Between the mountains of beer cans, plastic debris and cringe-worthy Instagram photo ops, it’s hard to not hold a grudge against the people who flock to popular coastal spring break destinations.
While spring break is a great occasion to get tan and relax with your friends, we cannot forget to respect the environment on our vacations. And if you’ve ever seen the aftermath of a spring break at Panama City Beach, Florida, you have a good idea of how much trash people generate.
In a USA Today article from 2017, a collection of tweets from beachgoers in popular spring break locations, such as Panama City Beach and Cabo San Lucas, showed the aftermath of spring break on the beaches.
The beach pollution is so bad that cities are starting cleanup initiatives in order to combat the seasonal increase in beach pollution.
One major consequence of the beach pollution is the effect it has on marine life.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of turtles and other marine animals die from ocean pollution and ingestion or this pollution. More than half of the world’s remaining sea turtles have ingested some plastic or human trash. This same trash is abundant on the coasts during spring break.
Miami Beach launched their initiative called “#KeepMBClean” in 2017, featuring graphics posted online and around beaches instructing how to throw away your trash.
It's sad that it’s not self-explanatory to throw your old Solo Cups in the nearest trash can on your way home to the hotel.
Another folly of beachgoers is the rough, and even sometimes fatal, handling of marine life in order to achieve so-called content worthy for Instagram and Twitter. Every year, it seems at least one photo of people holding wildlife in the ocean draws mass attention from social media.
Total Frat Move created an Instagram account, which shows some people using marine life to get attention.
In one, two men were depicted pinning a shark to the sand, forcing its mouth open, while appearing to make the shark shotgun a beer.
The United States Fishing and Wildlife service has strict laws about how close you can get to sea turtles and other endangered wildlife. However, some people continue to forget that they are visitors to these animals' homes, and that when they leave these places, their trash stays.
Hawaii has made it completely illegal to touch, capture, kill or harass sea turtles due to their status as endangered species.
In Florida, sea turtles are protected by the Federal Endangered Species Act and Florida’s Marine Turtle Protection Act.
It shouldn’t take legislature for people to stop abusing and threatening marine life.
If people partying during spring break don't improve their respect for the environment, more marine life could be affected.
Research on plastics in marine environments by Chris Sherrington found that 80 percent of oceanic trash and debris comes from land-based sources, and now there is "an estimated 70kg of plastic in each square kilometer of sea bed."
Traveling is not the issue, nor is vacationing with your friends for a week. However, when you are harming the space you occupy, it’s probably time to rethink how you party.
