Community Count Day 250

I have the privilege to connect with people from around the world that somehow find their way to The Daily Ocean. If you would like to join in, I've outlined how to do a very simple Daily Ocean style beach cleanup here. 
I promise to dedicate a post to your findings if you send me your beach cleanup results to: thedailyocean@yahoo.com 

My goal is to have 365 Community Count collections. You can go to your local beach, lake, river, or around the block and give us a report. All environments are connected, and inland counts so don't worry if you don't live at the beach.

Here's a report from Ewa in Italy. What a pleasure it is to hear from so many ocean lovers around the world, all wanting to make a difference, all of them inspiring those around them as they do. 

I live just next to the beach in Ladispoli, close to Rome, Italy and I go there almost every day.

 I can hear the sound of the waves when I fall asleep. 

I often walk along the beach for a few hundred meters south up to a fallen tree, washed and bleached by the sea. 

My kids love playing there. On the way back I often collect trash and I put it all into one plastic bag which I also usually find abandoned somewhere along in the sand. 

That bag is my measure, I don't weigh my trash. It's usually not enough to collect everything that is lying there but at least I do that much. 

My kids got so used to it that they also pick the trash whenever they see it, it's just become so natural to them it should not be there on beach. 

My wish is that everyone behaves that way so that there is not a single little piece of plastic flowing into the sea or remaining on the sand.

Thanks Ewa for taking the time to share your cleanup with us! I have the same wish.

Day 316 - August 23, 2012

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

5 pounds

1,198.6 pounds total 

2 cigarette butts

Um, NO THANK YOU - Have a Nice Day.

It is easy to walk and talk along the beach, getting distracted by the beauty of the ocean, the gulls, the other folks out running. Picking up trash on the beach has changed my perspective. I'm capable of cleaning up the local beach, of inspiring others to change, of encouraging an open-eyed awareness to the larger problem at hand. There's no environmental problem too big that we can't make a positive impact with our choices, not yet. 

Cooler weather rolled in yesterday. The beach transformed into yet another color palette, reminding me of the steely grey tones of winter to come.