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!

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.

Meet Billy Paul: Protector of Creatures Big and Small

Billy Paul, Creek to Bay Site Captain at Rose Creek

Meet Billy Paul, Creek to Bay Site Captain and a tireless advocate for our environment.

For more than 40 years, Billy Paul has been an environmental activist involved with many environmental projects in San Diego. He also rescues beagles. He works tirelessly to protect the natural environment and the unique animals that call San Diego home, particularly in the areas around Ocean Beach and along Rose Creek. A Vietnam veteran and former Marine, Billy has been involved in everything from cleanups at Dog Beach, to saving Famosa Slough from being drained by developers back in the 1970s. When he first got involved in cleanups, areas like Famosa Slough were being used by locals as dumping grounds for everything from shopping carts and even cars! Working with other dedicated citizens, Billy helped revitalize that area and started to notice a trend – the cleaner the area was, the less trash people would dump there over the course of a year. He says, “I’ve come to realize that if people don’t see trash there, they won’t dump stuff there!” which is one of the reasons he believes cleanups like Creek to Bay are so important.

Several years ago, Billy started volunteering at Rose Creek, an often overlooked waterway that runs along the eastern boundary of Pacific Beach and behind Mission Bay High School. He became a site captain for that site alongside his friend, Karin Zirk, who is also a member of the Friends of Rose Creek. Not only have they removed tons of trash from the creek, they even convinced Campland by the Bay to host an ice cream social after cleanups, providing volunteers with a small token of appreciation after a long morning of work! Thank you Campland!

The hidden gem that is Rose Creek.

Billy now lives in Clairemont where he serves as Chair of the Balboa Avenue Citizens Advisory Committee which has helped to revitalize the Balboa Avenue area and make it safer for drivers, pedestrians, and even the animals that call the area home. Billy’s dedication to protecting the environment, the people, and the animals in his local community are evident in the many ways he volunteers his time. It’s evident that nothing will stop Billy Paul from working tirelessly for a clean environment! He was even scheduled for hip replacement surgery this month that would have had him wheelchair bound at Creek to Bay. Fortunately the surgery was pushed back, although he said that he would have been out there regardless. Lucky for us, Billy will be fully mobile at Rose Creek for the Creek to Bay Cleanup and sharing his stories and experiences with the volunteers who share his enthusiasm for preserving the natural habitats near their home.

Spotlight On: Aimee Edmonds, Creek to Bay site captain

Join Aimee Edmonds and her family as volunteers for this year’s Creek to Bay Cleanup, and help protect our coast!

When Aimee Edmonds’ daughter’s American Heritage Girls troop chose our Creek to Bay Cleanup as their spring service project, she had no idea she would soon be bringing together not only the troop, but also her church, to clean up the area around their local elementary school. While looking around the Creek to Bay website for a cleanup site for the AHG troop Aimee said, “I quickly narrowed my search to Mira Mesa on the Creek to Bay website and there discovered ILACSD’s outstanding need for a Creek to Bay site in none other than…Mira Mesa!”

Mira Mesa, and specifically Hage Elementary School, is where Aimee and her family attend Newbreak Church, so she knew that the area was in need of not only litter pickup, but landscaping and painting projects. Aimee immediately reached out to our Community Events Department and signed up as the site captain for Mira Mesa. As the site captain, Aimee will receive training and supplies for her site from ILACSD and then will lead the volunteers the day of Creek to Bay.

When we asked Aimee why she though events like the Creek to Bay Cleanup were important she said,

“A clean San Diego is a visible expression that we as residents responsibly care about and appreciate our community where we live and breathe…Serving others is cross-generational and cross-cultural as it builds character in our youth, adolescents, and adults. The next generation is taught how to be good stewards of the things in which we are entrusted.”

Site captains like Aimee are the heart and soul of the Creek to Bay Cleanup, we could not mobilize 6,000+ volunteers at 92 sites across the county – all on one day – without them! Aimee says, “I look forward to bringing people together to help meet real needs at Hage Elementary. We want to show their administration, staff, teachers, students and families we value them as we come alongside them.”

Thanks Aimee and all our other site captains for the great work that you do as an extension of the ILACSD staff!

Protecting local waterways at Storm Drain Stenciling Day

Today’s post comes from ILACSD’s Community Events Intern, Alex!

As a student at PLNU in the Point Loma area of San Diego, I get to experience a lot of the weather San Diego has to offer. Usually that means sunny skies or foggy mornings, but sometimes (like last week), it means sitting at my desk listening to the wind howl outside my door and the rain pelt my dorm window. Since I started interning at I Love A Clean San Diego, I’ve become more aware of the effects storms, like the one from last night, have on local waterways and ecosystems. Plus with Storm Drain Stenciling Day approaching, it’s a good time to remind ourselves of the role our storm drains play in the health of our environment and what we can do to keep our communities clean.

