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| Goddard Memorial State Park Beach, Warwick, RI, USA |
Yesterday I participated in the Recycle Together RI Beach
Clean-Up, and I picked up 30 pounds of trash. It was a great event where the
community came together in the name of Mother Nature. At first the beach looked
like a very clean beach but once you start looking, the variety of trash began
to collect in my bag.
One type of trash that we
encountered was the awful, destructive, Styrofoam. People brought cups to the
beach and just left it on the beach. If you’re going to use Styrofoam and bring
it to the beach, just take it with you. What’s so hard about that? There were
also pieces of Styrofoam from packaging which I truly hate. Styrofoam should
not be used as packaging because it breaks into tiny little pieces and litters
the environment.
Another type of trash that we
encountered were cans and bottles, primarily for alcoholic beverages. We found
them mainly along the coast where people tend to sit and watch the water. If
people are willing to sneak them on to the beach, then they should be able to sneak
them back off the beach. Below, you will see a picture of a can that we
picked up. It was encrusted with barnacles which shows how nature has been
forced to adapt to the unfortunate damage done by mankind.
We also encountered some other strange objects on the beach.
There were a surprising number of clothes, including socks, shirts, and flip-flops.
Just saying, if you are going to take your clothes off, at least take it with
you.
The immense amount of plastic was disgusting. There were
candy wrappers, bottle caps, plastic plates, plastic cups, plastic bags, and so
much more. While I’m on the topic of plastic bags, there were so many issues
presented to me on that day regarding them. First, people would pick up their
dog’s poop and then leave the plastic bag with their dog’s waste right on the
beach. What is the point of picking up your dog’s poop if you aren’t going to
throw it in the trash? Then there were just random plastic bags that people
just left on the beach. It brings up the argument that environmentalist fight
for all the time, “Should plastic bags be eliminated from our everyday life?” I
say, try to use reusable bags and reduce the amount of plastic bags you use. If
you are going to bring something in a bag, make it a paper or a reusable bag.
There were some other cleanup
efforts taking place on that day, collecting all of the cigarette butts off the
beach. You would be surprised how many cigarette butts people leave on the
beach. They are small, but they are still considered litter, especially when
thousands of cigarette butts add up. If you are a smoker, bring a jar and throw
your butts in there. I’m not going to force you to stop smoking, but at least
pick up after yourself.
As citizens of the world, it is important to do your part and
clean up our planet. It would be nice if everybody kept our planet clean, but
we don’t live in a perfect world. Earth day is a great time to help clean up
the environment, but so is every other day of the year. Cleanups like the one I
participated in are great ways to do your part with your friends and neighbors.
If this trash was left on the beach, animals would try eating it and it could
potentially kill them. This is why I stress to you that our environment doesn’t
deserve the abuse that humans constantly impose on it. Conservation is our
solution…
