Two minutes that could save our marine life

‘SMALL actions add up to make a big difference’. That’s the message from Clean Coasts who are asking people in Cork to choose a realistic and achievable New Year’s resolution — a two minute beach clean.

Clean Coasts, a charity run through the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce, engages communities in the protection of Ireland’s beaches, seas and marine life, launched its ‘New Year, New You’ video campaign.

The video, produced by Clean Coasts and Cube Media, shows Dave (played by Bryan Quinn) endeavouring to enter the New Year being more conscious of the environment.

However, after several failed attempts, he begins to lose hope until he finds himself on a #2minutebeachclean board on the beach and realises that being green can be simple.

With marine litter plaguing Ireland’s coastline, Clean Coasts is encouraging everyone to support the campaign.

Taking part entails taking two minutes when you are outdoors to remove litter that you see along the way.

Clean Coasts is also asking all participants to share images of what they collect on social media, adding the #2minutebeachclean hashtag to the photos to spread the word and inspire people to take action.

The campaign’s aim is to let people know that they don’t need commit to a huge New Year’s resolution that they may not be able to sustain, but a #2minutebeachclean is an easy pledge to make that is flexible, doable and something that can be built on.

To help people stick to their pledge, Clean Coasts is giving away #2minutebeachclean kits to the first 200 people to commit to this resolution.

Sinead McCoy, coastal community manager, said the #2minutebeachclean is a great initiative for people to get involved in next year.

“Every piece of plastic removed from the marine environment is no longer a danger to our marine life and environment.

“Each #2minutebeachclean is estimated to weigh in at 1-2KG.

“If everybody in Ireland does a #2minutebeachclean per month in 2023, that’s over 100,000 tonnes of litter removed from our ocean,” Ms McCoy said.

To sign up to receive your own #2minutebeachclean kit, visit the Clean Coasts website at https://cleancoasts.org/our-initiatives/2minutebeachclean/