South Shore Beach (Little Compton)
Trash Collected: 3.0 lbs.  10.5.09 
South Shore Beach in Little Compton is on Rhode Island Sound– a long stretch of sand with smooth rocks.  It’s high tide at around 10am, the waves breaking hard.  It’s a sunny morning and two families with young children are running in the sun and enjoying the morning.   The sand is soft as I walk along the beach, sinking in.  It’s a clean beach and I find mostly small pieces of plastic, then a discarded sandal.  Walking along I see an empty bottle washed up on the shore.

 This is a beautiful beach, a small stretch of sand against water and sky with Westport, Massachusetts in the distance.  People coming and going, couples driving in, parking, walking.  It’s a clear morning in Little Compton with just the wind, the sand, the waves, the gulls and all of us enjoying this Monday morning in early October.  I throw my bag of trash in the back of the car – no garbage cans here – and head up the road to Goosewing Beach.  I get a surprise up there but don’t know it as I drive along.Goosewing Beach is next to South Shore Beach on Rhode Island Sound; a stream too deep to cross at high tide but passable at low tide separates the two beaches.  This is the only access to Goosewing Beach.  The  map shows a road but it’s private and blocked by a gate; I find that out as I drive up.  So the only access is across the stream via South Shore Beach.  I head off to Padanarum Village and figure I’ll get back to Goosewing Beach later at low tide on my way back through.

Goosewing Beach (Little Compton)
Trash Collected: 1.3 lbs.
At low tide I wade across the rocks and onto Goosewing Beach.  This beach is smooth sand and scattered rocks, with just a few birds.  There is also almost no trash – just some small pieces of plastic here and there, a plastic lid, a piece of a plastic cup.  There’s something to be said for limited access as I walk and walk and find nothing.  I pick up a piece of fishing line and part of a fishing rod.  

My twenty minutes are up, my bag is light and when I weigh the trash it’s the least I’ve collected at any beach so far – just a little over one pound.  If all beaches were this hard to access, would they all be so pristine?

Sandy Point Beach (Portsmouth) 10.3.09
Trash collected: 11.14 lbs. (Rusty pipe:  7 lbs.)Sandy Point Beach is on the Sakonnet River.   It’s a local’s beach at the end of a long road winding past polo fields, a vineyard and some beautiful stables.  A lucky find and a recommendation from SurfRider Rhode Island.   It had been raining most of the day and the rain burned off as I arrived at mid-tide.  It was quiet.   One seagull on the beach.  The gull looked at me and moved along. 

I walked for several minutes and didn’t see anything to pick up.  After awhile I did find some trash – not much, but some.  Mostly glass, one plastic bottle, some pieces of plastic, a brick worn by the waves, and a large rusty pipe. 

A dog ran by, bounding ahead.  His owner looked at my bag and the rusty pipe in my hand.  ‘Are you cleaning the beach?’ he asked.  I nodded. ‘Thank you’, he said.  I wasn’t expecting ‘thank yous’, but they are really nice to hear.   I finished my cleanup.  As I got into my car, the gull sidelined back into position.  His beach now, I thought as I drove away.   Just a little bit cleaner.

Second Beach (Middletown) 10.4.09
Trash Collected: 3 lb.s 9 ozs.It’s early Sunday morning in Newport, around 7:30am.  It’s quiet as I head to Second Beach on Sachuest Bay in Rhode Island Sound.   I drive past Atlantic and Easton’s beaches and wind around to Purgatory Road and Paradise Avenue.  I’m at Second Beach.  All the activity is here.  Surfers out in the water.   Others changing into wet suits and waxing their boards in the parking lot.  Vans and trucks rolling in, dogs in the back.  This is a tight crowd, focused on the water.  I get glances but no smiles.  I get my bags and gloves and walk toward the beach.  The beach is fairly clean – just a few child’s plastic toys, some bottles, cans and plastic bags.  Lots of cigarette butts.  I gather a bag of trash in twenty minutes and weigh it – a little under 4 lbs. 

