Believe it or not, high school kids DO care about our environment!

With many students heading back to school this week and next, today’s post comes from former ILACSD Environmental Educator Alex Mullen-Ley who shares her thoughts on our High School Watershed Education program and what it’s like working with high schoolers!

Let’s be honest: high school kids have a bad reputation. When I tell people that I teach high school students about water pollution prevention, they often say something like, “I could never do that!” It’s easy to stereotype high school students as self-centered and unmotivated. In reality, the vast majority of these kids are open-minded, eager to learn, and willing to help out in their communities.

Local high school students at a recent cleanup

I Love A Clean San Diego’s high school education presentation focuses on the importance of clean water, and is designed to increase students’ knowledge of local watersheds and promote behaviors that prevent marine pollution from urban runoff.  We identify important concepts such as the water cycle, food webs, and biomagnification and relate them to real life issues. We also review the latest information about the pacific garbage patch and help students identify everyday actions they can take to keep their local watershed healthy.

In 2011, ILACSD educated over 9100 students at 36 high schools around San Diego County through this program. It can be tedious talking about the same thing for five or six class periods, but the uniqueness of the students makes each day different. Nearly all of the 9th through 12th graders that I have talked to are genuinely interested in protecting the natural environment.

More than beach cleanups, students can get community service hours doing a variety of projects

Many high schools in San Diego County now actually require community service hours to graduate. So as the educators explain how trash ends up making its way into the ocean, we offer students the chance help at one of our upcoming cleanups.  It’s a win-win situation; ILACSD has more volunteers to clean up the canyons and beaches and the students earn community service hours.

Students learn that small actions like recycling can have a big impact

The watershed education program isn’t the only way that ILACSD is trying to reach out to high school kids. We recently partnered with the City of San Diego’s Think Blue campaign to create a pilot project for high school students to become more active in preventing stormwater pollution. The program gives the students resources to design a project to increase awareness of the impacts from urban runoff on local waterways. At the end of the year we will have a celebration for participating school groups where they can show off their projects and meet other like-minded teens.

When I first realized that I was going to be teaching high school kids, I was nervous about it. I thought that they might be uninterested in the material or might even have a lack of respect for me. I was wrong to prejudge them. The students I’ve talked to as the Environmental Educator are smart, motivated, and make me feel optimistic about the future of San Diego.

We’re Going BYOB at #CCD2012!

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

If you’ve seen any of our Coastal Cleanup Day posters around town, you may have noticed a request toward the bottom: “Reduce your use. Bring reusables. Buckets, work gloves, canteens.” Nothing makes us prouder of our volunteers than seeing you arrive to a cleanup with a bucket for trash, work gloves, and a reusable water bottle.

Kids get in on the BYOB action in Oceanside, wearing their work gloves and using a reusable bag.

We’re fortunate enough to live in a part of the world where we have access to a myriad of resources and material goods in our daily lives. But with this privilege comes responsibility: just because we can use a bag once and throw it away doesn’t mean that we should. At all of our cleanups, we like to remind volunteers that our goal is to create as little waste as possible. And if you can’t bring your own reusable bucket, that’s why we’ll ask you to work in groups as you comb the beach picking up trash—sharing a trash bag with two other volunteers is an easy way to divert a lot of unnecessary plastic from heading to the landfill.

Volunteers use burlap & tarps instead of plastic trash bags.

A few of our sites for Coastal Cleanup Day are already a few steps ahead of us. At Borderfield State Park, site captain Danielle Litke uses buckets, large trash cans and small trucks to haul trash across her site. At 47th Street Canyon in City Heights, co-captains John Hanley and Brent Carter use burlap and tarps to drag invasive plants and debris over to their dumpster.  And volunteers in search of a zero-waste site in North County can head to Beacon’s Beach, where Bob and Jan Rogers make sure that there will be no plastic bags in site!

We’ve even got a fun way for kids to participate: the second annual Bling Your Bucket contest! In an effort to encourage our younger volunteers to join our reusables effort, we are having a contest for the most “bling-ed out” bucket. It’s easy for kids get involved—just decorate your trash bucket, bring it with you to use at Coastal Cleanup Day, and send us a photo! You can win a great prize, and we might even feature you on our Coastal Cleanup Day website for a whole year.

We hope to see you out in your community for Coastal Cleanup Day on September 15. This year, let’s breathe some new life into the first two R’s of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: bring your work gloves, bling your bucket, and join in our effort to move toward zero-waste!

CCD Site Captain Barbara Denny Goes Beyond Politics to Keep Coronado Clean

Today’s post comes from ILACSD’s Marketing Intern, Brian!

Barbara Denny
CCD Site Captain, Coronado – Silver Strand State Beach

When Barbara Denny isn’t busy volunteering as a Site Captain for Coastal Cleanup Day on September 15th, she moonlights as a Coronado City Councilwoman and is running for Mayor of Coronado this November! First elected to council in May of 2009, Barbara is a tireless advocate for keeping Coronado beaches clean, accessible, and safe for all the public to enjoy.

