Save the Beaches — Spring Break Suggestions

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President Donald Trump has made it clear that he does not believe in climate change. Trump actually promotes the idea that “the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”  Since Trump has settled into office he has:

  • Signed executive orders to revive the controversial Dakota Access and Keystone XL oil pipelines
  • The Trump administration froze new scientific grants at the Environmental Protection Agency.
  • $815 million in budget cuts coming for the EPA, for various “environmental programs and management.”
  • The EPA is banned from communicating via press releases or social media communications during this time
  • The Trump Administration has ordered the EPA take down its climate change webpage.
  • Officials abruptly canceled a long-scheduled major meeting on the health risks climate change poses to humans with no explanation
  • Employees at the Department of Health and Human Services, which the CDC is a part of, were ordered to avoid “any correspondence to public officials,” like, say, members of Congress
  • A research division of the USDA was on a communications lock down.

To sum things up, basically President Donald Trump is the planet’s next nightmare and unless we, the citizens of America, do something to help the environment, we will all go down with it.

As spring break approaches for many high school students and they expect a week full of partying and friends, the beaches that the students break at expect a week full of litter and harmful damage to marine life and the environment. But, it doesn’t have to be this way. Spring break can become a week full of partying and friends, but and also recycling and helping our planet. Students can use this time as a great way to reduce their carbon footprint and influence others to do the same.

The beach is home to some of the most valuable natural resources and carelessly leaving litter can wreck them. Plastics which generally make up about 60 percent of rubbish are the worst offenders. An estimated 100,000 marine mammals and turtles are killed by plastic litter every year around the world. (Queensland Government)

By acting on simple things like throwing away your trash it can seriously make a difference. Why? Well instead ask yourself — do you know how long it takes for litter to break down in the ocean?


» Paper bus and parking tickets: 2 – 4 weeks.
» Orange and banana peel: up to 2 years.
» Cigarette butts: 1 – 5 years.
» Plastic bags: 10 – 20 years.
» Foam cups and tin cans: 50 years.
» Aluminium cans: at least 80 years. Plastic bottles: 450 years.
» Fine fishing net: at least 600 years (much longer for heavier nets).
» Glass bottles: 1 million years. (perseus)

Imagine leaving a single glass bottle on the beach. One glass bottle doesn’t seem like much right? What harm could A SINGLE GLASS BOTTLE do? Well, in 1 million years, a lot of damage can be made by that single glass bottle as it tries to deteriorate.

In order to make this spring break a great time for everyone, there are simple activities that students can participate in while still enjoying their time with friends and saving the planet at the same time.

Quick Tips:

1) Shop with recyclable bags you can take with you and reuse.
2) Use your favorite sports bottle or tumbler instead of a disposable container.
3) Check your picnic area at the end of the day and be sure to pick up any remaining trash
4) Pick up any litter left behind by strangers and take a second to throw it away.

Spring break beach locations everywhere have been affected by the wrath of students and tourists just looking for a good time, failing to look at what they are leaving behind. State governments are getting sick and tired of how their homes are being treated and several officials have decided to start cracking down in order to reduce the amount of litter and rubbish found on the beaches. Panama Beach city officials have banned alcohol from their beaches, as well as Gulf Shores police have implemented a ban on alcohol during the time in which spring break is normally scheduled. If the spring break goers don’t clean up their acts (literally), beach states will continue to enforce as many new laws as they can that will help conserve their home and putting a tamper on a student’s wild spring break.

“I think it’s really upsetting and absurd that there are hundreds of trash cans lined up on beaches and still people leave bottles, cans, and other spring break items everywhere. Plenty of people see pictures on social media of what garbage pollution does to animals, such as turtles, and they still liter. People just assume the environment can take care of itself, but we really need to do our job to protect is,” said Colby Hopper, Leesville senior and global warming activists. Not only has social media done a great deal to promote saving our beaches and encouraging people to throw away their trash, news outlets like ABC have posted articles about the horrid beaches after prior spring breaks.

As a student body, this spring break please try and make a change and protect our beloved beaches. If we don’t we might not get to enjoy them for much longer.

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