I completed my community service event for this class through the community service fraternity I am a part of called Alpha Phi Omega. I did many different community service related activities throughout the quarter, two of which related to the environment.
The first took place on Saturday April 4th during a retreat to the beach. This took place at Point Mugu not far past Malibu. The second day of camping we walked a couple miles down the road to the nearby beach and did a beach cleanup. There we a lot of us there (about 45) so we ended up picking up much of the trash that was strewn across the beach. Some of the items we found included car parts, bottles, cans, food wrappers, and old construction material. The purpose of this event was to clean up a beach and help to preserve the habitat of the wildlife as well as promote awareness about how our actions affect the environment around us. The waste that we cleaned came not only from the beach dwellers who left their trash there, but also from the sewage systems that empty their contents into the beach. This has disastrous effects on ocean ecosystems as the pollution from chemicals kills the natural wildlife and objects that can also be found in the sewage can be swallowed by animals and kill them. It is important for us to remember this and accordingly change our actions to prevent damaging the ocean. This activity was effective in that we picked up much of the trash lying on the beach, but it was ineffective in several ways. One, we only tackled the surface of what was polluting that beach. We did not venture into the water to see what was lying underneath nor could we clean up the chemicals in the water itself. Also, we may have become more aware of the dangers beaches are facing, but our group is miniscule compared to the millions of other people on earth who are as of yet unaware of their actions. To fix this awareness must be spread throughout the population.
The other event took place on Sunday May 3rd on Hollywood Boulevard at a local shrine. The name of the even I attended was “Big Sunday.” It was basically an event where we took materials people donated such as overstocked books from local bookstores and clothed that were donated and packed them into boxes to give out to families who are less fortunate and have come across hard times and need the help.
-Ashton Yoon
April 18, 2009:
Heal the Bay Beach Clean-Up in Santa Monica
Heal the Bay was having a beach clean-up on Saturday April 18, 2009, and my friend and I decided to rally some people to go with us. No one ended up showing up at 9am, so we took the bus over to Santa Monica beach and were given plastic bags and gloves. The beach was extremely clean already in the close proximity so we made an adventure out of going two miles down the beach where there is a roped off area for bird habitat. To our dismay there were piles of trash; plastic bottle caps, straws, balloons, plastic toys, etc, among the piles of seaweed. It was a little bit confusing as to why Heal the Bay did not designate the protected bird area as part of their clean-up because it takes priority over the unprotected areas.
Nonetheless, we stayed until we had picked up every single piece of trash from the area. We then returned to the Heal the Bay tents only to find them already packed up and taken away. The only thing that remained was a giant pile of about 25 black trash bags stacked up and waiting to be hauled away.
Essentially beach clean-ups are a pathetic attempt at environmental remediation. Realistically speaking there is a great pile of garbage circulating around the Pacific Ocean that is about the area of Texas and is responsible for much of the trash that washes ashore. Not to belittle the gallant effort of beach clean-ups because they’re a great way to get communities involved; however, they’re triage approaches to a greater environmental problem. In this day and age, environmental degradation needs to be handled using larger-scale techniques. Again, essentially beach-cleanups are designed to take trash from one place and put it into a landfill. In a landfill, the trash is able to further continue its degradation of the environment by leeching toxins into groundwater and being blown back into the ocean to repeat the cycle.
We achieved our goal by cleaning up the bird habitat, which I’m sure the birds greatly appreciated. However, I would be much more content to participate in a project that is responsible for massive-scale environmental remediation.
Aubrey Michi
On Friday, May 22, I organized an event with people on my floor of Rieber Terrace to clean up the visitor section of Will Rogers Beach Cleanup. We realized that a lot of organizations tend to target Santa Monica as a cleanup beach which is likely due to the proximity of Santa Monica. We felt that we should take it upon ourselves to initiate a cleanup of a beach that is not that target of attention. We arrived at the beach in the afternoon where there was little visitation by the public, this allowed us to easily scope out the beach and target areas of high trash density that would benefit from our cleanup. We picked out trash and recyclables and put them in the necessary bins. For the most part, the areas next to the shoreline were very clean, as visitors appeared to be very conscience about their trash. However, as we migrated back to the parking lot, we noticed an extensive amount of waste near plants adjacent to the parking lot and around the trashcans despite the trash cans being so close. When asked what were doing by visitors, we simply stated that we were Environmental Science UCLA students that decided to organize a beach cleanup. Most people who interacted with us were very happy to hear students taking initiatives like this. They applauded us for our contributions and volunteer work. We explained any questions they had regarding trash, pollution, etc, in hoping that they take that back home with them and practice methods that they learned from us. It was an inspiring event, as not only did we help clean a beach that we hear little of, but we also got to spread out knowledge to the community.
