...But most of y'all don't get the picture unless the flash is on

By 12:02 AM , ,

My last update for the night.

As you may or may not know, the Ocean Conservancy is currently having their annual International Coastal Clean-Up event. The event comprises of 150 countries, between the months of September and October, hosting clean-ups with the hopes of raising awareness about maintaining a healthy, clean environment - both on land and sea.

A few posts back I wrote about the Dragon Bay underwater beach clean up.

Recently, Friday 14th Oct., our SGU group ECO hosted a campus clean up. The rationale behind it is that more often than not, trash on land gets washed into the sea eventually via drains, rivers, rain, etc. Therefore, we're trying to do our part to ease the amount of garbage that makes it into the marine environment.

Fact: It takes each of these X amount of years to decompose...

  • Cigarette butts 1-5 years 
  • Six-pack soda/beer can plastic holders 400 years
  • Wool socks 1-5 years
  • Plastic containers 450 years
  • Plastic coated paper 3 months
  • Plastic bags 10-20 years
  • Leather 50-60 years
  • Nylon 600 years
  • Aluminium cans 80 years
  • Glass bottles 1000 years
So... assuming you're an SGU (St. George's University) student and you're familiar with the campus. We started at Taylor Hall/KBT, went along the field, passed the marine station, behind the library, down to black sand beach and back. In other words, we attempted to cover most of the campus. The clean up lasted about an hour. The following is a sample of our findings.



  • Plastic Bags                           106
  • Plastic Bottles                         169
  • Glass Bottles                          86
  • Beverage Cans                      56
  • Bottle caps/Lids                     155
  • Clothing /Shoes                      27
  • Eating Utensils                       75
  • Food Wrappers/Containers   299
  • Cigarettes/filters                    1193
  • Tobacco Packaging               32

Note how many cigarette butts we found? Most of the cigarettes were found in front of Taylor Hall, and the dorms near the court. Greater irony, since the clean up... the drains in front of Taylor are filled with butts as well as in front of Taylor itself. There's a bin just for cigarettes, yet the students seem to miss it completely and it just lands on the ground.




Christopher retrieving garbage from the cactus.

Some volunteers & ECO members:
Stephon(Volunteer), Jody & Nerissa, Christopher(Volunteer)


Me, don't laugh. -.-

Our island paradise.



Bed time!
Night

Oh! We're having one final underwater clean-up Saturday coming (22nd Oct.). It shall be an underwater clean-up in the Carenage. We have our divers and snorkelers already... However, volunteers to clean around the Carenage itself, or the shoreline, are welcome. Public support? More than welcome as well. We have garbage bags.

Ciao

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About the Author

Welcome to my little piece of the blogosphere. I'm a Caribbean artist/ wildlife conservationist/ adventure enthusiast. Hope my blog brings a bit of sunshine into your life.

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