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Summer stinks
Opinion: The summer's here and unfortunately so is the rubbish.
We have beautiful beaches here in Ireland (over 75 blue flag ones, in fact!), so every summer herds of people visit them. That's great! The only problem is that when they leave for home, the beach is no longer covered with sunbathing babes and families enjoying the water. It’s buried under drink cans, crisp packets, tissues, tin foil, plastic bags, glass bottles, old barbeques, used baby’s nappies and empty bins!
Yes, the beaches are there for our enjoyment, but what most people don’t realise is that Ireland's coastline is home to 1,000s of species besides humans. Your rubbish not only spoils the beauty, but it also causes harm to wildlife and other people.
There are many examples of the problems rubbish can cause on beaches:
- Glass bottles = cut feet! Your glass bottles get broken and hidden in the sand for someone to come along the next day and get a painful surprise.
- Children get burned from walking on used barbeques still hot from the night before.
- Turtles choke! Plastic bags floating around in the sea get accidentally eaten by turtles who mistake them for jellyfish. The plastic gets lodged in their throat and they choke to death or else it gets to their stomach and creates all sorts of problems, which cause a lot of pain and eventually death.
Care for your local beach
- Littering is trashy! If you see someone dropping rubbish, ask them nicely to put it in the bin or take it home with them. Don’t be embarrassed; be proud of yourself for making a difference. If you leave it to someone else, then it might never get done.
- Convert your friends! Tell your friends how important it is not to drop rubbish, and keep telling them until they stop and begin to pass the message on to others.
- Community clean-up! Get all the rubbish off your beach before it’s returned to the sea to do more harm. A few hours gathering will make such a difference, and when you see the results you’ll feel great for making a difference. Ring up your local county council as they are there to provide you with bags and a skip, just tell them what day/week you plan to do it. Even if it’s just you and your friends or family, tell them to spread the word to their friends and it’ll soon be the cool thing to do.
Remember, our coastline is there to be enjoyed, not destroyed!
By: Jeni Murrin
The opinions of writers featured on SpunOut.ie do not necessarily reflect the views of the SpunOut.ie team or those of Community Creations. We try to give everyone a chance to have their opinions heard but we are not responsible for inaccuracies contained within these.
