Bringin’ in the Bins!

Today’s blog post comes from ILACSD’s Director of Development & Marketing, and beach lover, Morgan Justice-Black.

Were you one of the many who braved the traffic and parking struggles to hit the beach over Memorial Day weekend? Well, if you happened to be along Mission Bay, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach or Ocean Beach, you probably saw these big cardboard bins on the sand.

Memorial Day at Belmont Shores, before…

I Love A Clean San Diego and FreePB.org worked together again this year to order hundreds of temporary trash and recycle bins for the big beach holidays over the summer. This year is the first year that we were able to place the bins in time for Memorial Day weekend, and man were they popular!

Memorial Day at Belmont Shores- after!

The City of San Diego Parks & Recreation Department provides major help in this endeavor, both placing the bins and removing them, and hauling all of the trash to the landfill. They also calculate how many tons of debris the bins collected. Thanks to the efforts of these bins, we avoid handing out beachside next to images like this… 

To make sure that these bins are durable enough to stand up to the crowds (and the sometimes inclement weather), the bins are double-walled for strength. The cost for these bins certainly adds up. Thankfully this year, we had great support from Think Blue San Diego, Pacific Beach Shore Club, Typhoon Saloon, car2go, SeaWorld and many other sponsors who are recognized on the bins.

If your Fourth of July plans involve a little beach action in PB, MB or OB, make sure you tell your friends that the bins are out there for you to use. As the Clean Beach Coalition motto states, Enjoy the Scene, But Keep it Clean!

Kids’ Ocean Day: Through The Years

Today’s blog post comes from Monica Rosquillas, our environmental educator.

Kids’ Ocean Day is just around the corner, only 1 week away! This is a BIG event; almost 1,000 San Diego Unified Elementary school students from 7 title-one schools will come out to the beach to participate in a cleanup and be part of an aerial art formation.   Although I Love A Clean San Diego has been participating in Kids Ocean Day for the last 15 years, this is my first Kids Ocean Day and I couldn’t be more excited…and nervous.  If you would like to be a part of this one-of-a-kind event, adult volunteers are needed from 8am-12pm. Please contact Lexi Ambrogi at lambrogi@cleansd.org.

A sketch of this year’s aerial art

What is aerial art? Good question! It is art that you can see from the sky! Participants gather to create a message of conservation, which will be captured by Out of the Lens photographer, Niki, in a helicopter.  To help us out on this big day we’ll have more than 100 amazing volunteers, including teachers and parents. So how exactly do we get the image on the ground? The ILACSD Aerial Art Team will be arriving very early in the morning to outline the design of the aerial art. This part is crucial; we have to make sure everything is measured out precisely so that our design comes out as planned.  Communication and attention to detail are key, after all, it takes a lot of hands to turn a 8.5”x11” drawing into a 170’x300’ aerial art piece. After the cleanup, the students will form part of the aerial art. Once everyone is in place, a helicopter will fly overhead and Niki will take photographs from a bird’s eye view. Since we can’t see what the design looks like from the ground, we have to trust that we measured everything correctly and that our design came out well. This is the moment we are looking forward to with most anticipation! Fortunately, we have a few Kids’ Ocean Day veterans on our aerial art team who have years of experience. As you can see from the pictures, I Love A Clean San Diego has done a great job with previous aerial art design and event execution, and although we do have a very daunting task ahead of us, we are positive this year’s Kids’ Ocean Day will be a success!

Every year, Kids’ Ocean Day sends a new message that’s all about protecting and conserving our Oceans. The message this year is “Listen”. What’s so great about this message is that it is from the kids, and it can be interpreted in different ways. What does it mean to you?

This year’s design is child holding a shell to her ear and the word “Listen”. The kid with the shell is a bit of change from previous years when we’ve had marine animals be our aerial art piece. That’s why this year’s is unique and special. In previous years we’ve had an Octopus, a Mako Shark, a California Least Tern, A Sea Turtle, A Bottlenose Dolphin, a Gray Whale, and a snail. All of these are important animal species that inhabit our local marine habitats.

