Somebody got their feathers ruffled and I'm not talking about the bird. While I was taking photos under the pier this morning, I stepped on a lit cigarette! OUCH!
Cigarettes on the beach can be very harmful. Did you know cigarette butts can contain over 165 chemicals, including lead and arsenic, and that those chemicals can leach into the marine environment within an hour of contact with water, harming our birds, fish, dolphin, and turtles?
Click HERE to read about the "Butts off our Beach" campaign launched in 2001 by a Maui-based nonprofit organization.
And don't forget to participate in our Coastal Clean-up Day, September 20th, 8 a.m. - noon! Check out Traveling Turtle Girl's blog for more details.
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4 comments:
Did you know that sea turtles will eat cigarette butts, especially while foraging in grass beds and coral reefs? They can get nicotine poisoning from cigarettes carelessly tossed in the ocean...
It's a home for millions of plants and animals, and helps feed us and
provides most of the oxygen we breaths -- it's not a trash can!
Sorry -- i'm stepping off the soap box!
I think smoking is disgusting and smelly and causes cancer! I am almost 5 years old and I pick up trash every day that I didn't leave behind because I want my world to be clean. See you on September 20 (after my soccer game).
Love, Zander
Ahhh, thank you Zander! You're such a friend of the environment.
It was sad to hear Turtle Girl say our beautiful sea turtles can get nicotine poisoning from ingesting discarded cigarettes which have washed into sea grasses.
Smoking is bad, and I wish I didn't do it, but I do. I just visited Pensacola Beach last week and it was beautiful. It was my first trip to an ocean of any kind and I can tell you, I will be back. It is one of the most awesome places in the world. Whether you want to relax, enjoy the wildlife, or take in all the fun things to do, it's great. For this reason, I too agree that leaving cigarette butts on the beach is BAD. Might I suggest on thing to the other smokers out there (first of all, we need to quit), carry one of the cigarette cups, sometimes referred to as a but cup. It extinguishes the cigarette and holds the filter, etc. When your done with your day at the beach, you can expose of your icky stuff properly.
Enjoyed all of your ike pictures. I was bummed at first that the weather was not what I had hoped for (I wanted to swim more); however, I would not trade it. What I saw the ocean do is truly unspeakable!
Keep up all of your photos, they are great (P.S. found your site through weather underground - love that site).
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