My friends Anthony, Tim, Laura, Brett, and Lindsay participating in a trash cleanup.
Plastic chairs, bags of concrete, empty bottles of roundup, and a coffee machine. These are just a few of the improperly discarded items that friends and I found along the shore at Gull Cove in Portsmouth. As soon as we pulled into the popular fishing area off Route 24, the litter was clearly visible in every direction. When we got out of our cars and started looking within the reeds, the trash issue became more overwhelming. There was no way we were going to successfully conquer the removal of all the debris, even as a group of six.
Brett searching for litter along the shoreline of Gull Cove.
While exchanging looks that expressed defeat before we even started, we put on our gloves, pulled out our trash grabbers, opened our trash bags, and dispersed around the main parking area. “Anyone need a computer monitor or a recliner?” our friend Tim shouted sarcastically from across the lot. How else do you make light of a dire situation?
Laura, Tim, and Anthony collect discarded construction materials from Gull Cove.
Gull Cove is a tidal estuary and home to herons, egrets, migrating ducks, and other wildlife. In the warmer months it is a popular spot for fishing, paddle boarding, walking, and other activities. Not only are our local water bodies significant to recreational activities and the aesthetics of our island, clean waterways are crucial to the health and wellness of both our human and animal populations.
After an hour of cleaning, we met by our cars and started chatting about our craziest finds. All the while, our friend Lindsay continued to pluck tiny pieces of plastics from the parking lot. “I can’t un-see it anymore” she professed. It’s true; once you take a deep dive into the issue of mismanaged waste, it’s hard to turn a blind eye. Although we did not collect all of the litter from Gull Cove or even scratch the surface, our group of friends removed enough trash to fill five contractor bags each weighing up to thirty pounds.
Despite the awesome and on-going coastal cleanup efforts by local non-profits such as Clean Ocean Access and Save The Bay, we cannot depend on these organizations to solely solve our litter problem. It takes our community members joining forces and individual movements to protect our watersheds and wildlife.
As we enter the New Year, consider gathering your friends and family once a month and head to a local roadway, park, beach, or neighborhood and host a litter cleanup. Let’s put boots on the ground and be stewards of our environment. It’s an opportunity to get outdoors and examine the scale of the single-use pollution in our neighborhoods and ultimately change our relationship with these items. We need nature, and nature needs us, so let’s step it up.
A reminder that nature needs YOU!
