I live at the beach. Well technically a half-mile from the beach, but I can see the ocean from my house and I get the beach weather here. As somebody born in Flatbush, Brooklyn in 1957 I know how lucky I am to live where I do. I count my blessings every day and I try to give back.

So I’m a member of Surfrider and Heal the Bay, and I try to never miss our annual beach clean up days. And I don’t limit my beach trash pick up to just those days either.
Every year that I have participated in those Torrance beach clean up days, and whenever I walk the beach throughout the year, the one type of trash I pick up more than any other is cigarette butts. It’s not just the beach either. I picked up hundreds of cigarette butts in Old Town Torrance when I joined the Old Town Torrance Neighborhood Association in their neighborhood clean up in January of this year.