Seeing green and making it clean – that’s the goal of a clean coast lifestyle and the goal of the new Leave Only Footprints initiative adopted by both Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.
Enforcement of Leave Only Footprints begins this month and many people are onboard to make the Alabama Gulf Coast sparkle like sunshine. The ordinance calls for all temporary structures (beach tents and canopies), beach chairs and toys to be removed from the beach one hour after sunset. Beach gear left behind will be collected by crews and disposed of, and visitors will not have the opportunity to retrieve the gear after it is removed. Holes dug deeper than 12 inches must be filled in before leaving the beach.
Living a clean coast lifestyle goes further even than Leave Only Footprints. Living a greener lifestyle means becoming more earth smart, water smart, energy smart and health smart and relying less on the use of non-renewable energy sources. Living greener can be as simple as filling a reusable water bottle to sip from throughout your day at the beach. Approximately 500 billion plastic water bottles are used each year and 80 percent of those wind up in landfills. Even more astounding is the 1,500 water bottles per second that are consumed in the United States.
Being green also means a better use of our energy smarts. Turn off lights in rooms that are not being used, and power off appliances or equipment that don’t need a constant source of energy. Set your thermostats at 68 degrees in the winter and 78 degrees in the summer, even in your beach condo.
These are things you can do whether you’re on vacation for a weekend or here for a lifetime. Let’s keep the Alabama Gulf Coast beautiful and remember to Leave Only Footprints.
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