There are few things more adorable than Piping Plover chicks, especially Piping Plover chicks waking up after nestling under Mom or Dad (in this instance Mom). They stretch their tiny wing buds, yawn, and usually zoom away with lightening speed but because it was so cold out on this particular morning, they woke up more slowly than if the temperature were warmer. These chicks were filmed at Good Harbor Beach, Gloucester, when they were only three days old.

I find it heartbreaking though just how much garbage washes up and is left behind on beaches. Paper waste is gross; we’ve all seen it and I have footage of chicks getting caught up in toilet paper, seagulls dragging pizza boxes across the beach, and crows eating out of to go containers. Food waste is common, especially after a warm weekend night. Half-eaten discarded food attracts predatory Coyotes and lures chick-eating gulls and crows.

But both food and paper waste will disintegrate eventually. The worst is plastic. It is absolutely everywhere. From the teeniest microplastics to the giant pieces of plastic furniture just simply left behind on the beach

What is the solution?!?