Keeping my ocean beach clean
By WEN
On September 25th, a week after coastal cleanup day, a small but mighty group of enviros made it to Ocean Beach to find what was left over.
We found plastic nurdles, photoshoot equipment, abandoned suitcases, blankets, socks, cigarette butts and balloons. We even found clamshells – but not the kind you should find on a beach.
We had long term partners to WEN show up to make the event a success. Eva Holman of Surfrider Foundation, Reuse Collective, Upstream gave participants the download of what to pick up and what to leave. Robyn Purchia, who wrote about the event and the larger single use plastic problem in period products in her weekly column in the Examiner was there representing Mothers Out Front. Kalie Granier and Maren Mouhanna of Loudspring drove in all the way from Santa Cruz to clean up, take beautiful photos and work on the collage after the event. New board member Anneli Tostar and ex board member Shahira Esmail were happy to spend some time together and even found a Happy Birthday balloon waiting to be rescued.
Kalie taking a break from cleaning up and taking photos
Maren found a lonely sandal
Eva, Robyn and Meghan at the collection point
Even an actual birthday party would not generate the kind of smiles you get when you finally meet your board members in person
Supervisors Gordon Mar, Myrna Melgar and Connie Chan, took time out of their busy schedules and came to give opening remarks and stayed and cleaned up vast sections of the beach. They brought their families and aides Meghan Imperial and Kelly Groth along. Hearing Supervisor Mar talk about supporting grassroots action to reduce waste, discovering Supervisor Melgar’s zero waste roots and learning about Supervisor Chan’s proposed legislation to make corporations liable for plastic waste gave the organizers the inspiration and zest needed to continue doing this work.
Supervisor Mar whose district we were in is a true believer in keeping our oceans plastic free
Supervisor Melgar talked about her childhood days in South America where plastic was not ever a consideration
Supervisor Chan is planning to introduce legislation in 2022 to make corporations take responsibility for plastic waste
Beach cleanups are the entry drug for environmentalism. They are a fun, easy and fascinatingly gross way to engage people who do not think of themselves as environmentalists. If you want to initiate someone close to you into doing more, get them to a beach cleanup. If you want us to arrange one, just let us know.