Andrew Guerra
Filed under: Beach Clean-ups, Community Service/Volunteer, Santa Monica Bay, Spring 2009, UCLA Sustainability
Amrit Otal
On May 25th, my fellow classmates and I went to Santa Monica beach to take part in a beach clean-up. As we began walking on the sand, we immediately began to see pieces of litter strewn all across the beach. As we picked up the trash and made our way toward the shore, we began to see more pieces of plastic in addition to aluminum cans. Plastic in particular was the most heavily present. This beach clean-up reinforced that it is imperative that everyone take an active role to clean and preserve the environment in order to ensure that wildlife and its diversity is preserved. Plastic (and other trash) that enters the ocean is difficult for fish to digest. It results in a decline in the fish population because the fish are unable to eat and digest substantial food sources properly due to the wastes that have entered the ocean and our causing their digestive systems to deteriorate or become impaired. Although picking up trash and wastes on the beach and near the shore keeps that trash from entering the ocean, it does not target the root of the problem and eliminate waste from entirely polluting oceans. In order to accomplish this, people need to take personal initiative and participate in eco-friendly activities and simply exercise their role as good citizens and clean up after themselves. This is beneficial not only for the variety of wildlife that is present in oceans but also for us so that our water supply is clean and free of contaminants. In addition, policies and laws aimed at controlling the dispense of waste need to be passed and enforced properly so that future generations can be guaranteed a safe and clean environment.
Filed under: Beach Clean-ups, Community Service/Volunteer, Dockweiler State Beach
Janelle Doi
Beach Clean-Up
On May 16, 2009, I participated in a beach clean-up at Dockweiler State Beach Park with a small group of students from the Environment 170 class. The club that three other students and I recently organized (the Green Social Network) was hosting the event as a kickoff, and it seemed only natural to invite people from the 170 class to join, considering that most of them are environmental science majors and needed to fulfill the volunteer requirement. After getting the word out about both the club and the beach clean-up, I put together a list of interested people and sent out emails to everyone. I organized carpools so that we could be more environmentally friendly in our transportation mode, and also to encourage everyone to get to know each other. After all, this was intended to be a social event as well as a productive one. We arrived at Dockweiler at about 5pm on Saturday, and the other club leaders and I provided all of the gloves and trashbags needed. We set out, and immediately realized that we had our work cut out for us!
Dockweiler is the only local beach that allows bonfires because it has designated pit areas. While this is great for the beachgoing public, it can be devastating for the marine life if trash is not disposed of in a safe manner. Sadly, we found that very few people clean up after themselves. As we walked along the sand, we picked up trash of all shapes and sizes. We found cigarette butts, plastic bottles, paper plates, napkins, childrens’ toys, balloons, straws, and Styrofoam containers to name a few of the more frequent items. It was unbelievable how much was scattered around, and we only covered a couple miles. We managed to fill at least six large garbage bags in the two hours that we were there.
Beach clean-ups are incredibly important for the health of our oceans. Small pieces of plastic can appear to be food to many fish and other marine animals, but once they’ve ingested them, their systems cannot digest them. Their stomachs fill with this plastic and eventually they starve to death because real food cannot fit. Large pieces of trash can trap small creatures, and some of the things that people discard contain toxins that can pollute the water. If we can catch some of these harmful pieces of rubbish before they make it into the ocean, we are saving thousands of lives. Clean-ups are also important in raising awareness. While we were combing the beach, people were paying attention to us. It’s not every day you see a group of college students volunteering and having fun while doing it! We set a really great example for all of the families who were at the beach enjoying their bonfires. In fact, I actually saw one woman turn back towards the pit that she was leaving and clean up her area after she saw us coming through. She even encouraged her children to help. It felt amazing to know that we were making a difference, and that we had just taught someone the value of picking up their trash. I sincerely hope that the next time her and her family decide to go to the beach, they will remember that experience and maybe even set an example for somebody else.
