September is a Great Month to Celebrate the Environment!

There is so much going on in September. The kids are back in school and summer is quickly drifting away. Fall is just around the corner, with holiday celebrations soon to follow.

With everything going on this month, don't forget to take some time to enjoy, celebrate, and help the environment. Here are some ideas on how you can become involved.

On September 15, in conjunction with Ocean Conservancy’s 27th Annual International Coastal Cleanup,  the East Hampton Trustees are sponsoring a local coastal cleanup! Stop by the Trustees office to pick up bags, gloves, and a special recycling decoder and help clean up East Hampton's coastal areas! Check out the East Hampton Trustees website for more details.

The Ocean Conservancy keeps track of the litter collected during their coastal cleanups. Do you know that cigarette butts are the most common item found during coastal cleanups? They are also the most widespread form of litter on the planet. They are not only littering the shoreline; when I SCUBA dive, I see cigarette butts deep beneath the sea! (Eew.)

OK smokers, this is clearly YOU doing all of this littering!! No if ands or BUTTS about it! Please put your butts in the trash and not in the grass. Don’t bury them in the sand, man. Its not neat to throw your butts on the street. Do you toss them from a car, boat or plane? To this I ask you, please abstain.

Cigarette filters are made from cellulose acetate, a form of plastic. They take up to 8 months to a decade (or longer) to degrade, depending on environmental conditions. Besides littering the shoreline, marine inhabitants and other wildlife can ingest cigarette butts. They also leach toxic chemicals into our waters! ( Click here to read a short study.)

  International Coastal Cleanup day is a good time to help remove litter from our beaches. You can register your own group cleanup as well. Just click here to go to Ocean Conservancy’s website and register your cleanup.

Another great event starting on September 18 is World Water Monitoring Day . It is a month long celebration, so there is plenty of time to monitor our waters. Check out this website to download educational posters, coloring books, bookmarks, and other fun stuff for kids! You can also order water test kits and add to the water monitoring data that is being collected across the planet. It could be a good family, school, or group project as well. Don’t worry about ordering the kits or completing the monitoring before the 18th. You can order the water test kits up until December 31st.

Let's celebrate World Water Monitoring Day and check out the status of our local waters, and also try to keep them clean! Don't forget that water is the basic necessity for life. If you know someone who drinks water, please be sure to pass this information on...

Here are some other environmental events you can celebrate in September.

International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer - September 16

25th anniversary of the signing of the Montreal Protocol - September 16

World Parks Day -September 17

World Water Monitoring Day -September 18

Clean Up the World - September 17-19

Zero Emissions Day - September 21

World Car-Free Day - September 22

World Rivers Day - the last Sunday in September

Ecological Debt Day (Earth Overshoot Day)