Our Oceans Are Drowning in Plastic
Every day, we generate around 3.5 million tonnes of plastic waste. This is ten times the amount we produced a century ago. On Saturday, September 15th, the largest one-day volunteer event in California takes place. Volunteers will be getting together to take part in the International Coastal Clean-Up Day organized by Ocean Conservancy. Last year, in only three hours, 800,000 pounds of rubbish and recyclables were removed from California’s coastline and inland waterways.
Join Me at The Beach This Weekend?
It’s been over a year since my last beach clean. For my previous clean, I joined Lush Cosmetics and Kurmalliance at Marina Del Ray and we used paddle boards to collect junk from the sea. I was surprised by the amount of polystyrene floating around and the random objects we found. We picked up cleaning products, a container of powdered bleach and footwear. After hearing about the International Coastal Clean-Up the other week, I was keen to get involved and also make an effort to help my feeshy friends more often. In preparation for Saturday, and future beach cleans, I’ve compiled a list of organisations in LA who regularly organise beach cleans and you can join this weekend. I’d love for you guys to join me and you don’t even have to go to the beach to take part. There are also 25 inland locations.
Beach Based Organisations
Heal the Bay – To sign up click here
Surfrider Foundation – To sign up click here
Cabrillo Maine Aquarium – To sign up click here
Los Angeles Waterkeeper – To sign up click here
Orange County Coastkeeper – To sign up click here
Inland Based Organisations
Via the Heal the Bay website, you can access a map which details all the inland sites also doing clean ups. There are locations all over LA, from Thousand Oaks, Pasadena, to Culver City. All of these events will prevent our trash from getting into our oceans. To view the site map – click here
See you on Saturday
If I’ve managed to convince you to join me on Saturday, (I’ll be at Santa Monica College’s adopted beach site – at the end of Pico Boulevard/Bay Street by tower 20), I’d like to recommend a few things you’ll want to bring and I also wanted to share a link from the rideshare company Lyft as they are offering $10 off Lyft rides from select cleanup sites on Saturday. Click here to find out which sites qualify.
Recommended things to bring
- Water
- Snacks
- Sun cream
- Hat
- Hand sanitizer
- Bucket and gloves (although these are sometimes provided)
I hope to see you on Saturday!
Pictures of me: Courtesy of Lush Cosmetics – Photographer, Charles-Ryan Barber
6 Comments
Yes! I love this! I was there on Saturday and it was so uplifting to see so many people helping to keep our oceans clean ??. Thank you for spreading the word Jess. X
Which beach were you on? Maybe we passed each other! That’s so cool that you were there. It makes me really happy to hear that! xxx
This is great to see. The oceans need our help! There’s a similar initiative in Baltimore that draws loads of volunteers and as a surfer, I always feel grateful to anyone getting involved in this kind of work. Thank you Jessica!
Surfers totally get the sea damage we’re doing. I love that you’re aware of the Baltimore volunteering!
That’s so cool. I don’t live near a beach, but it seems like an awesome effort to partake in.
Definitely! The organisers knew a lot of people don’t live near beaches so there were some inland “cleans.” Hopefully, those will become popular too!