Garbage and the Ocean

Oh my gosh, don’t get me started about garbage. Actually, this plastic container could have wound up here in a number of ways. Someone may have tossed it off a boat and it may have floated back to shore. Or, someone walking through the tide pools carelessly tossed it. Or, it may have come from YOUR GUTTER? You may be thinking that it is impossible that a piece of trash at the beach came from your street gutter. Let me explain. Any oil or antifreeze liquid or transmission fluid or car wash detergent on your driveway winds up in the ocean. Any cardboard boxes or glass bottles or plastic wrappers that sit in your street gutter wind up in the ocean. It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Your street gutter is like a playground slide. Toxic liquids and garbage flow down the gutter into holes that lead to huge pipes under your street. Those huge pipes go all the way to the ocean. ANYTHING in the pipes winds up getting poured out into YOUR OCEAN! You might be saying, “OOOOOOOH, YUCK!” You are right to be saying, “OOOOOOH, YUCK!” Some of you may have gone to the beach to swim and play. Do you want to play in an ocean filled with oil? Do you want to swim and get hit in the head with a candy container? Maybe you have not been to the beach. But, do you enjoy eating crab, lobster, fish, oysters, mussels, or shrimp. All of these things that you eat have come from the ocean. Do you want the things you eat to come from an ocean filled with transmission fluid and plastic grocery bags? There are things you can do to help keep the ocean clean. Tell the adults that you live with and your friends to put all garbage in garbage cans. Tell the adults that you live with and your friends to wash cars at a self service car wash. Tell the adults you live with and your friends to make sure their cars do not leak oil, transmission fluid, or antifreeze. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND HELP KEEP YOUR EARTH CLEAN AND HEALTHY!!


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