Look What Could Be Missing Soon from RI State Beaches!

A bill was introduced in the RI General Assembly this week that would ban cigarettes from state parks and beaches.

Smoking Ban at State Parks and Beaches. House bill 7166 (pdf) would prohibit smoking at public beaches, parks, playgrounds and pedestrian malls and plazas. The bill was moved to the House Committee on Health, Education and Welfare.

At first I panicked that without cigarette butt at beaches our volunteers would have nothing to clean up. But, thinking realistically, even though cigarette butts are the most common thing we find at Save The Bay Cleanups, and I foresee this making a lot of cleanup volunteers very happy, we really do find so much more than just cigarette butts on the coast.

Yesterday, I downloaded the 2010 Report from the Ocean Conservancy on International Coastal Cleanup. 2010 marked the 25th year of ICC Cleanups, and the report was full of some great fun facts.

• In 25 years, ICC volunteers have collected 52,907,756 cigarette butts and filters.
• 1,248,892 balloons have been collected over the past 25 years
• 7,825,319 plastic bags have been picked up at ICC cleanups over the past 25 years
• Do you use plastic bottles? Maybe this will change your mind - in 25 years volunteers have cleaned up 9,549,156 plastic beverage bottles.

I picked these stats because these items are quite representative of what we find on the local beaches and coastal areas in RI during our cleanups each season.  Aside from the standard items, if you've participated in a Save The Bay Cleanup, what types of items have you found that have shocked you? (Can you beat my growing collection of little green Army men?)

Internship Season is Upon Us!

Just last week I finished posting all of our internships on websites for universities across the country. Each summer we welcome many interns from around the country, from a variety of universities, to our offices to assist us in a multitude of capacities.

I always love hearing from our interns and what they've been up to, where they've gone in life. So this past week I contacted Save The Bay interns from the past few years to ask them for a run down of their time here at Save The Bay.  I thought it would be fun to share these with you all throughout the coming weeks so you can learn what it is like to intern at Save The Bay.

"Save The Bay gave me real world field research experience. Unlike summer programs that one might do, our research and work had real world applications. The eelgrass that we planted became habitat for marine species and the measurements we took became a part of a worldwide sea grass database. In fact, upon talking to the administrator of that database, we found that our beds in the southern part of the bay are the only ones in the world that are currently expanding. How cool is that?" 


"My favorite part of working with Save The Bay was feeling like I was making a difference in Rhode Island, in the ocean, in the environment. How many people can say that their job was to get in a boat every day to monitor the health of the bay and the health of transplanted beds that you planted yourself? Even in poor weather, I looked forward to heading out onto the Bay. There is nothing like sun on your head and sea salt in your face and the crusty salty feeling after a day of scuba diving. My least favorite parts were hauling TERFs! Those things were both stinky and heavy!" Michelle D. Eelgrass Program Intern. 

Thank you Michelle for your words on the Eelgrass Internship.

If you know someone looking for a college internship, please send them our way!  We love to meet talented and dedicated individuals who are passionate about learning and the environment.

And a helpful tip for those of you seeking out internships for the season. How to nail the interview!

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