Default Case

On a nice, hot and sunny day, a lot of people tend to go out to places to enjoy the weather. Some people go to water parks, lakes, or to a friend's house for a BBQ. Luckily, we have the option of going to the beach since we live on the West Coast. Going to the beach is a fun thing to do especially when you go with a lot of people. It is a good way to spend time but, there is only one problem that is affecting the cleanliness of our beaches. Trash is often left behind by people that come to the beach. This is a problem because the trash often washes into the water polluting the water as well. The trash that washes into the ocean is eaten by animals and results in those same animals dying.

I have never done a beach cleanup, so it was nice to do something new. It was cloudy so I had a feeling that it would be kind of cold and windy. There were chances of rain too but I did not think of it too much. When I got to the beach it was raining, which ruined the experience a bit. My friends and I walked around with a bag to put away trash that we saw in the sand. The majority of the trash we picked up were cigarette butts which are disgusting. We also found some bottle caps. Oddly enough, we found a table leg that was most likely going to be used in a bonfire. This is also bad because the table leg had varnish on it and burning it would have released the chemicals into the air. Seeing all this trash on the beach was shocking to me. It shows that people do not care about what they leave behind. They think that all the trash will all just magically end up in trash cans.

Seeing all this trash in the sand got me thinking about a few things. One idea I have is having a designated smoking area in order to avoid people throwing their cigarette butts on the sand. Enforcing policies and rules that the beach has would also help and if someone does not follow the guidelines they could be given a ticket as a consequence. Another thing that could be done is have people who litter clean up the beach as a way to give them a perspective on what they are doing.

Throwing trash on the beach and into storm drains is a big issue. Trash ends up on the beaches causing them to look ugly and I, for one, would not want to go to a dirty, polluted beach. I have gone to Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Cancun; the one thing those three places have in common is the fact that their beaches are clean. The beaches in Cancun are beautiful and will stay that way as long