week 5: Michelle enjoys walking in the rain and she finds a tire

Hi Ginger,

Today is May 30th and I collected 1/2 bag of trash.  I picked up 2 plastic water bottles, 2 plastic bags, 1 plastic cup, 1 pair of girls flip flops, and 1 pair of children's undies.  I also found a car tire on the very northern part of the beach.  It was full of sand and water, and I was only able to drag it a short way above the tide line.  Maybe when Beryl leaves, we can remove it from the beach.  

I actually really enjoyed my walk in the rain this morning.  How often do you get to be the ONLY one on the beach?!?!?!  Michelle

Week 4: John and Ginger find many interesting things in zone 4

This was an interesting Memorial Day walk for John and I.  Since John did not have to work we took our time on the beach this morning.  When we first got out there, John said, "For Memorial Day, the trash does not seem so bad."

 This led to a conversation about an editorial I had read in Lumina News in which it was mentioned that the police department had been writing more tickets for littering and dogs on the beach.  I wondered if this was the reason for less trash.  I have always said that enforcement of a law is easy if you write a few tickets, because then word of mouth will spread.  I'm not sure if I am right, but I believe it and when I have spoken with towns in California that have passed a "no smoking" ordinance on their beach strands, they have said this very same thing.  Word of mouth and positive peer pressure have kept their beaches clean.  In fact, our friend, Danielle Richardet and her friend, Sara Bayles is doing a comparison of 20 minute beach clean ups.  Sara picks up trash in Santa Monica, which is a smoke free beach and Danielle picks up trash at WB.  They each pick up for 20 minutes and then count the number of cigarette butts they found.  Here are the results:  24 clean ups in Santa Monica, CA = 179 butts;  19 clean ups in Wrightsville Beach, NC = 4, 278 butts.  Wow! The numbers speak for themselves.

Speaking of trash and cigarette butts, John and I collected 7 bags of trash even though we at first thought the beach was clean.

Our trash included, but was not limited to:

38 cigarette butts

We saw several piles like this where people obviously thought the beach was an ash tray and did not realize or  maybe did not care that cigarette butts are litter that contain plastic filters that never biodegrade.

17 bottle caps

2 plastic bags
1 chair

12 toys

16 plastic bottles

8 aluminum cans

1 glass bottle

5 plastic cups

1 ziplock bag

5 articles of clothing (including another baseball hat bill without the rest of the hat or fabric.  I have never seen these before and already this year, I have collected two in as many weeks.  The bills are made of plastic which will never biodegrade---I had never thought about that before!)

1 shoe (which was my size, but there was no match!  It was a silver sandal too---I felt like Cinderella)

1 solid brass cigarette lighter engraved for Lt. J. Miller (if you know him, let us know---we will return it.)

20 straws

2 towels

3 balloons and strings (2 of which were all wrapped up in Sargassum.   The sad story about that is that Sargassum is the home to lots of marine animals including sea turtle hatchlings.  The sea turtle hatchlings and other animals will live off the food and nutrients that they find in the Sargassum.  Sadly, if balloons and other litter are a part of this Sargassum, then marine animals will ingest this and can become sick and die.)

As I was sorting the trash today, I piled some of the snack bags and took a photo.  I don't usually keep snack bags because they smell too bad, usually have ants on them, and are just too yucky.  However, I thought it was worth a picture.  It is noteworthy how much of our food (and everything) comes in such disposable packaging that ends up in our environment as litter.

We also found lots of interesting marine life that had washed up on shore, none of which were alive.  We found one Puffer Fish (at least that is what John said it was)

and one Portuguese Man O' War.  I was very careful to not touch him.

and one beautiful mosaic seashell Sea Turtle

Later in the day we took our boat from WB to CB.  Along the way, we scooped 3 types of plastic bags out of the waterway, 1 styrofoam cup and 1 plastic bottle.

We also saw lots of people having fun and displaying some beautiful kites.

week 3 John and Ginger and the KIC Bike.

