June 1st, 2014 - beach cleanup #367

beach cleanup #367

tower 26 - Santa Monica, CA

trash collected for 20 min. 

5.8 pounds

1,347 pounds total 

I left the house at 7:00 pm to the sounds of a very unhappy Willow and her Daddy consoling her that she indeed needed to go to bed, and that really she was just tired, really. Well, reasoning with a baby is not how they work. But Garen is a great dad and reassured me to get going! 

This is the first piece of trash that really made me wince. Birds were ambling around it. I imagined the mess, and direct entanglement it could mean for them and any number of sea creatures. These mesh bags usually house sand toys, but are deadly to marine life. I felt great satisfaction at swooping this into my bag. At least this one wasn't going to cause direct misery. 

I am not the parent of a sand toy using kiddo, and I am sure it is hard to get all the gear off the beach, but an entire treasure trove of sand toys were left behind. No kid, or family in sight were attached to these sand castle creating tools. 

Last night as I was out walking, I remembered that summer is a hard time to do beach cleanups. There's usually just so much stuff left out here. And if summer is hard, then the hardest night is Sunday because it is after a weekend of beach going. 

If my weekly commitment to come out for a cleanup falls on Sunday nights, then part of me is inspired by this, and part of me is dreading the months ahead. It is hard to see the trash in such high volume. It is also satisfying to be down there on this one little stretch to do something about it. I feel better, some of the birds and other sea creatures benefit, people see what I am doing even if most of them don't engage me directly, and I have to believe that in these ways I make a direct difference. Just becuase it is a small difference, doesn't mean it doesn't count.