The Seattle wing of the Surfrider Foundation culled the streets of Pike/Pine Sunday looking for cigarette litter “hot spots” to bring attention to the environmental damage caused by the refuse — and clean the place up.

Yuck. The team collected 2,000 butts in one hour. Cigarette smokers, the vape crowd is judging you. Surfrider on butts:

1. They are the most littered item in the world, an estimated 5 trillion are discarded each year.

2. Cigarette butts were the #1 item found on Washington beaches at the 2013 International Coastal Cleanup.

3. Filters are made of cellulose acetate, a plastic, and there is no evidence they biodegrade.

4. Cigarette butt filters are toxic waste. Birds take the filters to line their nests, harming their young. When wet, they leach out toxins which are lethal to fish.

Surfrider is selling canisters to collect the waste — you might consider encouraging your favorite local smoke spot-adjacent businesses to pick one up. Looking for other simple ways to save the earth? CHS’s Pikes/Pines writer says to slow down and focus on the birds, and rocks, and things.

Inaugural Climate Action Festival at Seattle Central
Broadway and Pine’s Seattle Central is hosting a celebration of Earth Day 2015 with speakers, music, and more.

EVENT DETAILS

WHAT:  The Climate Action Festival brings together a variety of climate-focused speakers, performers and organizations to campus to spotlight regional sustainability efforts for Earth Day.

WHEN: April 22, 2015, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.