Happy Birthday to Another Ginger!

Monday, July 20, 2015

I love our beach, I love our community of people who care about the environment, I love birthdays and I love this lady, Ginger C. (I happen to love her name too)  :-)

Ginger C. has been a part of Wrightsville Beach her whole life and she has never met a stranger.  I met her several years ago through friends and we instantly gravitated to each other because we had the same name.  But beyond the name, we both are passionate about the environment!

I often see Ginger on the beach riding her bike during our Monday morning sea turtle patrols and she always asks about the turtles.  We saw her today and learned that it was her birthday!  Happy Birthday Ginger!

She was quickly joined by our friend, Holly and they were planning to ride off for coffee, donuts and a swim!  What a wonderful birthday plan!

Of course, I had collected trash and both ladies quickly spotted my treasure find for the day which was a Buzz Lightyear bucket.  Ginger said she liked it and could use it as basket for her bike.  And just like that, I had a birthday present for Ginger. :-) Sometimes, it really does pay to pick up trash.

Happy Birthday Ginger.  We wish you many more.  Thanks for taking care of our planet.

Here are the items that John and I had in our litter bags today:

39 cigarette butts (WB is a non-smoking beach)
1 cigar (WB is a non-smoking beach)

40 food wrappers
17 plastic bottle caps

1 metal bottle cap
4 plastic lids
12 straws/stirrers
3 plastic cutlery

5 plastic bottles
1aluminum can
2 grocery bags
3 paper cups
4 plastic cups
1 foam cup
12 foam/plastic packaging
1 fishing lure
2 pieces of rope
1 piece of blue painting tape
18 fireworks pieces
1 tampon
9 foam pieces
12 plastic pieces
7 paper pieces
12 toys
2 towels
2 metal stakes with a very long rope

1 cardboard toilet paper roll
1 shotgun shell
6 bandaids
1 paper doyle
1 large rubber band
2 zip ties
1 bread twist tie
2 hair ties
1 dryer sheet
2 wet ones
2 artificial flower petals

Another beautiful Wrightsville Beach Sunrise!

Gigi and Ringo Starr helped with the trash sorting today, but as you can see, they were more interested in whatever animal was moving in the trees.

Peace and Clean Oceans,
Ginger

Zone 4--July 13th

Monday, July 13th

Wrightsville Beach, NC may just be one of the most beautiful places ever!

I love walking over the dunes on Monday mornings to the wide expanse of the blue sea and the colorful sky.

Please let's Keep It Clean.

Here are the items that I removed from the shore today:

16 cigarette butts and 1 cigar (our beach is non-smoking)
23 food wrappers
1 plastic take out container
7 plastic bottle caps
2 metal bottle caps
4 plastic lids
15 straws/stirrers
1 fishing lure
1 piece of rope
5 plastic bottles

1 aluminum can
1 plastic grocery bag
2 ziploc bags
1 plastic cup
4 pieces of packaging
3 tobacco wrapping packaging (we are a non-smoking beach)
1 plastic cigar tip (we are a non-smoking beach)
26 pieces of fireworks debris

2 foam pieces
10 plastic pieces
5 paper pieces
1 sock
1 flip flop
13 toys
1 blanket
3 bandaids
3 hair ties
1 plastic automobile cup holder
2 zip ties
1 tiny metal sand pail

11 artificial flower petals (I have been finding these every week)
1 piece of fabric sample
1 silicone gel pack
1 blue plastic water bottle tab (I find these every week)

1 toothpick wrapper

Please think about the items you buy in plastic and disposable packaging.  Now, consider the things you can do without or find an alternative to that does not contain single use disposable packaging.  Challenge yourself today to make some of these changes.  It is good for you, for wildlife, and the environment.

Peace and Clean Oceans,
Ginger

Pat T. continues to keep the beach clean!

Look at all the trash volunteer, Pat cleans up every week.  The pictures below are from the past two Saturdays.  Thank you Pat for Keeping It Clean!

July 6th-- Burned Out on Fireworks!

It is our Nation's Birthday.  It is a big deal.  I get it!!!  Happy Birthday USA!

The US girls won the World Cup Soccer Tournament.  I get it!!!!  It's a big deal.  Congratulations USA Girls Soccer!

But…..do we have to light so many explosive fireworks on the beach?  I get it.  The fireworks over the water is beautiful, celebratory, magical, it makes you say, oooohhhhhhh,  aaaaaaahhhhhh!  But….could you please clean up the mess?

