Parker, Laura. “Beach Clean-up Study Shows Global Scope of Plastic Pollution.” National Geographic, National Geographic, 10 Oct. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/10/greenpeace-beach-cleanup-report-highlights-ocean-plastic-problem/.
This article discusses how every year tens of thousands of people volunteer to pick up trash from beaches. The largest effort comes from Ocean Conservancy which over the course of thirty year sof cleanups has collected over 300 million pounds. A quote from Nicholas Mallos states “Literally, the trash starts getting replaced as soon as you pick it up.” He states that it is quite hard to even bother, but states that it is much better than the alternative. It is also extremely expensive to do these beach cleanups. According to the article it cost local governments in 90 towns in Washington, Oregon, and California more than $500 million. In Orange County alone it is around $46 million in just one summer.
This is almost a reality check on what is happening out in the world. We don’t really get to see people putting all this plastic into the ocean, but when Mallos said how it seems to replace almost instantly, that was very powerful. It’s quite frustrating to think about this issue considering how easy it is to properly get rid of your trash. There are so many other alternatives than littering. The amount of money that we spend on just beach cleanups also surprised me, and really opened up my eyes on how much trash we all are really putting into the world.
I totally agree with your concluding sentiment: we just produce too much trash. However, what’s the difference between the trash being in the ocean and trash being collected and moved into landfill? In the book Moby Duck by Donovan Hohn, a man tries to find 28,800 bath toys that were lost at sea. In his story, he talks about beach clean up in Alaska. In order to clean the beaches, volunteers use more plastic bags to collect the garbage, fossil fuels to transport themselves and the garbage they collect, etc. Should we be cleaning the beaches if that means we are just moving it to landfill?
Your article brings up a very strong point. Beach clean ups do allow communities to get a sense of the reality of the impact that their trash production has on the environments around us, but beach clean-ups and other community environmental efforts may not be enough. What are some viable ways that we can come together in order to better combat the effects of human pollution on the environment?