Maybe you’ve seen this message stenciled by a storm drain somewhere in San Diego? If you have, it’s because a volunteer has participated in the Storm Drain Stenciling Program ILACSD sponsors along with Think Blue, the City of San Diego Storm Water Department! The simplicity of the Storm Drain Stenciling Program is one of my favorite traits. Volunteers check out stenciling kits and use the paint and stencils to write the message on any surface that is linked to a storm drain inlet. So great and so easy!

You might be asking yourself why a storm drains need to be stenciled, anyway. After all, they just link up to the sewage system, right? While this was my own misconception, the truth is sewage and storm drain systems are different. Our sewage system takes all the wastewater from our toilets, showers, and sinks to a treatment facility where the water goes through a three-step process of filtration and treatment before getting released into a natural water source. Storm drains, on the other hand, get no such treatment. Since a storm drain’s job is to literally drain storm water that accumulates on streets when it rains, filtration takes a back seat to avoid street flooding. So when it rains, any and all chemicals, oil, disposable cups, food wrappers, gum, or other trash we leave on the curb get washed down the storm drain system and eventually into our ocean. This is not only bad for wildlife that lives in and depends on the ocean, it poses a threat to human health as well.

When we think of cleanups, it’s really easy to picture beaches and to forget about inland areas. However, a lot of the pollution we see on our beaches has been washed downstream from an inland waterway or canyon. This year’s Storm Drain Stenciling Day around Caramel Creek Neighborhood Park aims to paint and stencil 118 drains that will help inform and remind the community about where their trash is headed. By preventing dumping in inland areas, we can diminish the amount of pollution that reaches our beaches and the ocean.

Did volunteers find love at Cupid’s Cleanup?

Today’s post comes from ILACSD’s Community Events Coordinator, Lexi Ambrogi!

This past weekend, ILACSD hosted an event—my personal favorite—called Cupid’s Cleanup. The grand totals are pretty impressive: 231 volunteers joined us on the lawn outside of the PB Taylor Library to do a street-sweep cleanup of Pacific Beach’s streets and alleyways—an often neglected part of this coastal community—and removed nearly 500 lbs of debris (359 lbs trash, 128 lbs recyclables) in under 2 hours.

Volunteers were briefed on the importance of removing trash from our communities before it reaches the ocean and becomes a serious threat to the health of our marine ecosystems. They learned how trash can travel for miles through our storm drain system and be mistaken for food by sea creatures; armed with this knowledge, they took to the streets to fill up their trash bags.

As this is our take on a “singles mingle” event, we decided to have a little fun with our volunteers: everyone wrote his or her name on a nametag either in green (single and ready to mingle!) or red (already spoken for). We can’t say for sure if sparks were flying between our volunteers, but it wouldn’t be the first time—two volunteers met at this cleanup in 2007 and eventually got married!

Our staff was taken aback by the overwhelming support and gratitude we received from people in the neighborhood. We had several walk-up volunteers who saw us on the lawn and decided to join us, and lots of people were asking how they could get involved with our future events (my answer: email me!)

After the cleanup, many volunteers walked over to Typhoon Saloon to join us for an after-party, where volunteers could win prizes for guessing our trash totals for the day. You can see photos from the event in our Facebook album.

Looks like fun, right? We’re jam-packing our 2013 schedule with cleanup events, so check back often to see where we’ll be next!

Think Blue Brigade tackles storm water pollution in Market Creek

Today’s post comes from ILACSD’s Environmental Educator, Monica Rosquillas!

Last week, I gladly spent my Saturday with the high school students from the Elementary Institute of Science (EIS) stenciling storm drains in the neighborhood of Market Creek. The students at EIS are part of the Think Blue Brigade, a program by Think Blue San Diego that aims to connect high school students with storm water pollution prevention.

I arrived at EIS, stenciling kits in hand, and was met by a warm group of students and their enthusiastic advisor.  Soon after, we walked out into the sunny streets of Market and Euclid, where we split up into 3 groups, each group stenciling “Don’t Dump Goes to Ocean” on 3 storm drains. While some tackled storm drains, others documented their progress, recording video and taking pictures for their end-of-the-year project.

The footage collected will be used in a video that will be showcased at the end of the year. The storm drain stenciling activity and video project fulfill 2 out of the 3 requirements of being part of the Think Blue Brigade. Having already completed the storm drain stenciling, this group of students will also participate in ILACSD’s signature cleanup event, the Creek to Bay Cleanup, held on April 27^th of this year.  Then, they will have until June to finish their video on storm water pollution and Green Transportation.

It’s very encouraging to work with a group of high school students, like these kids, who willingly give up their Saturday mornings to come out and do an event like this. As an educator at I Love A Clean San Diego, I go to high schools all over San Diego and teach kids about pollution. So when I see them do something about it, it feels great! Overall I had a great day spreading the message of storm water pollution prevention with this awesome group of students.

If you are a high school student interested in becoming involved with the Think Blue Brigade, please contact the education department by calling (619) 291-0103 or email me at mrosquillas@cleansd.org.