Our 2012 aerial art sketch turns into…

A real-life image made up of almost 1,000 kids!

Why do this? Why do we arrive at the beach at 5 in the morning and bring hundreds of students and adults to form a child and shell in the sand? Partly because the aerial art looks really cool. All those little dots in the picture are actually people, forming a huge image, it’s not something you do every day. We hope the children experience this as well. They get to come to the beach on a school day, actively help the environment by participating in a beach cleanup, and be a part of this cool picture that they can have forever. The most important part is that they are giving the message of “Listen”; telling the world we have to listen to the ocean and help.

Meet Niki, taking photography to new heights!

Living in San Diego, we are fortunate to have so many local organizations making a difference in our community. We are happy to collaborate with Outside the Lens for this year’s Kids’ Ocean Day. Niki Even, Program Director at Outside the Lens, will be taking photography to new heights by becoming this year’s aerial art photographer. On June 6th, close to 1,000 San Diego youth will descend on Crown Point Shores in Mission Bay to send a clear environmental message to the community. These students will perform a beach cleanup, and then form a giant aerial art image of a child listening to a seashell and spelling out the word “LISTEN”, reminding San Diegans about the importance of listening to and living in harmony with the marine environment.

Photos by youth from Outside the Lens

Niki Even has worked for Outside the Lens for the last 6 years, first as the lead media educator and now as the program director.  Her favorite part of each day is the ability to share the power of digital media to youth throughout San Diego County.   She is thrilled to continue the partnership with I Love A Clean San Diego during Kids’ Ocean Day, combining her love for photography and her passion for education regarding important community topics.

Outside the Lens empowers youth to use digital media to create change within themselves, their community and their world. Their year-long outreach programs include a curriculum component called Water in Focus.  Here, students participate in a global photography project that calls them to action as they document the use, waste, conservation, and pollution of water through words and images.  I Love a Clean San Diego has participated in visiting Outside the Lens’ classrooms as guest speakers and partnered on community water events with Outside the Lens students.

Niki says, “[i]t’s always exciting to watch our students make a positive change in their personal habits or help create community change based on the images they took and the opportunity to see their world through a new lens, the lens of the camera.”

We are so excited to work with OTL once more and look forward to seeing the captured image.

Boxes Set to Hit the Beach for Memorial Day!

With Memorial Day Weekend approaching, many of us are making plans to spend time with family and friends at our beautiful San Diego beaches. But at the end of the day, barbeques, picnics and parties tend to create one thing: lots of trash.

For years, the influx of beachgoers had been synonymous with an increase in litter, as the existing trash cans at beaches tend to fill up very quickly. But I Love A Clean San Diego is leading the charge in reversing this trend with an innovative program called the Clean Beach Coalition.

The Clean Beach Coalition is a joint effort between non-profits, community groups and local government agencies to prevent litter and pollution from our San Diego beaches. We work closely with the City of San Diego’s Park and Recreation Department, Free PB, and several local businesses to bring this summertime program to our beaches. You may recognize this cardboard bin [see attached photo of bin]—we place 200 of them at the most popular city beaches over the summer holiday weekends to ensure that beachgoers will have access to trash and recycling receptacles.

Enjoy your bash but can your trash!

How effective is this program? Last year, these bins collected more than 84,000 pounds of trash and recyclables that may have otherwise ended up as litter on our shoreline. And over the last 3 years, we’ve seen a significant decrease in the amount of trash collected from Mission Beach at our yearly July 5^th cleanup, the Morning After Mess. At the 2012 event, our volunteers found nearly a 50% decrease in litter from just 2 years earlier!

In fact, we’re so excited about the impact of the Clean Beach Coalition that we’re going to kick off this program one holiday earlier in 2013. In addition to placing 100 bins at beaches on July 4 and 50 over Labor Day weekend, we’ll have another 50 trash and recycling bins out at your favorite beach hangouts over Memorial Day Weekend! Look for them at Mission Bay, Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach and Mission Beach.