Large Fireworks Canister on the beach.

It is against NC state law and Wrightsville Beach ordinance to set off personal fireworks.  I hate to be that person who is a "kill joy"...  I really do!  But….. clean it up.  Come on.

In case you haven't heard, our ocean is choking on plastic and debris---OUR plastic and debris.  The inhabitants of the ocean is choking on OUR plastic and debris.  The Ocean and the Earth give us so much.  Food, water, air, beauty, trees, flowers, animals, and recreation.  Can't we return the favor and do our part to Keep It Clean?

 John and I picked up 162 pieces of fireworks debris on our little section of beach (about 3/4 mile) today.  And guess what?  We didn't get it all.  There was more, but we only had so much time.  And guess what else?  It was a very low tide, which meant the high tide already washed most of the debris out to sea.

162 Pieces of Fireworks Debris

Even Gigi couldn't look at the trash this morning.  She turned her back to it.  :-)

Total of Items in our Litter Bags:
24 cigarette butts
31 food wrappers
13 plastic bottle caps
2 metal bottle caps
7 plastic lids
22 straws/stirrers
3 plastic cutlery
2 plastic water bottles
3 glass beer bottles
1 beer can

1 plastic grocery bag
4 other plastic bags
1 paper coffee cup
1 plastic cup
2 foam cups
1 foam plate
28 plastic packaging (mostly from fireworks)
1 strapping band
1 cigar wrapper
1 can of chewing tobacco
1 dirty diaper (So gross!)
1 hat
1 single flip flop
1 very smelly bandeau top
9 toys
12 pieces of paper
6 wet ones
1 plastic dental flosser
1 surf leash band
1 tube of chapstick
6 plastic zip ties
1 block of surf wax
3 metal tent stakes (2 matched the one I found last week)
2 artificial pink flower petals (this is the third week we have found these)
1 Altoids tin with a suspicious smelling hand rolled cigarette.

In spite of the trash, our beach is soooo beautiful.  Look at the changing colors in just 1.5 hours this morning!

The most patriotic thing you can do is to take care of the environment and try to live sustainably ~ John F. Kennedy, Jr.

Peace and Clean Oceans,
Ginger

KIC Volunteer, Pat Tillery finds lots of trash on July 4th.

Hope Presley cleans up zone 3 on July 5th.

Two and half hours, one kitchen trash bag, and MANY small black buckets full (I lost count after 8), Zone3 is trash free!!! I knew there'd be a lot, but that was insane!  ~Hope

Calm Before the Storm

June 29, 2015

The heat has been crazy around here, but I'm not complaining!  I love summer and I especially love summer nights.  And although storms can unnerve me at times, they have been pretty amazing.

Fortunately for John and I, the recent storm cooled the air just enough to make our Monday morning walk pleasant both in temps and the amount of trash that we found.

I have heard from a couple of KIC volunteers that the trash seems to be less this year.  John and I were each surprised by how clean the beach seemed this morning.  However, we are counting this as "the calm before the storm" since next weekend is July 4th, which is typically when volunteers find the most trash.



I was especially tuned into the sound of tinkling this morning as the waves washed in and out over the tiny shells.  I love that noise!

Here are some of our morning pictures.  (Please excuse the graininess---we were using our cell phones)

Safe and Sound Incubation

Incoming and Outgoing Surf at Oceanic

Couples' Presurf Yoga Session

Stormy Wave.  Can you hear the tinkling?

Our litter bags consisted of:

21 cigarette butts
28 food wrappers
12 plastic bottle caps
1 metal bottle cap
5 plastic lids
13 straws/stirrers
2 pieces of plastic cutlery
1 stainless steal fork
1 firework
1 plastic bottle
9 aluminum cans (most of these were partially buried like in this photo)

1 paper plate
2 strapping bands
2 cigarette cartons (found beside the buried beer cans)
1 tampon applicator---yuckyuckyuck
5 plastic pieces
22 paper pieces
2 artificial flower petals
4 wet ones
1 paper doily
2 tubes of chap stick
1 band aid
1 metal tent stake
2 clumps of surf wax
4 hair ties 6 zip ties
3 pieces of clothing (1 sock, 2 single flip flops)
11 toys

Gigi loves trash sorting with me!

Peace and Clean Oceans,
Ginger