Life at the Beach with Littering
How can we prevent the damage litter causes our beaches, oceans and the hundreds of species that depend on them?
Ever since I was little, I can remember running down the edge of the beach that separates the ocean from the dry sand and having to jump over cigarette butts.
I would be swimming in the ocean and would dive under the pieces of plastic that would drift in my direction.
As I grew up, these small habits of avoiding the trash and litter on the beaches and within the ocean became a habit for my friends, family and me.
Once I was old enough to understand, my school district taught us about littering, pollution and the negative effects it has on our beaches and oceans and the species that inhabit these ecosystems and environments.
I began to volunteer with local organizations that focused their fundraising and efforts toward cleaning up our beaches and keeping them clean. In high school, I even took an internship position for two years with a local marine science camp where I would help to give lessons. Each camp I worked with, I taught a lesson about littering and the specific effects it has on sea turtles.
I am now 22 years old, and littering still occurs at great amounts.
You can walk any Jersey beach, at any point of the day, and collect several pieces of trash. These pieces of trash can be quite unique and vast, but it mainly consists of plastic bottles, aluminum cans, plastic bags, cigarette butts and random pieces of plastic.
All of these things are the reason why over 1 million birds and 100,000 mammals die each year. Not only is this litter resulting in species dying, but it is also harming our environments.
One of the saddest things about this issue, though, is that there are trash and recycling bins all over every New Jersey beach. But instead of walking the few feet to the nearest one, people choose to just leave it in the sand or toss it into the ocean.
The simplest way to reduce this issue is to not only be responsible for your own trash when at the beach, but be responsible for others. Do not allow friends and family to take the lazy route with their trash because that single piece of trash could be the reason why another sea turtle dies.
In the end, we humans need to do — and be — better. Our actions and decisions of disposing of trash irresponsibly is the reason why we are losing species and harming our environment.
I encourage everyone to do their part and make a positive impact. Be the change our beaches and oceans need in order to be safer, healthier and cleaner.
