Museum of Litter

The 22nd Challenge

On Earth Day 2010, I remember someone making a comment about the hype of Earth Day. His point was everyone seemed to feel they were doing so much if they attended a one-day-a-year Earth Day event. He said we should be pitching in on a regular basis (I agree). As Earth Day is always celebrated on the 22nd, he suggested using the 22nd each month to do something special. I LIKE that idea! Also the number 22 has special significance to me -- it's my birthday. So, whoever you are*, thank you for that great idea. I'm running with it. I'm issuing:
 
 The Monthly 22nd Challenge
Using the 22nd as a reminder, what can we each do? Look around as you go through your day. Are there 22 pieces of litter you can pick up? Can you pick up everything in a 22 foot radius? Can you pick up litter for 22 minutes or even 22 seconds?
 
These are the first 22 pieces of litter I saw this morning. It took me a little more than 22 seconds, but not much -- probably 2 or 3 minutes at the most. Some of the pieces are very small pieces of plastic or cigarette butts. They are what I consider the worst... so small that they are easily ingested but not digested by wildlife causing birds, fish and turtles to die. This may not be a lot picked up, but every single piece is important.

Every litter bit hurts. Every little bit helps.
 
I'd love to hear from you. Let's start a conversation about litter to make those who are unaware more conscious. Please share your ideas and experience. *LIKE* us on Facebook.  If you take photos I invite you to post them on Facebook's Museum of Litter page.

If you're on Twitter, follow @MuseumofLitter. Together we can #twitterlittteraway.
 
* I wish I'd remember who's idea using the 22nd was so I could give credit. If it was you or you know who it was, please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due. Thanks!
 
 

BP Oil Spill, Day 49 -- Happy World Ocean Day

Today we celebrate World Ocean Day. How timely.

With everyone feeling helpless regarding the Gulf Oil Spill, today is a good day to ask, what CAN I do to make a difference?

 

I started the day with an hour coastal cleanup at my Florida beach. I figure if I pick up litter, especially at the tide line, it will be prevented from joining the Atlantic Garbage patch and I'll be able to protect fish, turtles and birds that mistake it for food.

 

What can YOU do? What WILL you do?

If you live near the ocean can you pick up litter along the shore to prevent it from going into the Atlantic or Pacific Garbage Patch? Can you clean up a river or lake? Can you be more mindful, just for today, of refusing single use fast food containers? Can you bring your own coffee mug?  Your own reusable water bottle?

Even if you live nowhere near the ocean, we can all volunteer, donate, contribute in some way. Even a conversation. Bringing up World Ocean Day may just be the thing to motivate someone else to take action.

This is not an Obama problem or a BP problem. It's not even a national problem. It's an international, planetary problem. We are ALL in this together.

As the oil spill crisis continues to cloud our Gulf waters, do you think we can find the silver lining? Can we use this tragedy to come together as a global eco-community to preserve and protect the environment and ocean we all share?

It's the Little Things that Count

You've heard that a thousand times. It's just as true with litter.

Here in Lauderdale by the Sea, FL people say, "We have a clean beach." And basically, we do. If you look up and down the beach usually you'll see just natural, pristine, beauty. However, if you look close, especially at the tidelines in the seaweed, you'll see a lot of small bits of (mostly) plastic...bottle caps, lighters, straws, fast-food drinking cups... the list goes on & on. These things are almost invisible when you glance down the beach. Yet, that is the very thing that makes them so deadly -- that they are so small. Small enough to look like food. Small enough for your fine feathered & finned friends to eat and feed their young and then die because they can't digest our detritus.

Until litter prevention is the norm, if you'd like to help, consider taking a plastic bag with you and spending a few minutes picking up litter you encounter in your daily travels.

Litter Donations -- May 25, 2009 (Memorial Day) -- Lauderdale by the Sea, FL

 

Late start because of the on-going rain -- around 10am there was a sunny break and we headed out, starting at the Datura portal (behind Windjammer ) going north past Oriana, the Commercial Pier, Aruba and High Noon, stopping at Minto's, Villas by the Sea.

 

When I first entered the beach, a very sunburned tourist spotted an small sea creature on shore that could not get back out to the ocean.  It was moving slightly & looked like a slug. Her friend got a cup for the creature, filled it with sea water & it came to life all undulating and frilly, like a beautiful Alvin Ailey ballet. Click on the following blue sentence to see it in action:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqJohD-kM84  Her kids took it far out into the ocean so maybe it has a good chance of survival.

 

In two places I found fishing line tangled around plastic debris with seaweed and fish hooks. I would have liked to save the hooks for display in the Museum's hook line & sinker collection but it was so tangled I couldn't safely remove the litter. As it was, the hook pricked my plastic glove. I removed as much of the seaweed as I could safely and threw the rest away.

 

Collected one large (kitchen size) -- very heavy -- garbage bag worth of litter, just from the shoreline, in about an hour.