The Power of One

Here’s how the story goes.

Once upon a time, in a far away land called Texas there was a woman who enjoyed walking on the beach. As time went by she grew tired of seeing all the trash on the beach and decided to do something about it. This one woman managed to organize a beach cleanup in 1986 involving about  2800 volunteers; They collected more than 124 tons of trash. If an average elephant weighs six to eight tons you could say they picked up about 20 elephants. In two hours.

Since then, in that area alone, the Surfrider Foundation South Texas Chapter claims more than 7300 tons of trash have been collected. One woman’s efforts more than 20 years ago helped spawn the Annual International Coastal Cleanup that finds hundreds of thousands of people from around the globe swarming to marine and freshwater beaches to clean up the man-made mess.

On the 19^th of September I lured my family out of bed with some Eggos and coffee (juice for the kid) and hauled them down to a popular surf spot: Swami’s. The local Ocean Conservancy chapter was there with bags, gloves and instructions on how to pick up everything from normal trash to dead animals and dog poo (I’m not kidding about that last one) and then we all headed down the stairs to the beach. I have to admit I was pretty impressed

army man

with some of the stuff people found, including clothing, pots for plants and even a little army guy. Amazing what you’ll find when you start digging around in the washed-up kelp.

According to the Ocean Conservancy the event now includes more than six million volunteers in 127 countries. I can boast having participated in 2 countries that don’t share any borders: Japan and now the US.

The beaches in Okinawa, Japan are significantly more impacted by trash then the ones here.

Maddie and trash

In addition to the yearly, international event the Okinawa Ocean Culture & Environment Action Network (Okinawa O.C.E.A.N.) organizes monthly cleanups throughout the summer months that barely scratch the surface of what there is on those beaches. Part of the problem for Okinawa, a relatively small island in the Pacific, is just that: it’s an island. Trash collection and disposal are major issues for islands due to the small amount of land area and it is expensive and not always possible to ship it somewhere else. In addition, there are often economical issues that can keep island communities from being able to focus on trash problems. If you are worried about where your next meal is coming from, you aren’t going to be as worried about picking up the food wrappers left on the local beach. Okinawa is also located along a major ocean current- the Kuroshio- which runs along the West side. Fishing debris and other items from ships are a large part of the trashy beach problems they face.

Here in sunny San Diego it appeared to me that most of the trash came from the beach-side of things. There were a lot of straws and cigarette butts in addition to random trash thrown

chris and trash

down from the roadway above. Despite this, I was pretty impressed with the amount of stuff people found out there because at first glance the place looked really clean.

My husband and daughter were great sports and not only helped in a cause I feel very strongly about but were also willing participants in my photos. Thank you to them!!

Some of you may be wondering what a beach cleanup has to do with my being a DEL MEM student. In answer, I am currently unemployed I am trying to get out there and do and see some stuff that has to do with current environmental issues or that might have some relation to the job I am hoping I will someday get. Leave me alone: I’m a dreamer.

swamis

All photos in this post are my sole property and are, as such, copywrited. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.  If you disregard this I will hunt you down and TP your house.