Clean Up The Med 2012

 

On Sunday, May 27, GreenOceanSurfing participated once again in a beach clean-up in Anzio, which was organized by Legambiente. As part of the Spiagge e Fondali Puliti - Clean Up the Med 2012 environmental campaign, which took place in 22 Mediterranean countries, the environmental organization organized more than 300 beach clean-ups in Italy alone from May 25-27.  We met at 10 a.m. and, armed with plastic bags and gloves we started cleaning up the beach, which was full of all kinds of waste (q-tips, plastic bottles, car tires and so on), things we find on our beaches every day, in Italy as well as in the rest of the world. Beach clean-ups are organized all over the world to raise awareness of environmental issues among the public (including people who are at the beach sunbathing or jogging or for whatever reason by handing out leaflets). Actually, some people who were there on Sunday picked up a pair of gloves and joined us.

If we go on like this we’ll soon be living in a world full of garbage!!  According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American produces about 4.4 pounds (2 kg) of garbage a day, or a total of 29 pounds (13 kg) per week and 1,600 pounds (726 kg) a year. This only takes into consideration the average household member and does not count industrial waste or commercial trash. To get a better idea of the numbers, consider this: with the garbage “made in USA” alone, you could form a line of filled-up garbage trucks and reach the moon!!

 The moral of the story is: we can all do our share, by buying and wasting less, by properly disposing of the waste we produce and by recycling more!!! And… by participating in events like these, of course!!