As I’ve said numerous times, just because I do not agree with man-induced “climate change” doesn’t mean I hate the environment. From my favorite New Climate Denier website, Grist (yeah, I cite them a lot)
Back in 2012, 561,633 very nice people went out on beaches around the world and picked up the trash that other people had thrown there. They picked up an astounding 10 million pounds. That’s the weight of 5,000 cars. It’s heavier than the Capitol dome.
What’s even more astounding is that this isn’t even the most trash the Ocean Conservancy has collected in the 27 years this challenge has been going. Twice before, volunteers collected more than this amount of trash, measured in weight, and once before, they collected more total items.
That first link in the excerpt goes to Treehugger (another of my favorites), which notes that this is the weight of 41 Blue whales. And here’s a summary of what was picked up
- 2,117,931 cigarette butts
- 1,140,222 food wrappers / containers
- 1,065,171 plastic bottles
- 1,019,902 plastic bags
- 958,893 caps, lids
- 692,767 cups, plates, forks, knives, spoons
- 611,048 straws, stirrers
- 521,730 glass bottles
- 339,875 beverage cans
- 298,332 paper bags
Also, 117 mattresses, 40 lottery tickets, and almost 2,500 sports balls.
So, when you head to the beach this year, pick your garbage and stuff up. Bring a garbage bag to put it in (and properly dispose of the bag). Don’t leave your cigarettes on the beach. If the beach allows smoking, bring something, like a used bottle, to put them out in. Don’t throw them in the ocean. As a smoker, I have no problem with banning smoking on the beach (I don’t do drugs, I rarely drink even beer, and I’ve reduced the amount I smoke to half a pack a day. Working towards quitting….hey, let’s see you give up drinking or another guilty pleasure, OK?). It always drove me nuts when I lived at the beach in NJ and would see, or step on, garbage. Clean it up! Better yet, do not leave it there.
No matter how you look at, doing our part for the environment is a good thing. Don’t destroy it.