We’d love to see this program in action, so we’re giving away 10 Rubio’s gift cards to the first 10 people to send us photos of our Clean Beach Coalition bins on the beaches! Snap a photo of the bin in use and email it to iloveacleansd@gmail.com.

Want to get involved? We’re looking for a handful of dedicated volunteers to help us assemble these temporary bins on Thursday, May 23. Contact Lexi at lambrogi@cleansd.org or (619)-704-2778 to sign up.

Help us spread the word about preventing litter at the beach this summer. Need a catchphrase? Try this one: enjoy the scene, but keep it clean!

Carroll Canyon Cleanup, a Site Captain’s Perspective on Creek to Bay

Today’s blog post comes from our Marketing Intern, Christina, who fearlessly led a cleanup site as part of the Creek to Bay Cleanup. 

This year’s Creek to Bay Cleanup was a huge success thanks to all of our hard working staff, interns and volunteers! We’ve all had time to exchange stories and reflect on our experiences, and I thought I’d take this opportunity to share my experience with all of you. This was not only my first Creek to Bay, but my first ever event with I Love A Clean San Diego, so I was excited and a bit nervous as I served as a site captain for Carroll Canyon.

Upon arrival, I noticed how steep the descent to the actual canyon was and felt a bit intimidated knowing I was about to lead groups of students and cub scouts down the treacherous hill through mounds of poison oak. Some of the volunteers blew me away with their incredible enthusiasm and dedication. For example, one man who was volunteering with John Deer Water, showed up at 8:30, which was half an hour before the event even began, grabbed a trash bag and headed down the canyon straight away. He told me this was his third cleanup, and a well-seasoned veteran wastes no time waiting for others. Throughout the duration of the event he made 4 complete trips into the abyss and back with two full black bags of trash each time. Everyone was supremely impressed with his dedication and persistence.

Volunteers in canyons are an essential part of the Creek to Bay Cleanup

Trekking alongside the creek that runs through the canyon, we were all very surprised to find such a large amount of debris. There isn’t much surrounding the area so it was odd to find so many beer cans, clothing, plastic bins, and Red Box sleeves. How exactly do you watch DVDs in a canyon anyway? At one point, two Cub Scouts were seen in the distance lugging a giant rusted tent and canopy up the steep hill, we all ran to their aid but they refused help because they wanted to be able to say they hauled it all the way to the top themselves. The boys won our competition to see who could collect the most garbage. They were thrilled to receive free passes to the Birch Aquarium. After all of the Carroll Canyon volunteers battled their way through the terrain for three hours, we all felt a little more connected to each other and a little scared we had all contracted poison oak.

After everyone had parted ways, I couldn’t help but feel so proud of our community for giving up so much time to come hang out with me and help make San Diego a bit cleaner, healthier and more beautiful. I look forward to working I Love A Clean San Diego’s future events, and we all hope to see YOU there as well!

Creek to Bay Photo Contest – Time to Vote!

On your mark….get set….VOTE!

For the second year in a row, I Love A Clean San Diego has teamed up with Sony Electronics to host a Creek to Bay photo contest. We asked volunteers at this year’s cleanup to best capture the “spirit of service” and send a photo to be entered into our contest. We received a ton of wonderful photos, so it was hard to narrow it down, but we did! We are so lucky to have such hardworking and enthusiastic volunteers!  Our top 5 entries have been posted on our Facebook page and it’s up to you to decide who the winner is! All you need to do is ‘Like’ our page and vote for your favorite photo by liking it, it’s as simple as that! Voting is open until Thursday, May 9^th and the winner will be announced Friday, May 10^th.  This year’s winner will be receiving a new Sony Cyber-shot camera!

Take a look at our Top 5 photos from this year’s contest (in no particular order):

The Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve sure looks a lot cleaner thanks to the help of this young lady!

Working hard or hardly working? These guys show how fun volunteering can be; you never know what you’ll find!

This Girl Scout Troop had a very successful time cleaning up La Jolla Shores! Check out all of that trash! Impressive job!

