Paradise lost?

Although we are still suffering through very high temperatures and expect another round of heat advisories this week, it's too beautiful to stay indoors when you have this view just steps away. As you can see, the surf is becoming a bit more rough and is finally stirring up/washing up seaweed, despite the fact that Hurricane Dean is hundreds of miles away.


Although the water along Pensacola Beach remains clear as bathtub water, seaweed is floating up, ready to be deposited on the beach with high tide.


Unfortunately, seaweed is not the only thing to wash up on Pensacola Beach. In fact, seaweed pales in comparison to the amount of trash we see deposited all along the beach.


Most residents of the island routinely go about picking up litter that is left behind by visiting beachgoers and picnickers. And there are many tourists who go out of their way to pick up trash, trying to keep the beach pristine. To those very special people, we thank you.


But when I discover piles of trash such as this on a morning walk, my heart simply breaks. It seems an impossible task to change the mindset of people who are able to visit a place as special as Pensacola Beach and leave it behind, trashed and ugly. How can you make someone care enough to keep Pensacola Beach just as beautiful and accessible for future generations as it is for us today.

Yet if we are unable to accomplish that most daunting of tasks, it seems inevitable that paradise will indeed be lost.