As an aspiring marine biologist my decision to intern at the Surfrider Foundation was an easy one. With chapters spread nationally and internationally, the programs and campaigns that different regions focus on varies in order to cater to their specific environmental needs. But the true mission that unites the Seattle Chapter is to protect the Puget Sound.
Inspired by their mission statement, I spent my summer working with the incredible team at the Seattle chapter. Right from the get-go, I was informed that one of the most concerning issues that Seattle has been facing was cigarette litter. The chapter wants to change how cigarettes are disposed with the Hold On To Your Butts campaign. Whether its flicked, stomped, wedged or buried, the majority of the improperly discarded cigarette butts find their way to the sewers and work their way into the waters polluting marine life.
The HOTYB outreach team at Alki on the 4th of July
My main job as an intern was to do outreach to share the Hold On To Your Butts message with the public. This was accomplished in a variety of ways. One direct approach that I took was simply picking the litter up. While I did this, people approached me and I talked to them about the program. I focused this labor on hot spots in Seattle such as in front of popular bars and restaurants or around the benches in parks. So far, I’ve picked up approximately 8,000 butts in the short span of 4 months. That’s enough cigarettes to fill a 5 gallon water jug! For some of the locations that I cleaned, I revisited the same spot a month later only to find that about half of the butts were back and soiling the ground. Although this type of cleaning was useful to gain a visual on how heinous the situation was, it was obvious that we needed another solution. Implementing cigarette canisters accomplished this. Research shows that when smokers have easy access to ash cans, they are about half as likely to fling their cigarettes on the ground. By performing outreach to local businesses, I was able to encourage owners to set up canisters in front of their shops to keep Seattle floors cigarette free. In addition, educating people about the consequences of cigarette litter has been a vital process in decreasing the amount of litter. I’ve spoken to about 400 people so far, and hopefully word will get around so that littering will no longer be the norm.
Working with the chapter since April, I can’t believe the impact that our whole team has had since I started. With our contribution in gathering support smoke free parks, all Seattle Parks have been smoke free since July. Our chapter also implemented cigarette canisters along Alki beach as well as the busy streets of West Seattle. This is amazing progress for a city that can easily find a bulk of butts on sidewalks as well as in parks.
With all this hard work, Surfriders are still able to keep things fun and entertaining. Our chapter helped host the International Surf Day at Gas Works park, held a BBQ at Westport after cleaning the beach on the 5th of July, and enjoyed the Barefoot Beach Rescue. With the summer still far from ending, we still have quite a few events coming up and if all of this sounds like your cup of tea, sign up to receive our newsletters and become a member. Spending these months interning and working with the dedicated Surfrider team has definitely been an unrivaled experience and I can’t wait to see what we will do next together!