8 Threats To The Environment At Mission Beach, San Diego

As I continue on with my living off beach trash, it occurred to me that just in this little stretch of beach at Belmont Park in San Diego how much waste there is and how all of them are significant threats to the environment.

1.) Water: The one thing we cannot live without. Water and yet, people just throw away cases of water or leave unopened plastic bottles of water on the beach everyday.. the amount of 3 gallons at a minimum. That and the fact that each bottle represents twice as much water to just make the plastic bottle that it contains. In other words, I pick up an average of 60 plastic water bottles a day or about 10 Gallons. Add that to the 3 gallons of leftover water.. essentially, 12o Gallons of water wasted every day. That is just me, not including the canners, who collect and just throw out the water. Add that to the gallons of Gatorade and sodas left on the beach and the water wastage continues.

6.8 billion or one-fifth of the world’s population live in areas of water scarcity. 

Add in storm runoffs, pesticides leaching into the water, fecal matter, such as dirty diapers, dog poo.. it effects marine life significantly as well as our food.

2.) Food: The amount of food left on the beach daily is incredible. Marshmallows, graham crackers, hot dogs, hamburgers, apples, oranges, carrots (packaged in ziplock bags) pizza, chips, ice cream, cakes, cookies, you could feed an army with just the food left on the beach and in the trashcan. 

Appalling when you consider:

41 million Americans struggle with hunger, a number nearly equal to the 40.6 million officially living in poverty. (Feeding America)

Hunger is a real issue for a number of reasons, aside from our carbon footprint. Hunger and poverty go hand in hand, leads to poor health, and an unhealthy population cost everyone money. Worse yet, the amount of ‘fast food’ is not healthy. 

The other part, is food production and demand is expected to grow double by 2050. Much of that food is wasted, but in addition increasing production increases pesticide use, in turn kills both butterflies and bees, major pollinators of our food source.

In order to cut costs, companies have ‘made up food’ like Pink Slime and Tuna Scrape, which are toxic and not really food. That added to high mercury levels, plastic and other killing ingredients, make food, especially healthy food a global concern .

Increased food production also means:

3.) Deforestation:  All that food has to be grown and cutting down forests to plant food is significant in so many ways. Killing off wildlife, climate change, air quality, increase in flooding, lack of protection from high winds. Planting trees could not reverse climate change, but it could reduce many effects. When one thinks of the 50+ pizza boxes (cardboard), the fast food boxes, the napkins, the paper bags left on the beach.. all contribute to deforestation.

According to a 2010 EPA report, one-third of all trash produced is containers and packaging, and 29 million tons of corrugated cardboard are generated annually. That’s the equivalent of 493 million trees, or 1.5 trees per person, per year. And that’s just boxes in the US! (Packsize)

All of the above take:

4.) Energy 

Everything we do takes energy: From getting to the beach, producing beach gear, food, water, sunscreens. It all takes energy. So when things are wasted on the beach.. it costs everyone and the environment.

• U.S. could power Switzerland for more than a year just in the energy we lose in wasted food. (Cockrell Engineering)
• U.S. could save roughly 2 percent of its total energy consumption in one year if it stopped wasting food.
• Producing bottled water requires between 5.6 and 10.2 million joules of energy per liter, (phy.org)
• 5,343 viewsFeb 3, 2014, 12:11pm
• 42 Gallons Of Water To Make One Slice Of Pizza

Most of our energy comes from oil. We have polluted the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, the coast of California and that is not even counting the other oil spills. (Waste of Energy) In pursuit of oil, we have fracked and through wastewater disposal caused more earthquakes (more energy) While coal mining is dying down, we have blasted off mountaintops (deforestation) and caused toxic gases, flooding and health problems.. all in pursuit of enjoyment and litter to continue the pollution into our oceans.

Basically our waste and throwaway society is leading to a very hazardous existence and the loss of our precious parklands as well, if Trump and Zinke get their way.

Another huge driver of energy is:

5.) Transportation: Despite the fact that of ride sharing, mass transportation, dockless bikes, it has not stopped traffic jams and not eased up on parking.

Environmental Defense Fund estimates that a full 20 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions come directly from our cars. 

Most beaches are big attractions, theme parks, restaurants, bars, the beach, biking, swimming, surfing, paddle-boarding, sunbathing, skating, kayaking, boating, sailing…. it all takes energy and I seriously doubt someone is going to Uber with a Kayak! 

More than 3.2 million people visited SeaWorld parks during the first three months of 2018, an increase of nearly 15 percent over the same period a year ago, SeaWorld Entertainment 

All those people bring:

6.) Waste: It is no secret, that we have a problem with waste and now with China declining our recyclables, waste is a huge, huge issue. We Americans are not the Buy Nothing people and it is very obvious that zero waste is not in our vocabulary.

Any one day, it is very easy to pick up 75 toys, 10 towels, 20 items of clothing, reusable bottles, full bottles of water and other beverages, beach chairs, umbrellas, camping chairs, canopies, towels, bathing suits, boogie boards, skateboards, BBQ’s, charcoal, lighter fluid, sunscreen, makeup, backpacks, shoes, earbuds and other electronic devices and more. These are non biodegradable items, they all go into a landfill to leak toxins.

Add in coffee cups, lids, straws, food wrappers, plastic bags even reusables one and what you have a a giant destructive wave of destructive materials that will be there forever and poisoning our water and food.

This throwaway society is destructive.

All of this goes into our oceans

7.) Oceans: Plastic pollution, marine life, oil addiction… over fishing, chemicals killing off coral reefs, dead zones…

All Roads lead to 

8.) Climate Change or Global Warming: Whether you believe in global warming or not, it is scientific fact that the oceans are getting warmer, the weather is changing, the floods are more frequent, the hurricanes worse, the fires are more frequent, severe droughts, more water rationing, and it’s hot outside. It will effect our health, it will effect our food, it will effect our housing, it will effect life as we used to know it.

Every bit of trash, every bit of wasted food, forgotten water bottle, every towel and sock left behind leads to global warming.

It is sad, how many people do not care and I wonder about the state of our country, when thousands of people visit and live here and trash our beaches.