lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA
trash collected for 20 min.
6 pounds
1,160.2 pounds total
4 cigarette butts
I got nothing. Usually, some spark of inspiration comes from seeing the photograph up.
I can only think it's so stupid to have a plastic container for 12 or so Pringles. 30 seconds of snacking encased in plastic that's never going to biodegrade....
Last weekend's Ocean Park 26 Surf Contest had reusable water coolers instead of bottled water. Congratulations to all the participants, and organizers!
Sometimes I wonder if plastic trash on the beach in Santa Monica is so common place that we walk right on by without seeing it. Does enough pepper the sand to make us visually immune?
Next week is HANDS ACROSS THE SAND - support a cleaner energy future and say no to Off-shore Oil Drilling by literally joining hands across the sand of your local beach. Their site will let you know where the closest location is, or how to start your own hand-joining event. So cool!
Your post made me think back to over a decade ago when I was really, really, really sick. In fact I didn't eat pre-packaged foods as a result for about 2 years. I became so accustomed to this that I didn't even notice packaged foods while shopping--I just averted my eyes from those granola bars and walked on by.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was well enough to re-enter the modern consumerist diet, I was struck very hard by how everything is packaged! And wastefully so. Not only wastefully, but in terms of proportions --astronomically wasteful. No one needs that much cereal. And inside? The box is half full! American marketing culture--gar! In Europe it's true--boxes are smaller. And inside, boxes are full. Less waste!
Anyway, I bought a box of granola bars --gluten free as it turned out my illness was Celiac Disease--and upon opening it was thrown into a bit of a culture shock. The concept of making food, wrapping it in foil and then wrapping it again, in a box printed full of smelly toxic ink dye and cardboard, seemed absurd. Worse is that it just sat there on a shelf for a year. Or longer! Absurd!
Really, if people just cooked more--ate more often together, ate less of more...they would be happier and there would be much less trash. Marketing and Ad Execs and Big Agriculture might be a bit unhappy, though!!