8/13/2011 Coastal Clean up

Did you know that more than 80% of marine debris starts on land? Today, two people in the time span of an hour and 20 minutes, were able to collect over 42 pounds of trash from Carlsbad Tamarack Beach. Most of you who are native to North San Diego often think of Carlsbad as being one of the nicer, well kept of our beaches, and yet it took no matter of time at all to collect that much trash. The number one item picked up was cigarettes; in which we collected over 300! Clothes, blankets, flip flops, bottles, straws, forks, spoons, Styrofoam, paper, plastic, rubber, cans were among the plethora of items we found. It takes a matter of an extra few seconds and a tiny shred of dignity to simply leave nothing but your foot prints when you go to the beach, yet why do so many people find it incomprehensible to take what they bring. Trash cans line our beaches, there is no excuse. Do your part. Those of you smokers looking for a way to carry those used cigarettes? Try pocket ashtrays to carry in your pocket or purse to eliminate waste entirely.