Second Beach is a beautiful beach, a surfer’s beach, a private world.  I first saw Second Beach two years ago, also early morning.  I’d taken a spin through Middletown, not sure where I was going.  I drove down that hill and fell in love.  The surfers – all ages, all sizes – the joy, the movement, the energy.  Second Beach in early morning never disappoints.

Atlantic Beach (Middletown) and Easton’s Beach (Newport) 10.2.09
Trash collected: 8.13 lbs.

Atlantic Beach and Easton’s Beach are side by side on Easton Bay in the Rhode Island Sound, flanked by  Cliff Walk’s mansions on one side and more modest houses and cottages on the other.   These are old and well known beaches; restaurants and hotels have sprouted up around them.   Today it’s a beautiful afternoon at low tide, birds everywhere – white gulls, brown gulls and smaller birds.  Shells everywhere too – huge Quahog and other clam shells, tiny crabs, lobster claws.  The birds are busy poking the shells and having a feast.

I walk with my bag and my camera, not seeing any garbage.  This beach is super clean, I think, maybe there won’t be anything to pick up.  Then I start to see pieces of plastic, pieces of children’s toys, and golf balls.  Lots of plastic.  Plastic cups, plastic containers, plastic bags, plastic in all sizes and bright colors – red, blue, orange, yellow, purple.

Twenty minutes is up.   I haven’t reached Atlantic Beach, so I continue.  In the end, I collect 8.13 pounds in about 40 minutes.   I photograph the bags and throw them in a nearby can.

Gooseberry Beach (Newport) 10.2.09
Trash collected:  4 lbs.


Gooseberry Beach is on Ocean Drive, also on the Rhode Island Sound and just a few minutes from the historic mansions on Bellevue Avenue – Marble House, Rosecliff, The Breakers, Rough Point.  It’s a small beach, and in the parking lot I meet a surfer just off the beach and loading his surfboard into his truck.  I walk toward the beach.

Gooseberry Beach is a tiny, tiny beach with mansions dotted in the distance.  There are rock formations in the water, and on Gooseberry Island – a tiny piece of rock and land – a final mansion in the distance.  It’s a beautiful, protected cove – just the wind, the water and some cars driving by.   On this quiet afternoon, and in the middle of some of the most private property in the country, anyone can enjoy this beach in off season.  In just 10 minutes I’ve walked the beach and collected 4 lbs. of garbage – a child’s dress, bottles, and more plastic.

It’s funny how things get started. You read about something interesting. You reach out, someone reaches back. They’re positive, make some suggestions. You think some more, and there it is. Something that you’ve started.

Siel wrote about Sara Bayles’ 365-day trash collection at Ocean Park in Santa Monica, CA (www.thedailyoceanblogspot.com) on her blog, www.greenlagirl. I emailed Sara and she invited me to join her. I’d made a new friend. Sadly, I had to tell Sara I’m on the East Coast. Then I thought I could join Sara in my own way. I’m going to Newport, Rhode Island in a few weeks. I could do a beach cleanup on vacation. I could visit a different beach each day, collect trash for 20 minutes and write about what I find and what I see.

I went to Visit Rhode Island (www.visitrhodeisland.com ) and chose six beaches, and contacted SurfRider Rhode Island (www.risurfrider.org) about the idea. They were supportive, suggested a beach to add to the list and offered to provide bags, gloves and drinking water – very generous !

Sara told me where to buy a cheap scale for weighing trash and suggested used plastic bags to collect beach trash. She wants to inspire others through her actions; she has. I appreciate her continued support. And with her help and the help of SurfRider RI, I’m ready to clean some beaches.

10-2-09 Addendum

I thought with my beaches selected, and my scale, bags and gloves in a sack that was it. But, Sara was interviewed by the Santa Monica Daily Press, and I ended up being part of the article too. Front page, weekend edition and two mentions of SurfRider Rhode Island. It was fun to connect with Sara and share the excitement of a newspaper mention.

Yesterday I arrived in Newport and checked in with Dave Prescott of SurfRider Rhode Island. Dave mentioned he’d heard from the head of SurfRider DC. She’d seen the Santa Monica Daily Press article and since I’m from the DC area was asking about the Newport County Beaches project. Very glad to hear about her interest and I’ll keep her updated. So, with those surprises I head out to my first beaches.