September 20, 2008 : CA Coastal Cleanup Day : The Results

This morning at 9 A.M. I went down to Main Beach in Laguna Beach to participate in the Coastal Cleanup (9 AM - noon). The first person to greet me at Main Beach was Roger Butow, founder of Clean Water Now! (check out the links on the right, his site is there too!) - it was great to finally meet him. While we were chatting, I asked him if he knew the creator of Laguna Beat (now my favorite Laguna Beach blog), and he said, "John! Yeah, he's right over there! Do you want to meet him?" adding a quick, "do you like him or not?" (and yet, even though I had never met him before, in reflecting on this matter, how could I not like John? ... His "You Suck at Parking" (or Driving, or Stopping) photos are hilarious, and it is so awesome to have daily shots of Laguna!) So I answered, "I like him!" and Roger took me over to meet John Krill. Awesome!

After socializing with two great individuals that I had already come to appreciate on the net, it was time for me to get to business - Cleaning up the beach! I picked Main as I always do, because it is the beach I always come to before/after work, or on my off days... I have a special relationship with it, and I always feel better when I take off my shoes, walk the shoreline barefoot, sing quietly to the sand and waves, and breathe in that salty air. With two distinctly colored and large trash bags and one clear plastic glove, a pencil and an Ocean Conservancy checklist of things I might find, I set on my way to pick up some trash!

Among the more consequential things I found: a pair of women's sunglasses, a leather belt, and a black shirt. Of course, there were the usual cigarette butts, plastic wrappers, straws, glass bottles, plastic bottles, bottle caps (and why aren't these recyclable, by the way?) - I was spared the used condoms this year, but perhaps someone else this morning wasn't so lucky. While there weren't great masses of people this morning, groups of friends, groups of children, and a couple moms with their kids were doing a good thing for the ocean.

Here's the "update" (results so far) on the Laguna cleanup from John's site "Laguna Beat" (Which you can also see HERE):

Update from Roger Butow, founder of Clean Water Now!:

Number of participants including staff: 320
Trash: 538 lbs.
Recycled: 396 lbs.
Miles of beach: 6 miles
Miles of Aliso Creek streambed: 1.5 miles
Total: 7.5 miles

Anyhoo, at 5:30 PM I returned to the beach, being idealistic, and fooling myself into thinking that after such an extensive search by all the volunteers, I would find Main to be spic-and-span. Alas, by 5:30, the beach was newly littered by irresponsible beach-goers and the ebb and flow of the sea, spitting out new items that it was choking on for who knows how long. I think that the biggest problem is parenting - we desperately need more good parents who will instill essential values in their children's minds (such as picking up your mess, leaving the places you visit better/cleaner than they were when you first got there, etc.). It always surprises me to see how many soda cups and burger wrappers are left behind, right there on the sand, and how many people just walk on by, as if all this trash was a natural part of the scenery.

Anyways, the next Coastal Cleanup Day is on December 6th, 2008 from 9 AM - noon (though you can always stay later, or come at any time, any day of the year!) :) I'm pretty much sure to be there, hope to see you too!