Instilling the Fear of “Steve”

My friend “Steve” tells me that, when he sees somebody fling a cigarette butt out of a car window, he walks up to them at the next traffic light and asks them the following questions:

Who raised you? Where do you come from, that you think you can treat this island like an ashtray? Go back there! Where did you learn to behave like this? Why do you think this world is one big trash can for you? Seriously, who raised you?

Now, “Steve” is tall and bearded and a tad wild of eye, and so his sudden appearance at a car window, along with the questions that he does not exactly whisper, are probably enough to convince a few people that they should not only stop throwing their butts out of the window, but maybe they should stop smoking altogether. And move. Soon.

Bless his big ol’ heart.

I spent the morning of last Saturday ferrying volunteers back to their cars from a beach cleanup that is held every year, an effort snappily titled “Get The Drift And Bag It”. It’s a huge effort held around the country, enlisting piles of volunteers to find and bag debris along the edges of these important oceans of ours.

On Maui, the effort is run by the Community Work Day Program (808-877-2524), and they provide trash bags, logistical support, and pick-up of the bags o’ crapola. On cleanup days like this, you see trash bags sitting lumpily by the sides of roads all over Maui. Come to think of it, I have never seen the bag picker-uppers, hmmm. Sly, they are. Or efficient.

Anyway.

Data is compiled on the types and kinds of debris found on beaches, as well as on the weight of various categories of debris. A few years ago I remember reading that the number one entry in the category of Debris By Weight was cigarette butts. Yep, there were enough of those little white part-plastic toxic discarded fish and bird chokers that they, collectively, outweighed tires and other car parts, bits of boats and piles of glass bottles, soggy clothes and shoes.

Does this make anybody else out there go “yikes’? It should.

Here’s a breakdown of the 2006 data on what was gathered by volunteers in Honolua Bay—our beloved snorkeling spot north of Lahaina:

Medical and personal hygiene bits were only 1% of the debris and 9% of it was just stuff that I imagine was uncatagorizable. Shoreline/Rec activities left 29% of the junk in their wakes, and a jaw-dropping Smoking-Related Activities was 61% of the debris.

So, there’s a reason my friend “Steve” has a bit of a ‘tude going.

The fact is, every single bit of plastic that has ever been made is still with us, including the plastic in the filters your grandma was smoking her Virginia Slims through in ‘51. Food for thought, that. I wish that were the only kind of food it was, but unfortunately a great deal of plastic is ingested by animals on the land and in the water. Birds pick up floating trash, thinking it’s plankton, and stuff it down the throats of their chicks. Fish bite at anything on the surface, thinking it’s edible. Turtles eat plastic bags of all kinds, mistaking them for jellyfish.

Maui County is currently pondering going plastic bag-free. Berkeley did it, and other cities around the country are considering plastic grocery bag bans, so we’re only being progressive here. Have you thought about bringing your own bag to the store, or do you ever say ‘no’ to plastic bags? I turn down bags most of the time, and every time the clerks always looks at me like I just asked to do the Macarena on the counter. Their eyes widen and they pause, as their usual range of automatic motion (price item, slide into plastic bag, put 2 more small items in that vast bag and start new bag…) is arrested. It’s an interesting moment for all of us.

So, my challenge to you, whether you’re on this lovely island for a week or for the rest of your life, is to cut down on plastic wherever you can. And if you’re a smoker, to dispose of those butts in some way that insures they won’t be going down the throat of any birds, fish, or baby turtles. “Steve” can only do so much citizen policing.

And if you don’t smoke: don’t start!

And everybody—if you see a butt on the ground, pick it up in the name of the all the creatures you came here, or moved here, to see and experience. It’s a small effort and a lot of good karma. Reward yourself with extra ice cream, whatever. Just do it.

Here’s Community Work Day’s site—check it out to see if or how you can get involved:

community work day: http://www.cwdhawaii.org/

See ya next blog,

J*