© Gerry Burns
That’s a photo of the gaggle of ten-year-olds that came with me to the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) on Saturday. The boys chose to clean the rocks under the breakwall and I am happy to report that none of them got stuck … though there were a few close calls. In our two hours of cleaning we collected bottles, cans, bits of fishing line, pieces of styrofoam, food wrappers, toys, and a whole lot of bottle caps. Trumping all of these things, however, were the 237 cigarette butts we cleaned up. Gross.
Our scariest find was a knife. It was old and rusty and looked as if it should be shipped directly to the nearest CSI unit for closer study. Event organizers took photos of it and will be entering it in the ICC Weirdest Find contest, which made our boys very happy. (They are still talking about this find and wondering if their prize, should they win the contest, might be the knife itself. Boys!)
ICC events will continue in Massachusetts until the end of October; you can find more details here.