This 12 year old Boy Scout is saving marine wildlife one piece of trash at a time! Way to go!

These volunteers show what team work looks like at the Chollas Earthlab site!

Counting Down the Top 7 Reasons To Volunteer at Creek to Bay

With our annual Creek to Bay Cleanup coming up tomorrow, it’s no guess as to why our staff and volunteers are bursting with excitement. We’ve been rallying together these past few weeks and it’s all about to pay off tomorrow. With all the anticipation and stress that inevitably brews in the days leading up to such a huge event, I found myself asking, exactly why do the fine people of San Diego decide to take time out of their busy schedule to come help us out? I was surprised to find just how many different reasons our community has for giving back, through on site testimonials and surveys, we’ve narrowed down the most popular reasons for volunteering for Creek to Bay.

Top 7 Reasons San Diegans Participate in Creek to Bay

#7  Opportunity to get to know your neighbors.

San Diego is a big city (second largest in California), this is a great chance to get familiar with your neighbors that share the same interests.

#6 Community service credit for students (high schoolers/college students).

Whether it’s getting into college or grad school, volunteer hours are the perfect thing to put on an application.

#5 Getting exercise in the great outdoors.

Sometimes it’s hard to fit in physical exercise during the busy work/school week, what better way to burn some calories than doing so while also making the community a cleaner and healthier place?

#4 Team building opportunity for sports teams or employees.

Picking up trash in the hot sun while doing your best to avoid poison oak can seem daunting, but with a little help from your friends (or teammates or co-workers), it can turn into a beautiful bonding experience.

#3  Scout patches for boy & girl scouts

Teaching youths the importance of a healthy environment is an invaluable lesson. Creek to Bay offers an outlet for young scouts to get their hands dirty and earn some cool and meaningful merit badges.

#2 Discovering new outdoor areas (parks, canyons, creeks, etc)

There are hundreds of awesome outdoor spaces in the county of San Diego, chances are you haven’t discovered them all just yet. Sign up for a site you’ve never heard of before, and who knows, you could find your new favorite hangout spot!

#1. Preventing pollution from washing downstream

The reason we all spend so much time and effort putting these clean ups together is to get the trash off the streets to prevent harm it does to the environment. One path the trash can take it flowing directing in to storm drains and straight into the ocean. Once plastic and other debris makes its way in to the water, it’s nearly impossible to remove.

What’s YOUR reason for volunteering this Saturday? We want to hear it, if you don’t see your reason listed above, get in touch with us because we love hearing what motivates you. See everyone tomorrow, bright and early!

Prescription Drug Take Back Day this Saturday April 27

Did you know that Americans fill 3.7 billion prescriptions every year? While many of these medications are taken as prescribed, many others go unused and end up taking up space in our medicine cabinets. In order to provide residents with a safe and convenient way to dispose of medications, the Drug Enforcement Agency has scheduled another National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. On Saturday April 27, the DEA will be partnering with local law enforcement agencies to collect unused or expired medications from the public. Residents can drop off their unused medications between 10am and 2pm at one of nearly 40 drop off sites in San Diego County.

By properly disposing of unused medication, you are not just protecting your family but also protecting the local environment. Simply throwing old medication in the trash or flushing it down the toilet can have harmful effects on the environment; it pollutes our waters, impacts aquatic species, and contaminates our food and water supplies. Recent studies by United States Geographical Survey have found active pharmaceutical ingredients present in some groundwater and drinking water sources, some portion of which is likely due to flushing medications. Both the EPA and the FDA encourage the use of a medicine take-back program, like the National Take-Back Day, as it is the safest and most environmentally friendly way to dispose of unused medication. The previous five collection days have collected a total of two-million pounds of unused medication, helping to keep pharmaceuticals out of the environment. To find a drop off location near you, visit the National Take-Back Initiative website.

If you are unable to make it to one of the drop off locations on April 27, visit WasteFreeSD.org to find a location that collects unused medications year round. Secure collection boxes have been installed at several sheriff’s stations throughout San Diego County, giving residents a convenient way to properly dispose of old medication.