This was our first walk of the season and we were surprised by how much wrack line had collected on the beach.  It made me think of the nest that was in zone 5 last year and how the momma sea turtle had disturbed the line of wrack to make her way up to her desired spot to leave her clutch.   I looked for these same signs today, but no such luck.

We did see a beautiful sunrise though.  It was as though the horizon had opened up and was gently helping the sun to rise this morning (I need that kind of help in the mornings too)  :-)

We collected the following on our walk:
12 toys including a butterfly net, a coverless tennis ball, several shovels and a bucket
13 cigarette butts (there were many more, but no time before work to collect those)
1 try sport swim cap (anyone want it---looks like it is in good shape)
2 plastic bags (1 from Wings and 1 from Food Lion)
1 plastic bottle
1 beer can
1 plastic cup
1 styrofoam cup (also plastic)
1 cigarette lighter
1 empty cigarette package
1 fishing gear
10 bottle caps
1 plastic ring pop (minus the candy)
1 bracelet
5 straws
1 plastic hat bill minus the fabric and the rest of the hat (I never thought about the bill of a baseball hat being made of plastic, but it is....    This was easy to see with the fabric missing)
1 pair of cheap sunglasses
lots of other bits of plastic

and John found 2 beautiful shells.

As I was sorting trash, I could not help but think about my cat, Speckles.  If you followed the blog last year, you will remember that Speckles loved to help me sort trash.  He would commune with me every Monday morning while I was sorting, tossing, washing, and organizing trash.  I often took his picture and would sometimes post it.

Sadly, Speckles was killed by a car back in November.  I miss him terribly, but will remember his love for me and those beautiful eyes (one blue and one green).  He was my soul cat and I am thankful that he showed up at our house as a stray and allowed me to be in his life for over 6 years.  I have many happy memories with him.

On a final note, John gave me the perfect Christmas gift this year.  A trailer for my bike so that I can collect trash when I ride on the bike trail.  I love it!!!  I call it "Trailer Trash"  :-)

I have picked up a lot of trash from the cross city trail, but I have also packed chairs in my trailer to take to Airlie Garden for their Friday night concerts.   We often run into other WBSTP volunteers there who also have a bike trailer and from whom John got the wonderful idea---Rick and Jill.

Today I went to WB Farmer's Market which is open every Monday through Labor Day.  I decided to put a cooler in my KIC trailer and go shopping.  I bought eggs, cheese and carrots all from the market today.  Pictured below is the KIC Bike as I waited for the drawbridge.  We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful place.  Let's Keep It Clean.  Thanks for all you do.

Danielle Richardet 8/7- 8/25

Hi Ginger!

It's been forever since I last sent you an update of our clean ups!  In fact, looking at the blog the last time I sent in my numbers was on our 83rd day (August 4) and we're now on #96!!!  Yikes... sorrry!  So here's the basic summary for our pre-Irene August clean ups... obviously, thoughts and such are on my blog and photos are on Facebook.
Photos: August 2011: 20 minute beach clean ups

For these days, 84-90... add 11 grocery sized bags to the tally.

Day 84: August 7, 2011 @ Access 38

10.4 oz of litter
242 cigarette butts
6 straws
4 baggies
5 plastic caps

Day 85: August 9, 2011 at Access 43

5 lbs .9 oz of litter

378 cigarette butts
17 food wrappers
1 plastic bag
2 fishing lines
4 sandwich/ziplock bags
2 plastic bottles
2 plastic cups
3 shoes
25 caps/lids
19 straws
9 toys
5 shotgun shells

Day 86: August 11, 2011 at access 36

1 lb 12.7 oz of litter
545 cigarette butts
60 straws (53 from Oceanic)
15 plastic caps
4 toys
2 balloons
2 condoms
fishing line

Day 87: August 17, 2011 at Access 16

1 lb 11.4 oz of litter
370 cigarette butts
28 straws
21 caps
4 baggies
4 plastic bottles

