Encinitas Bag Ban spurs more giveaways!

morgan team15 v2Today’s blog comes from our Director of Development and Marketing, Morgan, who has been working directly with the City of Encinitas to prepare shoppers for the second phase of the single-use bag ban. Read on to learn more about how I Love A Clean San Diego is working to make the this transition as seamless as possible! 

Attention Encinitas Shoppers!

Starting October 10th, the second and final phase of the Encinitas single-use plastic bag ban goes into effect. That means that department stores, clothing stores, hardware stores and even farmer’s markets will no longer be offering single-use plastic bags to shoppers.

In order to help ease shoppers into this new policy, I Love A Clean San Diego has partnered with the City of Encinitas to coordinate a series of bag giveaways to coincide with the Phase II implementation.IMG_8440 - twitter

Come by the following stores and centers and get your free reusable bag to use for your next shopping trip! Remember, there are limited quantities, so act fast!

Sunday, October 4th from 11AM – 1PM:

  • Encinitas Ranch Town Center – between PetSmart and Barnes and Noble, 1034 N El Camino Real, Encinitas, CA 92024
  • Encinitas Ranch Town Center – between Buy Buy Baby and Target, 1014 N El Camino Real, Encinitas, CA 92024
  • Home Depot, 1001 N El Camino Real, Encinitas, CA 92024
  • Leucadia Farmers Market – Paul Ecke Elementary School, 185 Union Street, Encinitas, CA 92024 (from 10AM – 1PM)

Wednesday, October 7th from 4 – 6PM:

  • Encinitas Farmers Market – 600 S. Vulcan Ave, Encinitas 92024
Our Admin Assistant, Brittany, sporting our bag monster costume fitted with 550 plastic bags, the estimated amount of plastic bags that each American will use in one year.

Fast Facts about Plastic Bags:

  • It is estimated that 31.9 million single-use carryout bags are distributed in the City of Encinitas each year.
  • Studies have shown the prevalence of single-use carryout bags are responsible for littering the environment, blocking storm drains and polluting beaches, oceans and the marine environment.
  • Single-use bags made from plastic do not decompose, therefore they exist in the environment forever.
  • Plastic bags are a significant source of marine debris and are hazardous to marine animals, such as turtles and birds, which often confuse plastic bags as a source of food and ingest these bags, causing reduced nutrient absorption and death.


Tips to Remember Your Reusable Bags:

  • Set your car keys on your bag.
  • Keep reusable bags in the trunk of your car and put a small note on the dashboard or your shopping list to remind you to grab them. Once you unload your groceries at home, put the bags back into the trunk immediately so you’ll have them for your next trip.
  • Purchase a few compact reusable bags and keep them in your purse, jacket pocket, backpack, or attach them to a keychain.
  • Ask your children, spouse or roomate to remind you to bring your bags.
  • Keep bags in multiple places, like at home, in the car, and at the office.
  • If you still manage to forget your reusable bags, you can always put everything back into your shopping cart after you pay and unload directly from the cart into your car. Then bag the items to carry in when you get home.
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Encinitas is BYOB – Bring Your Own Bag! Starting October 10th, the second phase of the bag ban will go into effect at local department stores. Be prepared – get your free bag at one of our bag blitz locations!

Do you have questions about the bag ban? Post them in the comments below!

CCD Volunteers to Expand Community Garden

Sarah_team15Today’s blog comes from our Development and Marketing Coordinator, Sarah! Each April and September, she looks forward to the opportunity to shed light on the diversity of our countywide cleanup sites and the dedicated site captains that lead them. Read on to learn more about how one of our Coastal Cleanup Day sites, the Tijuana River Valley Community Garden, is going above and beyond the typical cleanup to benefit their local community.

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One view of the Tijuana River Valley Community Garden, the largest community garden in the county!

Get to know the Tijuana River Valley Community Garden
Ann Baldridge, Coastal Cleanup Day site captain and Education Coordinator for the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County, oversees the largest community garden in the County, the Tijuana River Valley Community Garden. The garden has 136 gardening plots that reflect the local community. Community members of all ages, young families to retirees, come to the garden to plant everything from your standard lettuce and tomatoes to culturally significant foods that represent the diversity of the surrounding communities. The plots have become so popular that there are currently 150 individuals and families on a wait list to receive a plot.

Ann shared that one of the most unique aspects of the garden is that it is a hidden gem within a regional park. Visitors of the regional park often mention that they had no idea this garden existed. Click here to learn more about the garden and how you, too, can find this local garden.

Garden and alley
The regional park trails run along the outskirts of the community garden which lead park visitors to stumble upon this local garden.

So, why does a community garden have its own cleanup site?
While the garden itself is beautiful, other parts of the river valley are significantly affected by illegal dumping and littering. As you can imagine, trash negatively impacts the local environment and the garden that feeds the local community. Before joining I Love A Clean San Diego for their first Coastal Cleanup Day in 2013, the RCD, Park staff, and plot holders at the community garden were already coordinating regular cleanups along the Tijuana River. When the team heard about Coastal Cleanup Day, they were inspired by the international movement and they knew that wanted to be a part of something bigger.

