Day 354 - Nov. 7, 2012

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

2.2 pounds 

1,300.5 pounds total 

11 cigarette butts

Tonight's beach cleanup put me over 1,300 pounds of trash collected off my local beach, 20 minutes at a time. It's hard to believe that discarded sand toys, plastic water bottles, cigarette butts and candy wrappers could weigh so much all together. 

What else weighs around 1,300 pounds, or just over half a ton?

A Blue Whale's Heart weighs roughly 1,300 pounds and is the size of a Volkswagen Beetle Bug Car. 

With 11 to go until my goal of 365 cleanups, I've taken a look back at what I posted about after my eleventh beach cleanup. Balloons were the topic of the day. I highlighted how balloons and their string can wrap around shorebirds, or if ingested, cause marine animals 

like sea turtles to get sick and even die. 

Here's a website focused on educating people about the impacts balloons 

have once free in the environment. 

"BALLOONS BLOW - DON'T LET THEM GO."