Jae Suh
Having our mind towards cleaner environment can exponentially fix our nature’s degradation. From critically thinking of ways to assist that goal from our opportunity, we figured that cleaning up the beach would be a great idea since the beach is a well known area for having pollutions. So we’ve decided to visit Santa Monica beach for our obligation on May 22, 2009. From trying to clean up the beach will not only formulate it cleaner, but it’ll induce the water quality, which eventually comes back to us indirectly. From the visit, we’ve realized that our beaches can furthermore be preserved to keep its beauty. Thus, we began picking up trash along the shore to put in our effort to help as much as possible.
Although we know our ability to clean up the beach is limited due to much needed help by others combined, it is always best to assist in increasing our possibility of better sustainability for the environment. As we know, oceans occupy approximately 70% of our planet’s plane, which coincide our idea of focusing the sustainability along the beaches. In having our beach clean will further improve our water quality because more than 97% of all our water resource contains in the ocean. In addition, preserving our biodiversity will correspond with increasing nature perseveration. Since more than 90 % of the habitats are within the oceanic surface, it is one of the best ideas to preserve the conditions of the beach, thus saving much wildlife. Saving our biodiversity will not only help the natural habitat, but also help us. Materials from marine plants and animals can provide medicine for human health issues and polluting our ocean environment will result in eliminating the species of which contains cures for human diseases. Besides these factors about the oceans, there are many other things the oceans effect upon. By studying ocean sediments, we can learn more about our historical climate and how it has changed throughout time, in which we can prosper our knowledge about present climate.
Policies from our bureaucrats and policy makers for protecting the ocean can strongly help to better our ocean conditions. With their help, pollutants can be decreased by tremendous amount. With a concept of our beach clean up activity as a foundation, we can further narrow down other actions that can be provided for the sustainable ocean (e.g., discontinue dirty fishing, harsh trawling, seafood contamination, protection for the sea turtles for species maintenance , further research on ocean conservation, and eliminate ship pollutions.) These policies can be great leading solutions for our future sustainability for the oceans.
Jae Suh
Filed under: Beach Clean-ups, Community Service/Volunteer, Spring 2009 | Tags: Ocean Beach, San Francisco
Megan Miller
On May 24th, I participated in a Beach Clean Up (sponsored by SF Surfrider) in San Francisco, CA. The clean up took place on Ocean Beach in San Francisco (around Lincoln street). I, along with the rest of the group, cleaned a span of Ocean Beach for several hours. I took a trash bag that was provided for me from the sponsors of the event and I picked up any pieces of plastic or trash that I could see throughout the beach. I participated in this event with other members of my family (my sister, brother, and parents) because I was home for the weekend for a family celebration. This event was particularly important to me because I attended high school only a few blocks from the location of the clean up. I visited the beach regularly during high school; however, I never attended an organized clean up. This event made me realize how vital my participation, and the participation of everyone in the local community, was in keeping our beaches clean and healthy.
The motivation of this community service activity was to reduce pollution. The immense amount of garbage (largely due to non-biodegradable plastic) in the ocean, particularly the Pacific Ocean, is harming the local and non-local ecosystems within the ocean. Furthermore, a detriment to the local ecosystem, caused by pollution, also causes a domino effect in consequential detriments. For example, a large portion of global warming is caused by excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. One mechanism to help relieve this intensive stress on the atmosphere and help reduce global warming is phytoplankton, which fixes carbon into the deep sea where the carbon can remain harmlessly indefinitely. However, the excessive amounts of trash and plastic in the ocean can harm the phytoplankton population, thus creating a chain effect between pollution and an increase in carbon dioxide (or a decrease in carbon dioxide alleviation) and an increase in global warming. Although a beach clean up does not fix the source of the problem, the clean up serves as a last-resort attempt to remove the pollutants before the garbage enters the water and merely contributes to the enormous problem that already exists within the ocean. When the trash enters the ocean, it joins the mass of garbage within the sea and the problem becomes far less manageable. Further efforts to help reduce the problem would include efforts to reduce littering, encourage recycling, reduce the manufacturing of plastics, and educate people on the harm that is being caused by consumerism.
