Pissed me off to, if I see someone throw a ciggarette on the beach, I'll ask them to pick it up. I also pick up some trash and I've had people come up and thank me so setting a good example is a way to get others to help clean up as well. I think a good amount of this trash comes from the sea so you can't always blame lame beach goers.
The best thing to do is to lead by example. Whenever I leave the beach in summer I always pick up some trash and throw it away. You would be surprised how many people notice such a small gesture of picking up something that doesnt belong and putting in its place...its just common sense.
True, but I've lived in several tourist & beach towns, including Long, Branch, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Charleston, Virginia Beach, Mystic, etc. There's always a certain amount of of "It's not my home" attitude by a number of vistors in these towns, but there's something about the animals that come down the GSP that makes it much worse. I think Matt hit it right on the head. To understand, you have to visit any of the boroughs and see what they live in. If that's how they live on a daily basis, do you honestly expect them to improve when they collectively "cut loose" someplace else?Originally Posted by McLovin
As far as "making this forum trash ," I find this thread tame in comparison to 90% of the threads on this board. Let the guy vent. Why read it if it bothers you that much?
Last edited by Ray F.; Jun 30, 2011 at 01:57 PM.
My home break also hosts a baseball stadium and a park where the homeless, drunken fishermen, and drunken families of outer islanders all congregate and TRASH the place. They are poor and don't give a sh!t like any other 3rd world country, so I'm talking bags and bags of beer cans and food wrappers. Now I am not a local (wasn't born on the island) at my local spot but when the Boys are doing parking lot patrol kicking out whitey I'm doing parking lot patrol picking up trash on the regular. Maybe it doesn't even earn me any points with the local crew but I freaking hate liter. I mean its called a home break because we spend so much time there... its our home away from home... you pick up around the house so do it at the beach. These guys I can kind of understand but in America who the fock teaches there kids to roll down the window and throw trash out of a moving vehicle? I watched a MacDonald's cup fly out of the window of a back seat and into the Elizabeth River yesterday...pissed and rambling.....
I watched 4 fat, lazy, beer drinking out-of towners getting there stuff together to leave as I was about to go for a paddle on Sunday. I was about to give them sh*t and an amazing thing happened. They picked it up. I know you can definitely generalize about people but you can't judge them all until you see each one individually. I THANKED THEM FOR CLEANING UP after themselves. And the one girl said " of course why wouldn't we?" I really was shocked and happy at the same time.
Watched some trash toss a box of KFC right out the window in the Indian River Inlet parking lot and roll.... they were from PA. No offense to people from other states, but go trash your own yard, not ours! PS, they ate all the chicken, too!
I have a crazy story. My Aunt was at the beach and saw this woman moving her beach chair constantly. She's a summer renter who they've noticed before. They saw the reason she moved her chair. She was actually moving her bikini bottoms over and peeing right in front of everyone. It went down thru the chair and left a wet spot on the sand. There were kids all around. They tried telling the lifeguards but they said they couldn't do anything. The word is that she's been kicked off of other beaches.
A few weeks later, my Aunt is down with her feet in the water and this lady comes with her spray bottle. She just chucks it right in the ocean and walks back to her chair. My Aunt picks the bottle out of the water. She walks up to the lady sitting in her chair and throws the bottle at her. She said that we cleanup after ourselves here and never throw anything in the ocean. My Aunt gets a little crazy and she always says that one day she's going to be stabbed or shot when going up to the wrong person.
There was another time too. My Aunt lives a few blocks from the beach. These New Yorkers were parked in front of her house. When they were leaving for the beach, they just opened their car door and threw out a bunch of trash. My Aunt/Uncle took the trash and duct taped it to the entire windshield. He put a sign on the windshield that said "This isn't New York. Clean up after yourselves you disgusting pigs"
My Aunt and Uncle never confronted people before but after years of putting up with this crap, they snapped 5 years ago.
Sweeping generalizations are pretty comical. People who live in cities are surrounded by garbage and dont know how to conduct themselves? Give me a break. At once, you're both providing an excuse and misdiagnosing the problem. There are people that care about the planet and those that dont. There are plenty of folks that live in cities for work AND the proximity to the ocean. Some are famous for their green approach (Joel Tudor) and many practice a love for the planet and respect in the water.
Instead of venting your steam via the interweb, change the dynamic. If you see someone litter, call them on it. Let them know people care and are shocked by their indiscretion. Teach them that it isnt "cool", acceptable, or even tolerable. I loved the beach clean-up idea, I'd happily participate either in South Jersey or along Long Island.
A game I like to play, especially when it's a parent setting a $hit example for their kid, is to smile, pick up their trash, and say, "excuse me, looks like you dropped something" and hand it back to them. It's a beautiful mind-%&^ and most enjoyable.
Happy hunting for the longboard waves this weekend and happy 4th to America
quote from ripturbo- "Peace and chicken grease"
THIS HAS FINALLY GONE FULL CIRCLE!!
I've done that too, "Hey you dropped this" LOL Some people just don't what to do. And again, I pick up trash all the time. Yesterday I could have spent two hours picking up crap. When there's that much trash around, and it was obvious it was fresh litter, it's a little ridiculous.
It was just so bad and noticeable yesterday compared to a week ago it was a slap in the face and none of what I saw was "washed up trash".
I do take action so please don't think I'm just *****ing and that's it.
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