Beach Cleanup

The ocean is a very special place to me. It has always been a part of my life, so much so that I used to joke around saying that I would really have to love somebody to move to a landlocked state (little did I know I would live up to those words some day ;) )  Sunday we were able to participate in Panama's National Beach Cleanup Day. 

Oceans and beaches offer more than picturesque pictures during sunrises and sunsets; they are an important food source for many people, and the ocean plays a big part in the quality of life on Earth.  Did you know that studies are showing that as many as 93% some bird species have ingested plastic? 

Don't live near an ocean? Run off of chemicals and liter run into gutters, those gutters lead to a river/stream or lake. That source eventually hits the ocean, affecting us all.

We went with a group of people which made it fun. It was great to see people of all ages picking up trash along the beach. 

It was amazing how much trash was being collected. Robert and I both found landscaping fabric and pieces of discarded chain linked fences. We also found a lot of plastic and styrofoam, which was no surprise. We were able to fill over two buggies with trash bags and that was just with a small group of us. An article about the clean up stated that over 57 bags of trash were removed from this particular beach...wow!

Photo borrowed from

What can you do to help keep our environment clean?

• Use reusable shopping bags
• When you are outdoors take what you bring and only leave footprints
• Recycle. Plastic is the number one pollutant and we saw a lot of it today!
• Pick up trash when you see it

The day as a whole was good. After about an hour the heat started to radiate off the black sand and it was time to call it quits. Robert and I went home to five puppies (one was given away) and enjoyed nice tall glasses of water. I am not sure what I did to deserve such a good life, but man is it!