UCLA Triathlon Team Beach Cleanup @ Will Rogers State Beach
On Sunday, May 17, 2009, the UCLA Triathlon Team went to Will Rogers State Beach to hold their own beach cleanup. We worked on an approximately 500 cubic meter stretch of the beach, around the main storm drain leading out to the water. Our main purpose was to remove any trash that could be safely removed from that stretch of beach. Pieces of trash picked up ranged in size from used cigarette butts, to a pair of size 34 khakis. The team combed this section of beach for nearly 3 hours, until every piece of trash we could find had been removed.
Will Rogers State Beach is a relatively safe beach in the LA County area in terms of water quality, according to recent reports released by Heal the Bay. The water quality in this area can be greatly affected by stormwater runoff, however. Will Rogers State Beach is situated just at the bottom of Temescal Canyon, meaning that it is the main recipient of stormwater runoff coming from the Pacific Palisades. Due to high levels of development in the area, a great deal of stormwater during rainstorms makes its way out to the ocean. This water will pick up any trash or pollutants that it meets on its way to the ocean. Our goal in cleaning this stretch of beach surrounding the storm drain was to reduce the amount of trash and pollutants that the stormwater runoff would encounter during the next storm. Large pieces of trash, such as plastic bags or soda can holders can injure and even kill marine life. We picked up an alarming number of cigarettes off of the beach, which contain nicotine and arsenic. Nicotine can affect the metabolic rates of fish, and arsenic is a poison that in high enough concentrations can kill marine life.
The purpose of this beach cleanup was not simply to make the beach more aesthetically pleasing, but was also to preserve the water quality of one of the safer beaches in Southern California. Heal the Bay’s latest report named 9 Southern California beaches among the 10 dirtiest in all of California, so it is extremely important to protect the beaches in the area that are still clean.
-Steven Kontz
UCLA Undergraduate, IOE
UCLA Triathlon Team Member
Filed under: Beach Clean-ups, Community Service/Volunteer, Santa Monica Bay, Spring 2009
A warm, sunny day, plus a beach, equals BEACH CLEAN-UP! On Saturday, May 16, 2009, I participated in Heal the Bay’s monthly beach clean up day. More specifically, the event took place at Toe’s Beach, in Playa del Rey. I woke up excited this day, because I had never participated in such an event. The thought was truly thrilling, for I knew I was going to do my part in helping our beach become a little cleaner. Once we arrived to Toe’s Beach, we found ourselves surrounded by a large amount of people who were willing to engage in the same activity. Young and old, we all managed to get past the sea of people and register for the event. The cleanup started promptly at 10 a.m.. A small group of us gathered and listened, as an official volunteer spoke about where our trash goes, why it is important to clean our beaches, as well as discuss the safety measures behind the beach cleanup. It is interesting, yet sad to see that most of the trash we leave behind ends up in a storm drain and into the oceans. This little lecture took about 10 minutes. Once we were done listening to the official volunteer, I collected my trash bag and gloves, and began my journey to PICK UP SOME TRASH!
As I began to walk around, I noticed right away the trash that lurked within the sand. Styrofoam here, Styrofoam there, Styrofoam EVERYWHERE! It was as if a Styrofoam bomb went off at the beach. Luckily, we were there to clean up most of it. As I continued my quest, I came across other items such as cigarette butts, cigarette filters, wrappers (candy), straws (mind you: Starbuck’s straws), corks, beads, bottle tops, and a Cup of Noodles Styrofoam cup. I went as far as to go through the seaweed, because more often than non, trash gets caught within these ocean plants.
As I was picking up trash, I managed to grab a black, sticky substance called TAR. I was so disgusted by this, because everything was just sticking to my gloves. As a result, I had a hard time getting the tar off my gloves. In the midst of all of this, I conjured a device: A Poking Stick. I made it my mission to retrieve as much tar as a could with the Poking Stick. Everywhere I looked there seemed to be tar. The more tar I collected, the more I began to think about what animals could get caught in this icky substance. But amongst all my thinking, I saw a fiddler crab emerge from the sand. I managed to take a picture of this little guy before we left to continue our work. Its almost ironic that despite my endless efforts to collect tar from the beach, I still managed to get pieces of it all over my flip flops.
After two hours and walking three-fourths of a mile, it was time to turn around and head back towards our group. I finished filling out the tally cards, and handed them in as well as our trash bag. At the end of this event, there was a raffle taking place in which all participants had the opportunity to win random prizes. I did not win at the raffle, but I did win the satisfaction of helping make this beach just a little cleaner.
