Sign up to our newsletter
    • Home
    • Jobs
    • News
    • Events
    • Advertise with us
    • What we do
    • News
    • Covid & Beaches in the sun, the virus and plastic pollution – Understanding our behaviour
     
    June 30, 2020

    Covid & Beaches in the sun, the virus and plastic pollution – Understanding our behaviour

    MarineNews

    Bob Earll     The combination of the Government’s messaging on coming out of lockdown and the exceptionally warm weather lead to vast numbers of people congregating on the many beaches, especially on the south coast and in particular Dorset. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that so many other facilities in these towns are still closed leaving the beach as the only visitor attraction. Police and authorities in Bournemouth declared a major incident, to enable them to work more closely together. Matt Hancock suggested that he might close beaches if this is likely happen again. A psychologist I heard interviewed suggested that these mass gatherings took place because of lots of individual decisions often with the best intentions of remaining socially distanced but having travelled a long way they were reluctant to return home. As with beach gatherings earlier in the month it illustrates how important it is to get messaging on the virus right – many people seem to think the virus has gone away or won’t affect them.

    Litter pollution at large scale events

    Another dispiriting element to the same story was the vast amounts of rubbish that the crowds left on the beaches. Between 30-40 tonnes of litter was one estimate at Bournemouth alone. This is nothing new on beaches or at music festival sites after the events. There is clearly an aspect to this of it being acceptable – the social norm at these large scale events. Litter at this scale is pollution and it is caused by the visitors – not producers. So what does social science say about the solutions at this scale of event? Blogs or insights very welcome.

    Tagged: Beaches, covid, Litter, plastic, Pollution, virus

    Ocean and Coastal Futures Ltd
    23 Hauxley Links
    Low Hauxley
    Morpeth
    Northumberland
    NE65 0JR

    • LinkedIn
    • X

    Telephone: 07759 134801

    Email: CMS@coastms.co.uk

    Subscribe to our newsletter

    Sign up now

    All content copyright © Ocean and Coastal Futures

    Data protection and privacy policy

    Data Protection and Privacy Policy
    Ocean and Coastal Futures, formerly known as Communications and Management for Sustainability

     


    Data Protection and Privacy Policy
    Ocean and Coastal Futures, formerly known as Communications and Management for Sustainability