Judy Hom
The California Coastal Cleanup is part of the Ocean Conservancy’s international cleanup effort. On the 3rd Saturday in September, people join together at all sites around the world to pick up litter and trash from beaches, lakes, and waterways. This year, 5 volunteers from Nisei Ski Club assisted with the cleanup of Crown Beach in Alameda. This effort is part of NSC’s community service work.
Karen, Curtis, Sandy, Winston, and I got out to Crown Beach would 8:30am. Armed with gloves, bucket, and trash picker, we spent 2.5 hours cleaning up the beach. Part of the job was to itemize and tally up the trash we found. This way, the coastal commission can put policies in place to reduce trash and litter. For example, the ban on one-time use plastic bags was put into place because the coastal cleanup collected so many plastic bags during their cleanups. I am happy to say that we didn’t find plastic bags but cigarette butts comprised the majority of our trash.
It felt good to be part of the effort to clean up the coast. Our planet needs some help from time to time. There are many sites that need to be cleaned around the state and some of the sites may be in your “backyard”. Think about volunteering next year. Check out the California clean up map for a list of sites.
 NSC cleanup crew |
 Winston is ready to cleanup! |