The principle issue here is CONSERVATION. What we did at Toe’s Beach on the 16th, was just way of helping to restore and conserve the beach and its wildlife. The overall goal of this program is to preserve/conserve the natural habitats of the animals so that they may continue to flourish in a safe and clean environment. Preservation/conservation is key to understanding habitats as well the organisms that reside within. If they are destroyed, then we, as a society,will lose this valuable information in the long run. Heal the Bay offers individuals, young and old, the opportunity to see the trash that surrounds these beaches. By giving the young crowd the hands on experience of picking up the trash, they may later on continue the quest of keeping our beaches clean. Lastly, they also get the opportunity to understand that it is because of humans that trash gets out to the beach and its environment in the first place, and it is our job to clean up what we have started.
Filed under: Beach Clean-ups, Santa Monica Bay, Spring 2009 | Tags: Heal the Bay
A warm, sunny day, plus a beach, equals BEACH CLEAN-UP! On Saturday, May 16, 2009, I participated in Heal the Bay’s monthly beach clean up day. More specifically, the event took place at Toe’s Beach, in Playa del Rey. I woke up excited this day, because I had never participated in such an event. The thought was truly thrilling, for I knew I was going to do my part in helping our beach become a little cleaner. Once we arrived to Toe’s Beach, we found ourselves surrounded by a large amount of people who were willing to engage in the same activity. Young and old, we all managed to get past the sea of people and register for the event.
The cleanup started promptly at 10 a.m.. A small group of us gathered and listened, as an official volunteer spoke about where our trash goes, why it is important to clean our beaches, as well as discuss the safety measures behind the beach cleanup.
It is interesting, yet sad to see that most of the trash we leave behind ends up in a storm drain
and into the oceans. This little lecture took about 10 minutes. Once we were done listening to the official volunteer, I collected my trash bag and gloves, and began my journey to PICK UP SOME TRASH!
As I began to walk around, I noticed right away the trash that lurked within the sand. Styrofoam here, Styrofoam there, Styrofoam EVERYWHERE! It was as if a Styrofoam bomb went off at the beach. Luckily, we were there to clean up most of it. As I continued my quest, I came across other items such as cigarette butts, cigarette filters, wrappers (candy), straws (mind you: Starbuck’s straws), corks, beads, bottle tops, and a Cup of Noodles Styrofoam cup. I went as far as to go through the seaweed, because more often than non, trash gets caught within these ocean plants.
As I was picking up trash, I managed to grab a black, sticky substance called TAR. I was so disgusted by this, because everything was just sticking to my gloves. As a result, I had a hard time getting the tar off my gloves. In the midst of all of this, I conjured a device: A Poking Stick. I made it my mission to retrieve as much tar as a could with the Poking Stick. Everywhere I looked there seemed to be tar. The more tar I collected, the more I began to think about what animals could get caught in this icky substance. But amongst all my thinking, I saw a fiddler crab emerge from the sand. I managed to take a picture of this little guy before we left to continue our work. Its almost ironic that despite my endless efforts to collect tar from the beach, I still managed to get pieces of it all over my flip flops.
After two hours and walking three-fourths of a mile, it was time to turn around and head back towards our group. I finished filling out the tally cards, and handed them in as well as our trash bag.
At the end of this event, there was a raffle taking place in which all participants had the opportunity to win random prizes. I did not win at the raffle, but I did win the satisfaction of helping make this beach just a little cleaner.
The principle issue here is CONSERVATION. What we did at Toe’s Beach on the 16th, was just way of helping to restore and conserve the beach and its wildlife. The overall goal of this program is to preserve/conserve the natural habitats of the animals so that they may continue to flourish in a safe and clean environment. Preservation/conservation is key to understanding habitats as well the organisms that reside within. If they are destroyed, then we, as a society,will lose this valuable information in the long run. Heal the Bay offers individuals, young and old, the opportunity to see the trash that surrounds these beaches. By giving the young crowd the hands on experience of picking up the trash, they may later on continue the quest of keeping our beaches clean. Lastly, they also get the opportunity to understand that it is because of humans that trash gets out to the beach and its environment in the first place, and it is our job to clean up what we have started.
