Some Long Beach beach litter. The sand was not gray the day I took this photo trying to capture the different colored pieces of plastic. Pre-homeless, for those who have not read it on this blog previously, I was an Adopt-A-Beach mother. This photo was taken along my former beach 1/4 mile.
City workers plow the sand along water's edge where junk is deposited on the shore left behind by the waves. This does not remove the trash, simply plows it under surface sand or becomes part of often tumble-weed-like seaweed piles. I cleaned my beach almost on a daily basis. After a storm, sippy straws or drink stirrers were there by the hundreds. I read that party or cruise boats would dump into the ocean. Seeing the straws I believed that was true.
Bits and pieces of Styrofoam, chip/snack bags, dirty baby diapers, a lot of tennis balls in various conditions were among things I picked up at the beach. At first I would take home the aluminum cans and plastic water bottles to wash and recycle them. Not a good idea. Too sandy. Surfriders said several years back that removing the breakwater would alleviate pollution on our shore.
My thought was: so it is okay that this garbage washes out to sea? When someone shared the North Pacific Gyre Junk video at Facebook, I took this photo the next day. To borrow a phrase: Give a hoot, don't pollute.
Tagged as Earth Day for lack of better tag here at Homeless in Long Beach. The post does belong here because I did continue to pick up debris on the beach, at picnic areas and parks during my homeless days. During my walks, I rescued plastic bags blowing in the wind, even chasing them down the sidewalk or across parking lots at times.
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