There was a big mess left on San Diego beaches on the Fourth of July. Marisol McLaughlin got up early on July 5 to help clean it up.
"(There's) a lot of plastic, lot of party streamers, a lot of Styrofoam — pieces of styrofoam — but mostly cigarette butts, that’s the main thing that I’ve been finding everywhere," the La Mesa resident said as she picked up trash on Ocean Beach.
She was one of dozens of volunteers at the Surfrider Foundation's annual "Morning After Mess" beach cleanup.
McLaughlin is expecting her first baby and looks forward to bringing her daughter to the beach someday. "Beach clean-up I think is so crucial right now ... and picking up trash is just the least that I could do," she said. "Every little bit counts but, then when the community comes together we can really make an impact."
Total amount of garbage collected
Ocean Beach Pier - 143 lbs
Ocean Beach Dog Beach - 735 lbs
Mission Beach Park - 16 lbs
Crystal Pier - 102 lbs
Fiesta Island - 450
Moonlight Beach - 88 lbs
Oceanside Pier - 111 lbs
"The ocean does most of the heavy lifting ... a lot of our oxygen, over 50 percent, is coming from the ocean," said Alex Ferron, San Diego Chapter Manager of the Surfrider Foundation, which organized the cleanup. "So (it's) not just a luxury space that we’d like to keep."
Ferron said cleaning up is just one aspect of the project.
"We’re collecting data to try to inform policy, so we can reduce at the source," she said, "so we can really identify what’s polluting our beaches, what’s completely unnecessary, what’s doing the most harm and then get get rid of them. like we saw with the state bag ban. We don’t see those plastic bags on the beaches anymore."
To Cardiff resident Isiah Gonzalez and his group of friends, the beach clean-up was about giving back to a place that gives endlessly to them and all San Diegans.
"Wherever you’re from, rich or poor, Santee or Encinitas, the beach means something to us," Gonzalez said. "We all come here with our families, friends and enjoy the beach ... we’re all unified by the beach we got to show our part in it," he said.
