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 15^th, 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