Day 88: August 20, 2011 at Access 25

2 lbs 6.5oz of litter
280 cigarette butts
5 straws
11 juice box straw wrappers
6 plastic caps
1 plastic waterbottle

Day 89: August 23, 2011 at Access 18

1 lb 11.2 oz
240 cigarette butts
25 food wrappers
10 straws
19 plastic caps
1 plastic bottle
1 juice pouch
5 sand toys
5 zip-lock bags
1 plastic bag

Day 90: Aug 25, 2011 at Access 39

1 lb 9.1 oz of litter
176 cigarette butts
1 straw
14 caps
1 plastic bottle
1 shoe
2 sand shovels


Danielle

"It Starts With Me" a Brita FilterForGood Film Project


www.itstartswithme-danielle.blogspot.com

Week 19--John and Ginger in Zone 3 at Access 18

John and I adopted Access # 18.  So far, I have not included that report with our litter report, but this time I decided that it would be okay.

Given that it is Labor Day Weekend and given Nancy's last email of all the trash she has been collecting on the beach, I decided it would be a good time to clean up.

We picked up about 3 bags of trash in 25 minutes.  I spent about 15 minutes focusing on cigarette butts (since Nancy is focusing on Sea Turtle Tracks).  In that 15 minutes, I collected 406 butts!!!!

We also collected

1 plastic bag

1plastic bottle

several pieces of the construction plastic that Nancy talked about

6 toys

28 bottle caps

5 aluminum cans

2 ziplock bags

1 latex glove (shredded like a balloon)

2 plastic lids

1 Wendy's fast food bags and contents

24 straws

1 six pack ring (very sad)

1 "I (double heart) Jessus" hair bow

1 wallet that we turned into the police department

Yesterday, we went boating and to Mason's Inlet on the South End of Figure Eight Island.  We noticed that the construction plastic had washed up there as well.  We grabbed what we could in our hands.  We also collected two balloons, 1 ziplock bag, and we scooped a plastic bag out of the Inlet that contained 5 plastic bottles!

For the fun of it, I decided to photograph the total collection of toys that John and I have picked up this year.

40  unbroken shovels

25 broken shovel pieces

10 sand pails

32 broken sand pail handles

27 sand molds

11 plastic rakes

and my favorite are the toy men.

I also took pics of our collectables in their containers (minus all the bottle caps b/c I gave those to Bonnie already---all 400 & some of them!!)

lots and lots of straws

Here is our jar of balloons 

I think Speckles is going to miss our Monday Morning Trash Sortings!!!

week 18--John and Ginger in zone 4

This was our final official walk for the 2011 Nesting Season as Nancy will take over Sept. 1 - Sept 15.
There were still a lot of shells on the beach and also some trash from Hurricane Irene.  All total, we collected about 4 bags of trash.  We also picked up a lot of plastic bags from the beach over the last few days---all total--11!!!  I sure wish we could ban plastic bags and smoking on the beach.

Our loot for today:
1 plastic cup
2 cig butts (of course, there are many many more, but we didn't pick them up)
11 plastic bags
4 ziplock bags
8 toys
19 bottle caps
2 plastic bottles
1 pair of reading glasses
1 balloon
17 straws
1 towel
1 aluminum can

week 17--Ginger in zone 4

I walked sans John this morning, but unlike him,  I did not find tracks when I walked alone!!!!


I did collect the equivalent of 6 bags of garbage and I got to say hello to our "Kali Wali" friends.


1 cigar + tip
1 plastic bag

3 ziplock bags
8 toys
3 shoes
20 straws
18 bottle caps
4 aluminum cans
9 plastic bottles
5 plastic cup lids
1 boogie board
1 chair
1 glass bottle
1 plastic spoon
3 plastic knives
1 real (stainless steel) fork

week 16--Gifts from the Sea and Mother Nature! John & Ginger-zone 4

The last week has been nothing less than exhilarating and I am so proud and happy to be part of a project that does such amazing things for sea turtles and the planet.

Saturday was just awesome.  My 6 year old nephew, Jackson was visiting with us and as soon as his parents walked to my front door to drop him off, they spotted a baby snapping turtle in our yard!

