Who remembers pull tabs?
I swim the San Marcos river here in Texas about once a week. I like to take my snorkel and see what I can see. There's lots of fish, there is native Texas wild rice (endangered and only grows in this river) cool shells from when Texas was under the oceans a million years ago, and, PULL TABS!
If you are a youngster, you don't remember these except the few times you see them at a park, I'm guessing. And even I'm too young to actually have used them. The modern "pop top" that's on all beer and soda these days was patented in 1975, and implemented shortly after.
But before that? Invented in 1965, the "pull tab" replaced having to use a church key to open your beer! Shazzam, right?! But, what the heck do you do with a pull tab after you've pulled it free from that frosty beverage? Well you tossed it in the river, duh!
Back to present day in our story, when I swim I started spotting a bunch of these on the sandy bottom in spots of the San Marcos river. There's not a lot of other trash, very little actually. But the pull tabs! Queue up Jimmy Buffet -- "blew out my flip flop, stepped on a pop top" ..
So I've started picking them out of the river on my floats. I snorkel the section, it's maybe 1/4 or 1/2 a mile and grab tabs. I've collected about 150 in just a couple of months! Each time I snorkel I'd guess I pick up anywhere from 10 - 20.
I'll have to get an underwater pic, it's astounding. The biggest concentration of them is at the city park, where there are tons of people in the water. (3-8 feet deep, and very very clear - it's spring fed)
Anyway, I wanted to share what I've been finding. These tabs were pulled from their cans AT LEAST 41 years ago, and are still there, waiting to cut someone's foot.
It's worth thinking about our planet, and litter in general. These tabs will never decompose.
I want to implore you! Please don't litter in our public places. Toss that junk in a trash can, and pick up litter when you can. It's not hard. Just reach down, pick it up, and toss it. Just because someone else is part of the problem doesn't mean you can't be part of the solution.
And as for the fate of these re-found pull tabs? I think I'm making a tribal necklace out of them. Why not?
I swim the San Marcos river here in Texas about once a week. I like to take my snorkel and see what I can see. There's lots of fish, there is native Texas wild rice (endangered and only grows in this river) cool shells from when Texas was under the oceans a million years ago, and, PULL TABS!
If you are a youngster, you don't remember these except the few times you see them at a park, I'm guessing. And even I'm too young to actually have used them. The modern "pop top" that's on all beer and soda these days was patented in 1975, and implemented shortly after.
But before that? Invented in 1965, the "pull tab" replaced having to use a church key to open your beer! Shazzam, right?! But, what the heck do you do with a pull tab after you've pulled it free from that frosty beverage? Well you tossed it in the river, duh!
Back to present day in our story, when I swim I started spotting a bunch of these on the sandy bottom in spots of the San Marcos river. There's not a lot of other trash, very little actually. But the pull tabs! Queue up Jimmy Buffet -- "blew out my flip flop, stepped on a pop top" ..
So I've started picking them out of the river on my floats. I snorkel the section, it's maybe 1/4 or 1/2 a mile and grab tabs. I've collected about 150 in just a couple of months! Each time I snorkel I'd guess I pick up anywhere from 10 - 20.
I'll have to get an underwater pic, it's astounding. The biggest concentration of them is at the city park, where there are tons of people in the water. (3-8 feet deep, and very very clear - it's spring fed)
Anyway, I wanted to share what I've been finding. These tabs were pulled from their cans AT LEAST 41 years ago, and are still there, waiting to cut someone's foot.
It's worth thinking about our planet, and litter in general. These tabs will never decompose.
I want to implore you! Please don't litter in our public places. Toss that junk in a trash can, and pick up litter when you can. It's not hard. Just reach down, pick it up, and toss it. Just because someone else is part of the problem doesn't mean you can't be part of the solution.
And as for the fate of these re-found pull tabs? I think I'm making a tribal necklace out of them. Why not?
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