USPS Publication Number 16300
T h i s C om mu n it y Ne w s p a p e r i s a p u bl i c a t ion of E s c a m b i a-S a nt a Ro s a B a r A s s o c i a t ion
Se r v i ng t he Fi r st Jud icia l Ci rcu it Section A, Page 1
Vol. 21, No. 36
V isit T he S ummation W eekly O nline : SummationWeekly.com
September 8, 2021
1 Section, 10 Pages
CR E AT IVE SOLUT I O NS FOR MA R I NE POLLUT I O N by Dakota Parks
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iving along the white sand beaches of the Gulf Coast and the longleaf pinecovered bayous and rivers that feed into the Pensacola Bay system, it’s easy to submerge yourself in nature and forget the everyday stressors of human life. If you talk to a nature enthusiast or environmentalist, however, they will tell you that human life is causing major stress on the local waterways and ecosystem—particularly through trash and plastic pollution. According to The Ocean Conservancy, each year 8 million metric tons of plastics enter our ocean, and at this rate, by 2050 ocean plastic will outweigh all of the ocean’s fish. Two local groups, Keep Pensacola Beautiful and the Pensacola and Perdido Bays Estuary Program, are working to educate and change public perception of trash as well as garnering action from local communities to clean up the waterways. A recent study published in Science Advances revealed that of the 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic that has been produced since the 1950s, only a mere 9 percent of it has been recycled, leaving it to accumulate in landfills or pollute waterways. Keep Pensacola Beautiful has been a leading figure in the local effort to reduce litter and pollution. Their annual fundraiser, Pieces Adrift, emerged to not only financially support the mission of Keep Pensacola Beautiful but also to educate the public on the dangers that pollution has on the local waterways and environment. The Pieces Adrift art show and silent auction will be held on September 18 at the Studer Community Institute from 6 pm to 9 pm. “The art show does a great job at creating a visual representation of pollution and
Volunteers at the Jones Creek Cleanup on July 31 installing a litter boom for the Trash Free Waters Project.
making people aware of how little changes can make a big impact,” Sigrid Solgard, Keep Pensacola Beautiful executive director, said. “If you’re using a bottle of water once a day for years, you’re only seeing them one at a time. But when you see the accumulation of thousands of bottle caps in one art piece, it changes your perception. It can also teach people how you can reuse something instead of throwing it straight in the trash.” All of the artwork featured at the Pieces Adrift exhibit are upcycled and use at least 50 percent of the materials from trash, litter and secondhand sources. Artists can source their own materials or visit the trash shop at Keep Pensacola Beautiful, where they can find unique items collected from local cleanups and other everyday items from around the
The art show does a great job at creating a visual representation of pollution and making people aware of how little changes can make a big impact.” Art teacher Julie Fink and her students at the St. Paul Catholic School created this cube collage out of thousands of repurposed bottle caps for the 2020 Pieces Adrift Art Show.
office. From murals and sculptures to self-portraits and even a repurposed TV fish tank, the art at Pieces Adrift is evocative and often relates directly to the theme of environmentalism. “One piece from our first art show that sticks with me is this picture of sunflowers on a piece of plywood. The center of the flowers is made out of cigarette butts, and it says ‘in lieu of flowers’ on it with letters made out of aluminum cans. One thing that most people don’t know is that cigarette butts are the most littered item in the United States. We live in a watershed, so all of the trash on the side of the road works its way into the rivers and bayous, then out into the bay and ocean,” Megan Washington, Keep Pensacola Beautiful development coordinator, explained. While Pieces Adrift works to educate the public and showcase the impact of litter on waterways, the Pensacola and Perdido Bays Estuary program recently launched its Trash Free Waters Project aimed at reducing and preventing waterborne trash in three major creeks within the Pensacola Bay system: Jones Creek, Carpenter Creek and Pond Creek. The project received funding from the Environmental Protection Agency and officially kicked off on July 31 at the Jones Creek cleanup. Emerson Cheney, the Trash Free Waters project volunteer coordinator, explained that the project will not only intercept trash before it enters the Gulf of Mexico but also work to identify and monitor sources of trash. “The project has a three-part approach. First, is the initial cleanup to remove as much trash as possible to create a baseline,” Cheney said. “At the Jones Creek cleanup, we had 47 volunteers collect around 500 pounds of trash out of
the creek. Next, we install a litter boom, which floats on the surface of the water and is suspended from each side of the creek to trap floating litter. It sits on the surface and doesn’t go all the way down to the bottom of the creek, so wildlife can move freely, and paddle boards and kayaks can actually go over the top of it. Last, we will use the EPA’s Escape Trash Assessment protocol, which helps us identify where the trash is coming from and work with local businesses or organizations on a solution.”
I’m excited because we aren’t just cleaning up the trash, but we’re creating solutions for the future.” As Cheney explained, this is the first time a litter boom system has been utilized in Escambia County, and it will help them quantify the amount of trash actually entering the waterways. Waterborne trash is a growing problem, but until now, there hasn’t been recent data collected on the impact of trash in local waterways. The project calls for a litter boom at each creek system. Litter booms have been installed at both Jones Creek and Carpenter Creek and will be monitored for one year, utilizing
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volunteers and community members to remove, sort and evaluate the collected trash. The final litter boom will be installed in Pond Creek in October. “One of the major impacts of waterborne trash is wildlife ingestion,” Cheney explained. “These plastics float on the top of the water and are eaten by fish and turtles. In turn, this plastic sits in their stomach and gives them a false sense of being full, so they starve to death. The toxins from plastic ingestion can also magnify as it moves up the food chain, as bigger fish eat a lot of smaller f ish full of microplastics, eventually making its way to human consumption. This trash poses a huge threat to the entire ecosystem. I’m excited because we aren’t just cleaning up the trash, but we’re creating solutions for the future.” Both Keep Pensacola Beautiful and the Pensacola and Perdido Bays Estuary Program are working to educate the public and create change to protect the local environment for future generations to come. As most plastic-based trash takes upwards of 400 years to decompose, it’s vital to keep this debris out of the water and the Gulf Coast ecosystem. To get involved or learn more about the Trash Free Waters Project, visit ppbep.org. To purchase tickets to Pieces Adrift, visit keeppensacolabeautiful.org. Tickets cost $45 for adults and include a sampling of hors d’oeuvres, one complimentary beverage and entrance to the art show.
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