CLEANING UP OUR COAST
My name is Adrien Pritchard and I have witnessed the world’s population grow my whole life. All around the world, I have seen the damaging side of this population expansion expressed by ever growing amounts of trash littering our beautiful outdoors. I have noticed the greatest impact of this garbage accumulation at the point where our majestic oceans meet our wonderful beaches. On my travels I have seen debris strewn about foreign beaches; carried there over thousands of miles by ocean currents. I have seen debris balls (Great Pacific Garbage Patch, etc.) floating in the ocean currents far away from land.
Since I was a young child, I have always made it a point to pick up at least one piece of trash each time I visit the beach, and I have encouraged those with me to do the same. Over the years, I have literally picked up tons of trash, but I have also come to realize that it is time to do more. It’s time to increase awareness of this ongoing problem and to increase the numbers of people who pick up at least one piece of trash each time they visit the beaches.
I have attended and organized many beach clean up days, some sponsored by chapters of the Surfrider Foundation and similar organizations. These types of organizations do a wonderful job of raising public awareness and getting people out to help, but more participation needs to occur. The public needs to be reminded, and shown, that it’s not difficult to bend down and pick up at least one piece of trash. They need to be reminded that it feels good to act and to help keep our precious outdoors clean, and that one simple act each time they visit the beach really can make a difference!
To achieve this goal I have decided to begin venturing to ‘out of the way’ beaches and bringing back evidence of forgotten trash. Like a rock skipping on the waters, I hope that the ripples of my small actions will cause increasing numbers of people to aid in the ongoing fight of cleaning up our beaches. Many of the beaches around my home are not accessible by road or trail, and must be accessed by ocean. Due to the rapidly increasing public awareness of stand up surfing and paddleboarding, I plan on using this approach to access remote beaches.
I intend on being completely human and wind powered during my clean up missions. I will also have a support crew in sea kayaks and/or stand up and prone paddleboards, which will help to carry all the necessary camping and survival gear and more importantly to carry out the trash we have collected. I feel that by doing multiple clean up missions on a smaller scale and by keeping this operation human and wind powered once on the water, more people will believe that they can accomplish the same feat, and not be turned away from action because they do not possess the proper technology or are awed by the scope of paddling the entire coast.
Could've titled this post "Why I now HATE pallet fires" or "Having fun with Tetanus." Organized a beach cleanup for Humboldt Surfriders this past Saturday, since it was International/California Coastal Cleanup Day. Imagine that way back in 1978, this now International cleanup effort was started right here in Humboldt, by our own Northcoast Environmental Center. We spent 4 hours on our hands and knees, raking fire spots, and using magnetic poles to pick up the nails and staples left behind from burning wood pallets. Lots of broken (and some melted) glass, aluminum cans, and plenty of other trash (including 3 truck tires) were also picked up. Guess this is all penance for stupid stuff I did as a kid.
