Tag: international coastal cleanup

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Cleanup! Cleanup! Everybody Cleanup!


ICC, Worcester, Massachusetts, 2007

If you’ve read my first book, TRACKING TRASH, you know that I’m a fan of the ocean cleanup extravaganza known as the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC). One day, hundreds of thousands of volunteers, millions of pounds of trash lifted from shores and deposited in safer places AND a twenty-five year record of every single item collected*. What’s not to love? Having participated in a few events myself, I know first-hand the impact they have on local beaches and the people who love them.

This year, The Ocean Conservancy is encouraging event organizers to take their work to the next level: clean up beaches, record the trash you find … and at the same time do everything you can to be sure you make as little impact on the planet as possible. No more Boxes of Joe on the sidelines, folks; bring your own coffee in a re-useable mug. I love it.

Participating in a planned ICC event is an excellent way to empower students who are aware of the ocean pollution issue. (TRACKING TRASH readers, for example.) Yes, there is a lot of trash in the ocean, but we can do something about it. We can clean it up, we can look carefully at what we find, and we can change our habits. You can participate alone, with your family, with a classroom of students or as part of a scout group. The options are endless, and the impact is real.

This year’s ICC is September 17, and you can find more information and an event near you at The Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup page.

For more information on ICC events happening in Massachusetts, where the festivities are spread out over a two month timeframe, visit the 2011 Coastsweep page.

* For 26 years, volunteers have counted all the debris collected on beaches around the world during ICC. Their results are compiled and published annually in The Ocean Conservancy’s State of the Ocean report. You can access the 2010 report from the ICC webpage linked above.

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Lincoln School

Last year I offered a free school visit raffle for participants in International Coastal Cleanup events in Massachusetts. There were 2900 entrants (hooray for the Bay State and its dedicated ocean lovers!) and the grand prize winner was Emily, a seventh grader from Brookline. Yesterday I visited her school.

As it turns out, I have been to the William Lincoln School once before. But if ever there was a school that I wanted to visit again, this was it. First of all, last year’s trip was a bit unsettling for me. Somehow I managed to leave my computer bag (with my laptop inside!) sitting on the floor of my garage when I left for the visit. Once I recovered from the shock and embarrassment of this oversight, I did my presentations sans slideshow. All went well, and the Lincoln students and staff were amazingly kind about my gaffe. Even still, I was more than thrilled to go back this year and show them my best.

A highlight of this year’s visit was the opportunity to speak with Mrs. Zobel’s eight grade science students, who have spent a good deal of this year exploring ecosystems and sharing them in book format with younger students. What a treat to talk about the process of writing nonfiction for young people with writers in the thick of that very process! I look forward to reading some of these books when they are finished.

Many thanks to Emily, COASTSWEEPer extraordinaire, and Sue Zobel, who coordinated my visit. In honor of Emily and Sue and the entire Lincoln community, I’m going to officially kick off the International Coastsweet Get-The-Word-Out season:

This year’s International Coastal Cleanup will be held worldwide on September 19, 2009; you can find an event near you at the ICC website. Massachusetts residents can visit the COASTSWEEP website, where 2009 ICC events in the Bay State will soon be listed.

 

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2008 ICC Results Are In

“Marine debris doesn’t fall from the sky, it falls from human hands—and human hands have the power to stop it.”

This week The Ocean Conservancy published the results of the 2008 International Coastal Cleanup. A RISING TIDE OF OCEAN DEBRIS AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT details the hard work of the more than 380,000 volunteers from 104 countries who cleaned beaches and counted trash last fall. It’s sobering stuff: more than 11 million cigarette butts, plastic bags, food wrappers, plastic bottles, balloons, tangled fishing lines, etc were plucked from beaches around the world.

You can read more highlights and download the full report here. (TRACKING TRASH readers may recognize the seal on the cover of the new ICC report; it’s the same seal featured on the cover of my book. Photographers Yva Momatiuk and John Eastcott captured these images of a fur seal entangled in abandoned fishing net on South Georgia Island … and they continue to place them where they will inspire ocean conservation.)

This year’s International Coastal Cleanup will be held on September 19, 2009; mark your calendars now … and sign up here.