Cigarette butts? This is nuts!

Our marine biologists in training volunteered alongside The Trash Traveller, Andreas Noe. He is known for his ocean advocacy; making international news for diving into a mountain of 650,000 cigarette butts he collected in Lisbon last year. We sang along to his ukulele original songs about pollution and learned hard truths about the impact they have. A group favorite, was the “Cigarette, cigarette, cigarette butts, cigarettes, cigarettes, this is nuts” song. We discovered cigarettes contain plastics and over 7,000 toxic chemicals inside.

Hands on volunteering allowed us to engage with the problem and be a part of the solution. Our star students stopped approximately 13,500 cigarette butts from entering storm drains! We created artwork before disposing of them. Each team told a story with their creations to practice ocean advocacy with their art. Here’s what some students had to say about the activity:

“It was a really great experience and I am so glad that all of us got to help out the community. I was still looking for the cigarette butts on the streets after the activity!” Jocelyn Chiu

“I found it really shocking how many we found despite that other students that had just cleaned the day before. At first it didn't feel like a real impact, until I started thinking about how this wasn't just a scavenger hunt it was real life. It really opened my eyes to how all the small things you think will go unoticed have a large effect on the world around you.” Max Littell

“I was shocked at how many cigarettes butts we found even though group b did it yesterday. They accumulate so quickly and it shocked me at how littered our streets are.” Sofia Cervantes

“Cleaning up the cigarettes today with the trash traveler was so eye-opening and disheartening because it felt like they were never ending. When we would stumble upon a large patch, we’d be momentarily excited because it meant we collected more than the other group. Until we realized that when in a cigarette collection competition the last thing you want to do is win. It's hard to understand why people are so comfortable littering in such a beautiful city, but it felt good to make an actionable difference by cleaning up this afternoon.” Joy Udoh