I found a lot of unexpected junk, but mostly there were tons of cigarette butts and smaller chunks of plastic to be taken up. The most peculiar item that I collected today was a small lion figurine, thrown carelessly onto the sand by a beachgoer or washed up, regurgitated by an ocean filled to the brim with the world's refuse.
The seal pictured above was the most disturbing discovery of the day, and the third dead seal I have seen in recent trips to the strand. I am not sure what is killing them, or if the three consecutive visits that have eached contained a dead seal are coincidence and unrelated to human pollution. Somehow I lean toward the notion that the trash and pollutants that we throw into the ocean are involved. I reported the seal to beach patrol, and I sincerely hope that they notify someone who can identify the cause of it and its comrades' recent demise.
The best find of the day also involved death; a gull or pelican bone that I discovered along the beach has been my best find today.
Overall, coastal cleanup was a personal success and hopefully a success in a more global sense. It's a shame that humans can't connect their Bounty bottles to the ones they self-righteously pick up from the sand, but I suppose it's better to try and recycle it than let it wash into the water for the fish to swim with.
Any readers, I urge you to participate in your local cleanup efforts, whether they be ocean cleanups or highway adoptions. It's important to keep toxic and deadly items away from local wildlife. The most important step to keeping a clean earth is to reduce our waste and consumption of non-reusable items like detergent bottles, water bottles, and excessive packaging. Recycling and picking up after ourselves is no longer sufficient, as evidenced by the extreme waste of the beaches and open spaces of our earth.
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