lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA
trash collected for 20 min.
4 pounds
1,136.2 pounds total
6 cigarette butts
I was worried heading out on July 4th. Many people in Los Angeles from all over the region come to the coast to see Marina Del Ray's fireworks. What would I find? And how much? Well, I am happy to report that I collected my average - 4 pounds. 4 pounds is still 1 pound every 5 min. of very lightweight mostly plastic items, but it is not what these kids found the day after the 4th last year:
"LAUREN DOCKENDORF, A FOUR-YEAR-OLD VOLUNTEER FOR SAVE OUR SHORES, A BEACH CLEAN-UP ORGANIZATION, SAID HER GROUP COLLECTED ABOUT 12,000 POUNDS OF TRASH IN JUST TWO HOURS FROM BEACHES IN MONTEREY AND SANTA CRUZ ON THE MORNING AFTER LAST YEAR'S INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATIONS."
I know there's a picture of a plastic water bottle above, but this quote from the Monterey Herald about their city's bag ban was too succinct not to re-print here:
"DENISE FRISCHMUTH, PRESIDENT OF CITIZENS FOR SUSTAINABLE MONTEREY COUNTY, NOTED THAT PLASTIC SHOPPING BAGS ARE A PETROLEUM PRODUCT. "ABOUT 100 BILLION PLASTIC CHECKOUT BAGS ARE USED EACH YEAR IN THE UNITED STATES, AND THOSE BAGS ARE PRODUCED WITH NONRENEWABLE OIL AND GAS, CREATING EMISSIONS THAT HARM OUR ATMOSPHERE AND CONTRIBUTING GREATLY TO OUT DEPENDENCE ON OIL," SHE SAID. "IT'S ESTIMATED THAT THE PRODUCTION OF THOSE BAGS REQUIRES ABOUT 12 MILLION BARRELS OF OIL ANNUALLY. WE'RE USING A NONRENEWABLE RESOURCE FOR A PRODUCT THAT IS THROWN AWAY, THEN CARTED TO THE DUMP."
Happy 4th of July!
While the low cloud ceiling may not have made for great fireworks viewing, it sure contributed to a stunning sunset.
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