Two Minute Beach Clean Up #Springwatch

I'm back from my holiday! Did you miss me?

This blog post has a bit more of a serious message with fun pictures of our holiday.

Every year (it was my 11th year) we spend May half-term in Polzeath, Cornwall, and every year we watch the first week of BBC SpringWatch  There are two more weeks of the series, but I always forget to put it on, as real life tends to get in the way, and I want the boys in bed earlier as it's a school night. (Will try harder this year to remember!)

Last week they had some guy (I'm sorry I can't remember his name) on talking about a two minute beach comb. Basically, I was astounded by the micro plastics and how they're in our waters because they are so small to get caught by the sewage system. They're in things like body and facial scrubs etc. In fact, I was looking at my dishwasher tablets and I think they're in them too. The scary thing is I think they're in just about everything!

Anyway, this guy says he does a two minute beach comb after he's finished surfing on the beach to eliminate some of the plastics and rubbish that gathers on our beaches. (Clearly you won't be able to remove the micro-plastics!)

Micro Plastics, Big Problem 

Plastic will never go away.  It can be broken up into smaller and smaller particles, but are called microplastics. Millions of tonnes of these tiny pieces are in our oceans. Investigative reporter Sonali Shah discovers that plastics found in beauty products are killing our marine wildlife, and asks what can be done about a problem that's affecting the whole of the food chain.
Taken from BBC SpringWatch website 

Well, the following day, I did two minutes, and could have spent two hours, if not more, going along the shore line and seeing the rubbish that was tangled among the seaweed.

This human race of ours is really on a self-destruct mission. It angers me the amount of rubbish that is left on our beaches. Some has come from boats out in the ocean, to visitors on the beach that day!

If we don't do something about these plastics in our waters, it will enter the food chain - if it hasn't already! It's killing wildlife, and the waters. And eventually it will kill us!

So the next time you're on a beach, as you walk off, spend two minutes taking rubbish and plastics, old bits of rope - all sorts you'll find - off the beach. Plus your own rubbish, of course. Stop it going back into the water and potentially harming a creature that has every right to be in that ocean.

I urge us, as consumers, to choose the products we use wisely. I'm certainly going to be looking out for micro-plastics in the products I buy from now on. It's better to spend a little bit more money on a product that doesn't cost the Earth. I buy my facial scrub from Lush, which is ground almonds as the 'scrub'. These products don't harm our Earth.

The scary thing is I think this is a much bigger problem but at least do your two minute beach clean! And watch SpringWatch.

Anyway, that's my rant over. As usual, the week went too fast. We ate plenty of ice creams, pasties and cream teas. We went for plenty of walks, made boats in the sand, surfing, and did our usual cycle along the Camel Trail from Wadebridge to Padstow.