For more information about the proper disposal of medication or for other questions about recycling, visit WasteFreeSD.org today!

Javier Hernandez, taking Creek to Bay to new heights

One of the most exciting and gratifying aspects of our annual Creek to Bay Cleanup is seeing people take the initiative to clean up the environment around where they live and then to see their neighbors come together to help. Javier Hernandez is an amazing example of that. He has been working for many years to help clean up his neighborhood of Logan Heights and to show his children and neighbors that they can make a positive difference right in their own community.

Javier (left) with his co-captain at ILACSD’s annual site captain meeting

Javier is the volunteer Site Captain at the Chollas Creek site near the intersection of 33^rd and National Avenue. Upon first glance, it may just look like an empty dirt lot, but if you walk to the edge of the lot, you will see the trickling waters of Chollas Creek. The surrounding community has dealt with its share of challenges, from prostitution and homeless encampments that made it nearly impossible to even have a cleanup until just a few years ago. Knowing that there was a great need in the area, when one of his former co-workers (and past Creek to Bay volunteer) suggested Javier host a cleanup site, he knew it was the perfect opportunity to dive right in. After the first time, he kept coming back because he says he finds the experience so rewarding and loves to get friends and their kids involved in cleaning up their community.

Volunteers working diligently at Javier’s cleanup site at last year’s Creek to Bay Cleanup

Javier has worked hard to get both the City Council and Caltrans involved in creating momentum to clean up this area in his neighborhood. He felt that organizing a cleanup like Creek to Bay was “something I needed to do just because I live in the neighborhood and I don’t want my kids to see that…I want to show them something positive, show them that they can make a difference too.” This year he also has the full support from City Council District 8 who will be providing dumpsters for a community drop off event in addition to the ones provided by ILACSD so that members of the community can bring their old, discarded items for disposal at no cost, preventing illegal dumping.

Since Javier started his Creek to Bay site, the neighborhood has really taken initiative to help out and they’ve even started to expand to other sites in the area that are in need. Javier says, “It means the world to me to do this. If what I’m doing makes a difference to others that’s the most important thing.”

Join Javier at his cleanup site for this year’s Creek to Bay Cleanup! Register online today at www.CreektoBay.org.

How to Celebrate Earth Day, San Diego Style!

Hello San Diegans! Need plans for this upcoming weekend? Why not spend your Sunday afternoon with I Love A Clean San Diego at the 24^th annual EarthFair! The fair will be located at the beautiful Balboa Park from 10am-5pm on Sunday April 21st. Admission is free! What better way to spend your weekend in America’s Finest City then by sauntering through Balboa Park learning the latest and greatest about going green?

Each year EarthFair brings around 70,000 visitors. Did you know EarthFair started with a local organization called San Diego Earthworks back in 1989? The organization held its first EarthFair a year later in 1990 with the organizational skills of only three people! The first event included 215 volunteers and 50,000 visitors! (How impressive is that?)  Every year after that people from all over come to join in on the celebration.

The day will be filled with various events ranging from a children’s parade, eARTh galleries, a plethora of environmental exhibitors, unique food vendors, and other sources of great entertainment. The fair is an awesome and fun way to understand more ways to get involved in order to make the environment a safe and better place!  Whether you are eager to learn or ready to get your hands dirty and volunteer, the EarthFair is prepared to provide you with all the information you need!

Stop by our booth at EarthFair in front of the Museum of Art!

If volunteering is something you are interested in, it’s not too late to RSVP for our Creek to Bay Cleanup, April 27^th!  This is a county wide cleanup with 90 sites to choose from! Visit CreektoBay.org or just come find us this Sunday to get more information!

We hope to see you at EarthFair this Sunday at Balboa Park! Stop by our booth, which will be right in front of the Museum of Art. Come spin the prize wheel and talk to staff about how you can get involved! It will be a fun day to celebrate this place we call home! Until next time, you stay classy San Diego!