Education Programs
Clean Earth Challenge
Clean Earth Challenge Winners Announced!
I Love A Clean San Diego would like to recognize Yasmin Campos, the grand prize wiinner for the Clean Earth Challenge, an essay contest designed to spark environmentally friendly ideas from students from local high schools.
Yasmin is a senior at Chula Vista High School and presented her idea to increase the use of porous pavement so more rain can seep into the ground instead of running into storm drains and being channeled to the ocean. She won $2,000 for herself and $4,000 for her school.
The second-place winner was Adam Glick of Bonita Vista High School. The third-place winner was Laura Gilbert of Escondido High School.
The contest was sponsored by Honda Dealers of San Diego County in partnership with I Love a Clean San Diego.
Congratulations!
Ocean Day Kids’ Adopt-A-Beach Clean Up
Each Spring, ILACSD partners with the California Coastal Commission to coordinate San Diego County’s Ocean Day Kids’ Adopt-A-Beach Clean Up event. This program provides interactive presentations about pollution prevention and marine ecosystems to thousands of students. Students are then invited to participate in a field trip to the beach to take part in a clean up event and an aerial art formation in the sand.
The aerial art formation sends a larger message to the San Diego community that clean beaches are a vital part our livelihood. We also want to ensure the beaches are respected. The event teaches students the dangers of pollution in our marine ecosystems and the important role they play in helping keep our beaches clean.
The video from The Malibu Foundation for Environmental Education on the left shows the process of creating a human aerial art piece.
2008 Ocean Day Kids’ Adopt-A-Beach Clean Up
This year’s event involved 800 students, teachers, and volunteers who removed 132 pounds of debris from Oceanside City Beach! The image below shows the aerial art from a bird's eye view.
To learn how your school can get involved or to donate, please contact our Education Coordinator.
2008 Ocean Day Kids’ Adopt-A-Beach Clean Up Press Release
June 11, 2008
For immediate release
800 San Diego County Students Clean Oceanside City Beach
in Celebration of Ocean Day
Students send a clear message about ocean health
SAN DIEGO, CA – Last Friday, more than 6,000 kids across California celebrated Ocean Day by hitting the beach for the 15th Annual Kids’ Adopt-A-Beach Cleanup. Cleanups stretched from foggy San Francisco all the way down to sunny San Diego. The Coastal Commission coordinates the program statewide and provides financial support from the Whale Tail License Plate Fund.
In San Diego County, I Love A Clean San Diego headed up the effort, engaging over eight hundred students from eight North County Elementary schools. These students removed over 100 pounds of debris from Oceanside City Beach, and after the cleanup, the students gathered into a human aerial art formation on the sand, creating a giant dolphin jumping from the water. Students took a “stand in the sand” also spelling out the words “KIDS CARE” in the 120 x 200 foot image. The children clapped and waved as a helicopter hovered overhead and aerial photographs were taken.
In the months prior to the cleanup, participating students received a school presentation to learn about urban storm drain systems and ocean ecosystems. “By engaging students in a classroom setting then bringing them out to the beach for a cleanup, each student walks away with a better understanding of the marine environment and the simple daily things they can do to protect it,” said Pauline Martinson, executive director of ILACSD. The students send out the message that protecting our oceans is vital to the lives of all humans and wildlife.
By removing debris from the beaches students keep debris from entering the oceans. However, there is still a big problem with trash, especially plastic in our oceans. The LA Times reports that plastic constitutes 90 percent of all trash floating in the world's oceans. Of the more than 200 billion pounds of plastic the world produces each year, about 10 percent ends up in the ocean [source: Greenpeace]. In some areas, the amount of plastic outweighs the amount of plankton by a ratio of six to one! Martinson says “It’s these education programs that create awareness about marine debris and the associated issues.”
The Kids’ Adopt-A-Beach Cleanup is part of a statewide Adopt-A-Beach program managed locally by I Love A Clean San Diego. Interested individuals, groups and businesses can help improve our ocean’s health year-round by adopting a beach or inland area. Since 1999, ILACSD has organized the countywide Adopt-A-Beach program, helping thousands of San Diegans do their part to curb marine debris. “Adopters” simply commit to three cleanups a year at their selected beach, and ILACSD provides all the necessary supplies. To learn more about the Adopt-A-Beach program in San Diego, visit www.adoptsd.org or call 1-800-237-BLUE.
Download the press release here
A special thanks
For our sponsors and donors from the 15th Annual Ocean Day Kids’ Adopt-A-Beach Clean Up:
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