People poo-pooing on the Beach

[Smiling JOe]

Smiling JOe
I agree that a person's wealth does not make them who they are but it seems that on average those who have higher incomes/wealth have greater appreciation/respect/consideration for the finer things (like Sowal beaches).

I know this is not always the case but I think it is mostly the case.

Is there a garbage problem in the Hamptons?

I disagree. The "wealthy" people of whom you speak may have a greater appreciation for the finer things as you say, but that does not stop them from poo-pooing on the Beach. They are just able to poo-poo with finer crap. Let me further clarify by stating that I do not mean that wealthy people care less than poor people. I am simply saying that you cannot judge a person's concern or character by their wealth. There is trash in all economic levels of society.

As for the Hampton's, I have never been to the Hamptons so I cannot say. I know that in SoWal, we do not pay people to clean our beaches, so it is left up to those of us who care. Personally, I am growing tired of litter patrol. I will continue to do my part in keeping the place in which I live clean, but more and more, it is becoming a job.

 

[JB]

Sorry, Georgian, but I'm not buying your comparisons. You seem to liken a beach service setup to a pile of beer cans and cig butts. Leaving a tent or umbrella overnight, and cleaning up everything else on a daily basis is not a problem. What do you think the term "beach service allowed" means in these rental brochures? It means they come the day you arrive, set up your chairs/ umbrella/tent/whatever, and it sits there for the duration of your stay.

Of course you should clean the whole area of trash/clutter every evening. If the setup is north of the high-tide line, it is technically on private property anyway. Some of these tents are a pain in the ass to set up/take down. It's just not practical to do it every single evening/morning. People put them up so their children don't get irradiated by our increasing lack of ozone protection.

If you want a totally untrammeled beach, I'm afraid you are looking in the wrong place. And it's only going to get worse in the coming years. I fully expect Grayton Beach to have an NFL franchise by 2025 :laughing1

I will agree, however, that anything left on a state park beach should be discarded by the county beach patrol.

 

[Georgian]

SJ,
You're right, just because a person is wealthy does not prevent them from littering. And when they do litter who's to judge whether one piece of litter is more fine than another?

I agree "you cannot judge a person's concern or character by their wealth." and "There is trash in all economic levels of society." It is my opinion that there is less of it at the higher levels. Been to Mexico?

Are the people who stay on PC Beach from a lower economic level than those of us who stay on 30A?

Stop!!! Don't answer that.

I challenge you to first compare poo-poo accumulations specific to these areas.

And JB,
You seem to know an awful lot about these tents? Was that an assumption I made earlier or did I win the lottery?

 

[Bob]

Hey Folks, As my wife, a teacher of 24 years says, if you consider the average IQ is 100, why be stressed over the obvious. The lower half of the intelligence scale usually ruins things for everyone whether it be talking at the theatre, driving slowly in the passing lane, leaving items on the beach. Income probably has less to do with it although one could argue a correlation with smarts and personal wealth. I think more visitors equals greater trash issues. I try to pick up what flotsam I can when I visit.

 

[sue]

I come to the beach to relax, not to fight with people. Same goes for these boards-I come here to talk about our wonderful upcoming trip, plan our outings based on your wonderful recommendations, and sit on lovely beaches with my family around me. No, Georgian, you do not win the lottery-My point was that we should not take other's actions as a personal offense to us. I really doubt if most folks with tents at the beach set them up on Saturday to ruin your view, or to act as rude visitors to this public space. Most visitors here clean up after themselves, and several on these boards clean up after others-I have been coming to this area for many years-thanks for the suggestion, but my family enjoys this wonderful, friendly area.

 

[JB]

SJ,
You're right, just because a person is wealthy does not prevent them from littering. And when they do litter who's to judge whether one piece of litter is more fine than another?

I agree "you cannot judge a person's concern or character by their wealth." and "There is trash in all economic levels of society." It is my opinion that there is less of it at the higher levels. Been to Mexico?

Are the people who stay on PC Beach from a lower economic level than those of us who stay on 30A?

Stop!!! Don't answer that.

I challenge you to first compare poo-poo accumulations specific to these areas.

And JB,
You seem to know an awful lot about these tents? Was that an assumption I made earlier or did I win the lottery?

I don't own one, thank you. But I spend enough time down there to see all the different ones. This thread has gotten pretty pointless. I'm out.

 

[sue]

Me too-on to bigger and better things, JB--see you this summer?!

 

[seagrovelover]

next subject please :roll:

 

[aquaticbiology]

We see a lot of this crap and I've spoken to many, many city/county/state officials about it. Any unattended stuff is considered to be litter and can be removed, or ordered to be removed, anytime. Most prinicipalities have litter laws already set up. The easiest way to stop people leaving tents/coolers setups on the beach, especially if they are left unattended overnight, is to simply "confiscate" them. They'll never leave anything littering the beach again. Nobody thinks of leaving stuff like that on the beaches of PCB as it simply just wouldn't be there in the morning, either "confiscated" for the use by the local fuzz or "considered a donation" by somebody headed for a local flea market. We, and probably most on this board, wouldn't think of leaving anything unattended overnight on any beach anywhere as it's not 'natural'.

 

[Paula]

For the record, intelligence (IQ) -- assume the person is somewhere in the normal range -- does not predict conscientiousness (which means a sense of responsibility in addition to other characteristics), agreeableness, emotional intelligence, commitment to community, or any other characteristics that may be related to whether people irresponsibly leave stuff on the beach overnight or not. There is decades of research on the link between intelligence and success, consciousness, social responsibility and the link, if it exists at all, would be extremely small (my job is to read this research). In addition to what I've read in the research, my experience suggests that neither IQ or income predict one's commitment to communities or others (again, conscientiousness does).

There's even recent research that found that having lots of people with high-esteem around isn't necessarily the best for communities since it just means that people feel good about themselves --whether they translate those good feelings into a commitment toward others or their communities isn't related to self-esteem.

My guess is that if we wanted to screen people for whether or not they'd leave trash on the beach, we'd want to screen for conscientiousness and a sense of commitment to community rather whether they have high IQ or income.