 I told Jackson he was bringing "turtle luck" and I was sure we would find some live hatchlings that night at our excavation.

We then went for a boat ride and went tubing, which was fun for both Jackson and me.

Then on our boat ride to find a "beach" for playing in the sand, we saw a huge pod of dolphins.  Jackson had never seen dolphins before and he was just beside himself.

I told him that God had given us a gift to let us be able to see the dolphins and he said, "I love dolphins and I love God"  (how sweet).

Later, we ate at PT's and returned home to shower.   When we got out of the car, a  Box Turtle was waiting for us in our driveway!!!

Off to the serpentarium and Kilwin's for ice cream.

And finally, down to Access 41 for our nest excavation!  The moon was nothing less than gorgeous as it led 5 sea turtle hatchlings into the arms of Mother Ocean!

 What excitement!!!  Some things never get old no matter how many times you see them.  Dolphins and Sea Turtles in the same day---what an amazing gift!!!  A wonderful day with my nephew.

On Monday, John and I walked zone 4 hoping for tracks, but it was not to be this week.  However, the moon was still beautiful.

We collected 4 bags of garbage (less than normal for us).  I will note that we were short on time, so when we returned to Oceanic, we did not have time to pick up trash in that area.  I felt so guilty, but it is what it is.  In addition to lots of paper and stray plastic, we also found the following:


5 plastic bags (one we picked out of the ocean)!
5 cigs (of course there were so many more that we did not collect)
1 shoe
34 various bottle caps
firework remnants

4 plastic bottles (1 water and 3 small hotel shampoo bottles)
17 straws
1 pair of sunglasses
1 pair of goggles
1 plastic spoon
1 plastic mesh bag that toys used for packaging toys
5 aluminum cans
1 glass bottle

Our Rescue dog, Gigi was happy to watch me sort trash today.

week 14--Nicole in zone 2

August 5th Friday Zone 2 picked up 1 grocery bag of trash.  Found one grocery bag.  Did not walk August 12th because I was out of town and Hank and Allison kindly covered for me.  Thanks.
Nicole

Renee collects 6 bags in zone 2---week 15

Ginger,
     Today, in zone 2, I collected two plastic bags of trash.  (I found the plastic bags on the beach) and one canvas tote as well (total of 6 bags).  In the tote I put the recyclables.  Plastic toys, flip flops, and clothes.
Renee

week 15- Ginger and John in zone 4

We found 8 bags of trash in zone 4.  Were hoping for tracks, but no such luck today.  I'm sure if I sleep in, John will find tracks, but I refuse to do that again!!!!


1 broken watch
13 butts (many many more that we didn't pick up---this is always the case!)
1 pair of boxers
6 plastic cups
11 plastic bottles
12 toys or toy pieces
5 ziplock bags
31 various bottle caps

8 shoes
29 straws
1 plastic bag
5 plastic lids
1 aluminum can
1 very good boogie board fin.  If you have the match, I will share :)
2 plastic spoons
1 plastic fork

week 14--John & Ginger in zone 4 and a new nephew!!!

Our day started at 4:30 AM with a phone call announcing we had a new nephew, Taylor McRae or "TMac" as I like to call him!

So, I was sure we would have another turtle nest, but we didn't.  However we collected 4 bags of trash which is less than normal for us.  You will have to forgive me for not taking many pics of the trash, as I was in a hurry to get this trash sorted so I could go meet my new little man.

Our trash included:
38 butts
2 different shoes
1 plastic bag (beside our car where we parked)

2 ziplock bags
38 straws
24 bottle caps
4 styrofoam cups
4 plastic lids
2 sunglasses
3 chapsticks
12 toys
3 plastic bottles
1 balloon piece

Over the course of the last few days, I have been down to the beach several times and during that time, I have collected 2 plastic bags,  1 plastic bottle, several more straws and several more plastic caps.  I did not keep count of the straws and caps as I just threw them in the trash cans.