Should travel season find you popping a squat on some strip of beach somewhere, try acting like a beach bum instead of a beach bummer. Because you’re sexy, you know that litter isn’t. Why not do something about it? Picking up the little pieces of trash you walk past on your way to and from your towel won’t hurt you, and it will make a difference. If trash isn’t properly disposed of, it ends up in the ocean. Animals may mistake the items of litter floating in the water as food and could choke on them. Even if the animals don’t try to eat the litter, they may get entangled in it. It is estimated that every year over 1 million seabirds and 100,000 turtles and sea mammals die as a result of eating litter or by getting tangled up in plastic fishing nets and lines. Need another incentive to do a little pickup on the beach? It’s contagious! We participated in a beach cleanup recently and noticed that the people who were just enjoying the sun and sand were inspired by the trash collectors to pick up debris near them too. While most places have laws against littering, busts are few and far between. Do your part by keeping garbage where it belongs: in the trash; then sit back, relax and enjoy your vacation.

Photo by Jesse Hove.