Litter
“There are thousands of ways to take action. For example…pick up litter.” ~Greta Thunburg
The beaches here in Benidorm, Spain are consistently awarded the prestigious Blue Flag distinction for their pristine waters and sands. The city works hard to earn it; the beaches are picked up every morning and all the bins are emptied.
But as British broadcaster, writer and adventurer Ben Fogle says, “Often, a seemingly clear, clean beach has a huge amount of hidden litter.”
Case in point: the ubiquitous cigarette butt, routinely overlooked by sanitation workers. Apparently smokers consider the beach their big happy ashtray. (Eye roll)
Butt ends are the bane of my existence,(and plastic and styrofoam)! I cannot pass them by; I cannot tolerate the havoc they wreak in the sea.
“Contrary to popular belief, the cigarette butt is the biggest polluter of the oceans. Once consumed, the cigarette butt is the most discarded waste in nature. It should be known that not less than 137,000 cigarette butts are thrown every second in the ocean. This is equivalent to 3,340 packs of cigarettes. Nearly 40% of them end up in the Mediterranean, mainly because of the sea currents.
A cigarette butt degrades with difficulty, between 12 and 15 years. It contains no less than 2,500 toxic substances. Among these, there are between 100 and 250 that are carcinogenic and highly harmful to the environment and the marine ecosystem.”
Though they be but little, they are fiercely bad.
I try to pick up a bit of refuse every day, no matter where I am, even if it’s just one candy wrapper (or ciggy butt!).
Every little bit helps. Every litter bit hurts.
The term “plogging” means picking up litter while jogging. Here’s an encouraging fact: An estimated 2,000,000 people plog daily in 100 countries and some plogging events have attracted over 3,000,000 participants! (Wikipedia) I am a plogger (and a blogger) but I jog first and litter-pick on the way back, otherwise I wouldn’t get in much of a run for stopping every few feet!
Sometimes I struggle to hold all I find in the confines of my own two hands, or even in a biodegradable bag. I have occasionally been in tears over the amount of litter cast up by the waves onto the strand. It can be viciously disheartening to consider the beautiful teeming ocean creatures struggling to cope with the mass of humanity’s garbage.
When I pass people out walking their dogs or enjoying the beach, I silently plead with them to pick up JUST ONE LITTLE PIECE OF LITTER. There are rubbish bins everywhere. What if everyone picked up ONE piece of litter every time they went out somewhere? I think it would make a HUGE difference!
I’m certain that all of my dear readers are caring and conscientious non-litterers. I hope too that you are members of The Litterati (pick it up, don’t pass it up), and if not ploggers, then plalkers or plikers.
The satisfaction of doing even a small act to help our beloved Pachamama, who sustains us, is a deep well of goodness.
Wishing you well on your litter-picking, earth-reverencing journey! I’m right there with you!
Excellent signage on “my” beach
-My favorite kind of litter; seashells and seaweed 💚
Haha the poo bag in a tree is a good one! As a dog walker I can offer some mitigation in that some people are doing a circular walk & will come back for it, but of course sometimes the walk changes routes or we forget to pick it up on the way back (though then they should go back for it when they remember!) I remember making no litter posters and stuff in school, I wonder if they still do that 🤔
What beautiful seaweed and seashell picture, I love your photography Melanie. I’m a member of the litterati (love that name) & it’s mostly dog poo and wrappers as me and the pooch wander our lovely village. It never ceases to astound me what some people will throw out a car window as they’re driving through the countryside ☹️