(Photo by Robert Barossi)
by Robert Barossi
We’re into the heart of summer now, with the calendar turning to July and the days heating up. There are always lots of things to celebrate this time of year, from graduations to weddings, and the gorgeous weather usually means the party will be held outside. The outdoor festivities frequently include balloons, which are often released into the air and allowed to fly off into the distance with no way of telling where they’ll eventually fall back to the ground. A story out of Georgia demonstrates how one group of environmental volunteers are dealing with this particular environmental problem. These volunteers aren’t just picking up litter, including fallen balloons, they are encouraging the local community to find alternatives which will prevent more balloons from ending up on coastal beaches. The effort is led by the volunteer-run organization Keep Brunswick – Golden Isles Beautiful.
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(Photo by Robert Barossi)
by Robert Barossi
Cleaning up coasts, shorelines and bodies of water is one of the most common environmental volunteer activities. It’s also one of the most important. It’s easy to imagine just how polluted our beaches and coastlines would be if nobody ever picked up all that trash and pollution. Not just easy to imagine but kind of frightening. Fortunately, there are dedicated and passionate people, like the 1,616 people who showed up to clean the shores of Mississippi during the annual Mississippi Coastal Cleanup. They picked up an impressive 1,603 bags of trash at 47 sites. The debris included many recyclables and a number of strange and unusual objects. Removing all of it will go a long way to improving or maintaining the health of the beaches and all the ecosystems along the Mississippi coast.
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(Photo by Troy Faulder, courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
by Robert Barossi
It’s become an unfortunate truth of our time that our oceans are filled with plastic. There are now-famous islands of garbage which have appeared, floating in the middle of the vast ocean expanse. On shores and coastlines, plastic is washing up everywhere. At pretty much any spot, along any beach or rocky coast, you can see bits and pieces of plastic floating on or deposited by the waves. This story out of Australia looks at the serious problem of plastic washing ashore and the volunteers who are making a major effort to clean it up. Every Sunday morning, these groups of volunteers are filling numerous bags of rubbish, including lots of plastic, from spots along the coast. These groups of concerned citizens are giving their time, energy and effort to clean up their beaches and waterways, making at least a small dent in what is a worsening global problem.
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(Photo by Robert Barossi)
By Robert Barossi
It’s no secret that there is a lot of trash floating around in the ocean. It’s now common to hear stories and see photos of floating islands of trash, occupying vast stretches of the ocean. There’s also plenty of trash that is winding up on beaches, shores and coastlines all over the world. This post from the Southtown Star in Chicago notes that “For example, during Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup last year, volunteers around the world picked up 10 million pounds of debris in one day.” Whether it’s on one day or all 365 days out of the year, coastal cleanups are a massive, worldwide undertaking. And it’s volunteers who are doing much of the work to pick up all that trash.
From this story out of Tasmania to this one from the coast of Britain.
And on beaches from Nova Scotia to Texas.
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Telling the Stories of Environmental Volunteers
(Photo by Robert Barossi)
Being Where You Are 