Are you that person still searching for a creative costume idea? Want to stand out from the crowd? Your Week in Ocean is here to help with some truly terrifying suggestions…

Cigarette Cyclops

Take a look up and down tavern row, along Broadway or any place smokers congregate on the regular and you’ll see this idea emerged straight from a horrifying reality: Cigarette butts have the dubious distinction of being the world’s Most Littered Item of 2015!

Cigarette butts don’t deteriorate, but instead poison our wildlife and waterways. Taking on this global, local challenge is former Humboldt kid, current San Diego Surfrider rock star James Marvel. Please, hold on to your butts – every day.

Plastic Bag Monster

Recognize this character? If you still accept your groceries and goods in plastic bags, then beware! It only takes one year for this guy to grow underneath your sink, in your kitchen drawer or, even worse, along our roadsides. About one million plastic bags were collected off beaches globally in 2015 and, as anyone who traverses the county knows, they’re an ongoing environmental hazard locally. Keep an eye on the ongoing fight to defeat this beast – a perfect way to wrap up Raptober.

Ghost Fishing

When fishing gear is discarded, abandoned or lost, it continues to trap entangle and kill marine life. It can also be a navigational hazard. UC Davis worked with North Coast fishermen to help prevent and reduce entanglement locally, but ghost fishing continues to haunt our ocean around the world.

Ghoulish Glasses

Enjoying a brewed beverage in the dunes? Out at Moonstone as part of your sunset picnic? This year 396,121 glass bottles were collected during International Coastal Cleanup Day and continue to be a problem at Humboldt’s beaches. Don’t insult our wonderful local brewers by turning their bottles into litter! And don’t demean our beaches by trashing them. Pro tip: Brown bottles equal cash. Here’s where to recycle!

“Straw” Scarecrow

Be a modern scarecrow with a costume made of plastic straws! An estimated 519,911 straws and stirrers were collected off the beaches in 2015. Next time you order, skip the straw. Why so scary?

An Eco-Superhero!

Defeat these trash demons this weekend! Be an eco-superhero by joining PacOut Green Team, Surfrider Humboldt and the Northcoast Environmental Center for a Halloween Beach Cleanup! Meet at the Samoa Boat Ramp at 9am. Don your costumes – best costume wins a prize!

Delia Bense-Kang is the Marine Protected Areas Coordinator for the Northcoast Environmental Center and chairs Surfrider Foundation’s Humboldt Chapter.