For the third year in a row, students from Florida State University and Florida A&M University participated in a beach cleanup as a part of their LeaderShape project in Panama City Beach. Students picked up trash at the city pier, passed out trash bags to sunbathers and educated the public on the importance of keeping the beach clean.
Royal American’s GetAwaytotheGulf.com sponsored the cleanup.
People are losing their minds over the oil spill, and no doubt this is a major catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. But why don’t people care as much about our beaches, bays, rivers, lakes and wetlands when it comes to our own trash?
This photo was taken June 16, 2010 in a bayou off North Bay, in Bay County, Florida. Fishermen decided to toss their fileted snapper off the boat in the ice bag. How can anyone who enjoys fishing do something like this to the water and animals?
The oil will hopefully be cleaned up by BP and eventually, even if it takes decades, the Gulf should be healthy. But if we continue to do stupid individual acts like this, why would we expect the Gulf to ever be healthy again?
Many thanks to the team from Michigan Tech who traveled 26 hours to reach the world’s most beautiful beaches, and served 5 days helping us keep the beach clean. Way to go Michigan Tech Huskies!
Marc and Nick stood before Bay County’s Tourist Development Council to thank them for the hospitality and to encourage better options for cleaner beaches. The students suggested securing the trash barrels, offering bags to tourists and making it easy for all to participate in keeping the beach clean. Great job, students!
Worse than the spring break photos, if you ask me. At least the spring break junk is isolated and fairly easy to clean up. Fireworks make a ridiculous mess.
Hopefully one of you experts — maybe even an expert employed / contracted with the TDC — could say, “Kirk, no worries. This waste is biodegradable and gone in a few days. It’s harmless to our sand, our image and our environment.”
I will keep an eye on the private beaches that now must be kept clean, watching to see if this is law is enforced. Just as importantly, I’ll be watching to see if the city and the TDC keep up their end of the deal and keep the PUBLIC beaches clean at all times. That’s only fair, right?
I would love any volunteers who regularly walk the beach to submit photos to this blog, documenting the success or failure of this new effort. Let me know if you would like to participate.
Read about the new laws and the process behind it at http://pcbdaily.com/?p=3840 and at http://www.newsherald.com/news/beach_72928___article.html/trash_city.html
While I applaud the TDC’s decision to emphasize clean beaches as a part of their strategic plan, they have not come close to acting on real, preventative solutions. Nor have they considered improving the method of how they clean the beaches now.
(Jason, Sten and Kevin – Michigan Tech Alternative Spring Breakers 2009)
These students used the free trash bags provided by GetAwaytotheGulf.com to keep their area of the beach clean!
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