Pollution.. It Happens Everywhere, Don't Make It The Norm

 Pollution… It Happens Everywhere, Don't Make It The Norm

 

         Everyone loves a good beach day chilling, relaxing, enjoying the sand, sights, and sounds. The beach is always clean for them because of the hardworking volunteers and park service people cleaning the beaches to make sure they can be enjoyed. This is especially the case at Bahia Honda State Park in the Florida Keys. With the help of the Park Rangers and volunteers they work hard to keep the beaches clean for tourist who come to enjoy the beaches, which is exactly what we did today.

            Due to Hurricane Irma in 2017 most of the Florida Key was completely devasted after the storm, because of this there are still a lot of places within the parks that are shut down to public use due to them not being refurbished yet after the storm. The park also lost a large amount of staff do to government cut backs and people not returning after the hurricane because they didn’t want to have to deal with another one a year later. The section of the beach we were at today because of these issues, along with the way the current patterns being objects ashore was covered in trash. I love a good beach clean-up, don’t get me wrong, I do them at home all the time with my friends because it is just so much better for the environment and the wildlife the uses the coast lines regularly, but I have never seen this must trash and pollution in one clean up, in my entire life. Just the shear amount of trash made me so sad and disappointed in what we are doing to the planet with almost no concern at all.

            Beach clean ups are so important for people to take part in because they are so beneficial to the wildlife that live in the area we are cleaning. It is so amazing to me just the huge differences in the way the currents in the ocean cause plastic and other pollutants to wash up on the shore line. Today’s beach clean-up was for sure eye opening and because of it I will be making changes in my lifestyle and I hope it impacts others in the same way.  If you are not sure how to help your local community and make a change look into organizations like Surfrider which have local chapters that you can volunteer to make a difference in the world around you.

https://www.floridastateparks.org/BahiaHonda
  https://www.surfrider.org/