Trash in TJ River
Trash found in the Tijuana River – one of San Diego County’s many waterways that leads to the Pacific Ocean.

After years of leading these cleanups, Ann and her volunteers have found everything from construction debris and furniture to cigarette butts and abandoned shoes. When it rains, all that trash gets flushed through waterways straight to the ocean, resulting in unsafe conditions and frequent beach closures. When we remove the trash beforehand at cleanup sites like the Tijuana River, thousands of pounds of pollutants are kept from contaminating our beloved coastline and Pacific Ocean.

Tijuana River, US Border, Looking toward Tijuana, United States-Mexico Border, San Diego, California
Another view of the Tijuana River that shows how debris travels from inland sources straight to the Pacific Ocean.

Trash removal is a large part of this annual event, however, it will not be the only focus at this site. Thanks to SDG&E employee volunteers, the community garden will have extra volunteer power this year to help expand the capacity of the garden. SDG&E volunteers will work alongside local residents to mulch trails, construct new compost bins, plant a new pollinator garden as well as build two new garden plots for local residents to grow their own nutritious food. Talk about sustainability!

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Hundreds of SDG&E employees and their families will participate in service projects to beautify San Diego County on Sept. 19th!

If you’ve never visited the garden, Ann encourages you to come out for Coastal Cleanup Day on this Saturday, September 19th – “You’re guaranteed to have a great day and connect with wonderful people!”

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Tijuana River Valley Community Garden volunteers with buckets and grabbers in hand ready to cleanup their community!

Whether you join Ann at the community garden site in the Tijuana River Valley or another site that is meaningful to you, we hope you’ll join us for the largest cleanup of the year. Check out a complete list of cleanup sites at www.CleanupDay.org to find one near you. 

Can’t make it to Coastal Cleanup Day? Join us for one of our upcoming cleanups!

If you love San Diego, help us keep it beautiful.

 

 

ILACSD Internships: More than copies and coffee

Brittany HuthHi there! My name is Brittany and this summer, I was a Community Programs Intern at I Love A Clean San Diego. I recently graduated from San Diego State University in December with a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration. In my free time I enjoy exploring and taking pictures of scenic locations in San Diego, as well as watching my favorite sports teams – Go Padres! As a San Diego native, I grew up around the water, doing everything from surfing, wakeboarding, skiing, kayaking, and sailing.  I love being outdoors, and that’s why I have a huge passion for the environment!

In my undergraduate studies, I took a class that focused on contemporary urban issues. In this course, we focused on the best methods of sustainable living, and learned about environmental hazards. The topic that concerned me the most was the abundance of plastic bags found in our oceans harming and killing our marine life. This is one of reasons why I applied for an internship with I Love A Clean San Diego.

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Marine life often mistake small pieces of plastics and plastic bags for food which leads to starvation. In this picture, the content of the albatross’s stomach includes bottle caps, and a lighter.

The Community Outreach Intern position sparked my interest because I wanted to expand my knowledge on environmental issues, as well as provide me with the opportunity to give back to the San Diego region. As an intern, I performed a variety of tasks both in-office and out in the community at our events. In the office, I typically focused on outreach to colleges to get students involved, tracked data from cleanup events, organized supplies for events, and coordinated my internship project. At the ILACSD cleanup events, I provided volunteers with supplies as well as informed them about upcoming events and other programs ILACSD offers.

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The ILACSD recycling board is a great way to test your knowledge and learn about the newest recyclable items.

To wrap up my internship experience, I organized a beach cleanup at Whispering Sands Beach in La Jolla. I was accompanied by my close family and friends, who were more than happy to participate! This provided me the opportunity to share with them everything that I learned during my time as an ILACSD intern including information about proper recycling and waste disposal, and ILACSD’s Adopt a Beach Program. In the two-hour cleanup we collected more than 15 pounds of trash and over 400 cigarette butts. To conclude my project I create a short video clip of the beach cleanup!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzZTBQ-3Nck]

My experience with ILACSD has been nothing short of positive! Since I started interning with ILACSD, I have challenged myself to become more environmentally aware of my living habits and to try to make better choices.  Some of the changes I have made include using reusable bags for grocery shopping, recycling more, conserving water by using buckets in the shower, and properly disposing of hazardous materials. I am excited for the change this organization is making in the community and I’m forever grateful for being a part of it! Thank you, I Love A Clean San Diego!

If you’re interested in learning more about environmental issues impacting our local environment please consider applying for one of ILACSD’s internship opportunities. Applications are being accepted now with the intention of the internship starting this Fall. More information is available at http://cleansd.org/v_internships.php.

The ILACSD team  at one of our annual countywide cleanups, Creek to Bay!