Week 6

I have to say, I was a little disappointed with how last week's presentation went. The reviewer seemed a bit off base in several circumstances, and I felt defensive when he started questioning me. He thought the posters and informational brochures wouldn't be of use because he said something to the effect that ignorant people wouldn't pay attention to it and he couldn't understand who was doing all the littering on the beaches? I'm wondering if he's ever been to the beach? He also said I should put a QR code on beach tags (that isn't feasible given the size, space, and holes in the beach tag for the pin) and then said the posters wouldn't be noticed on the lifeguard stands, mentioning that he never paid attention to or walked behind a lifeguard. Again, I'm not sure he's entirely familiar with the environment, the south Jersey shore area. You can't miss the giant white lifeguard stands that sit on the beaches by the waters edge every 500-ish feet.

Anyway. I've started breaking down the information I'm planning on using on the posters. I'm going to be using the 2010 Beach Sweeps data unless Clean Ocean Action is able to provide me with the data from 2011.


Poster #1:
- Total amount of trash collected
- Total number of volunteers
-Percentage breakdown of trash (Plastic, foam, metal, paper, glass, wood, rubber, cloth)
- Top 12 marine debris items
- Tourism statistics on how many visitors the shore had


Poster #2:
- How plastic harms marine life: entanglement and ingestion
- Biodegradation of various plastic materials
- How many marine mammals die each year from plastics
- How using a reusable bag and reusable water bottle can help reduce plastic litter
- Pounds of plastics littered on beaches each year compared to an animal - like "X pounds of plastics are littered on beaches each year which is equal to Y number of (some marine animal)"


Poster #3:
- Total number of cigarette filters+cigar tips collected
- Rough estimate of how long all the smoking litter would stretch (distance) if laid end-to-end
- Harmful effects of smoking litter
- Biodegradation of cigarette filters ("Yet butts don't biodegrade, they only break down. The distinction is important to environmentalists, who say butts end up as a plastic residue that stays in ecosystems for decades. A substance that biodegrades, by contrast, is usually organic: plant or animal matter neutralized by enzymes or sunlight.")
- Toxic leeching of chemicals into water
- Some facts from: http://www.beachapedia.org/Cigarette_Butt_Litter

Conceptually, I was thinking that these posters could be used on the back of lifeguard stands and in the areas where beach tags are sold. I'm also thinking it'd be nice to use the Clean Ocean Action logo and website at the bottom, and maybe a QR code so people could scan it and find out how they can become involved.

I'm going to start sketching some roughs today now that I have an idea of the information I'm using, and see how it goes from there.