The only female non-partisan elected to office in the San Diego region, Barbara’s environmentally-friendly vision supersedes politics as she strives to improve the quality of life for pedestrians and cyclists in and around Coronado. Although we would love to have Barbara undivided loyalty as the Silver Strand State Beach site captain, I suppose we don’t mind sharing her with the lovely community of Coronado! “The beach is why I live in Coronado.  It defines us as a beach community.  It provides for our outstanding quality of life.”

Q:  What motivated you to volunteer with I Love A Clean San Diego?

A:  It was a no-brainer for me. I was contacted by a volunteer coordinator and asked to participate as a Site Captain and I was pleased to say “yes.”

Q:  What is your favorite part of participating in Coastal Cleanup Day?

A:  I enjoy cleaning up Silver Strand State Beach with residents of the Coronado Cays and inviting residents to be my co-captains at the site. Furthermore I enjoy teaching Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and families about the coastal environment of the Silver Strand.

Q:  Why do you think events like this are important to keeping San Diego healthy and clean?

A:   Coastal Cleanup Day increases community awareness, educates the public about our beach environment, and motivates people to get out and spend a morning with their neighbors at the beach.

You can join Barbra’s team at the Silver Strand State Beach site by clicking here and registering!

Not near Coronado? There are over 80 sites you can choose from all across San Diego County, go to www.cleanupday.org and find a Coastal Cleanup Day site near you.

It’s Not Too Late to Save Our Environment!

DonateNowWhether you live Santee or Ocean Beach, Oceanside or Chula Vista, you can preserve the San Diego way of life we all know and love just by donating to I Love A Clean San Diego today!

For almost 60 years ILACSD has been leading the charge to protect our environment. Your donation will make an immediate difference right here in San Diego through:

  • Countywide Cleanup Events: We’re most known for our beach cleanups, but we actually coordinate events all over San Diego County because we know that 80% of trash in the ocean comes from inland sources.
  • Environmental Education: Picking up trash is definitely important, but we take it a step further and prevent litter before it happens by educating youth and adults about recycling, litter prevention, and how we are all connected through our watershed system.
  • Recycling Resources: We run the County’s only comprehensive recycling database an hotline, WasteFreeSD.org, providing a resource for residents to dispose of things in their house that shouldn’t go in the trash through our one stop recycling resource, which prevents them from being dumped illegally in your neighborhood.

As you can imagine, all of these things take time and resources, which in turn cost money. As a non-profit organization, we rely on donors like you to help us continue to provide these programs and reach out to new communities. Check out this great video by our staff that shows just a few of the things that you can help us with by donating today:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp5rVL-96Iw]

Your support is what allows us to continue to strive for a cleaner San Diego!

When you donate, in the field at the bottom of the form tell us your favorite place to enjoy nature and a clean environment here in San Diego! We’ll be creating a list of your favorite places and posting it on our website and our Facebook page.

SDG&E Smart Energy Solutions Campaign

Today’s post comes from ILACSD’s Marketing Intern, Brian McComb!

Hey environmentally minded San Diego! Summer is in full swing and our beaches are once again packed with umbrellas, beach chairs, volleyballs, and tons of pale Americans looking to soak up the sun.

While the increased beach going makes for a great day of people watching, it also means an increase in trash left behind… trash that would undoubtedly end up in our beautiful ocean if it weren’t for the help of our amazing volunteers!

Help us arm our volunteers!

Unfortunately, our volunteers’ time would be wasted if we weren’t able to provide the necessary tools and equipment to aid them in all their hard work. At every cleanup we participate in, ILACSD provides hundreds of volunteers with gloves, garbage bags, and trash grabbers!

This is where every little bit of cash flow helps, and now our friends at SDG&E have provided us with an AMAZING way for you to help us fundraise, and it doesn’t cost you a dime!

All month long, SDG&E will donate $50 to ILACSD for every subscriber that activates their free online My Account and then fills out a simple survey! Oh, did I mention that it’s FREE? Seriously, just  activate your online My Account at sdge.com and follow the steps listed below. Once you’ve turned your SDG&E account paperless and signed up for Reduce Your Use alerts, simply fill out this 5 question survey and SDG&E will donate $50 to ILACSD on your behalf!

Our goal is to raise $5000 that ILACSD can use to continue expanding our environmental programs, but we need YOU to help us get it! Save paper, take a simple survey, and have SDG&E donate $50 today!

Help us keep San Diego beautiful!

It’s easy. Follow these simple steps to act today:

Click here and sign up for SDG&E’s “My Account”.  You will need your SDG&E account number for this, but if you don’t know it you can simply email SmartEnergySolutions@semprautilities.com and they will help you get your account info in no time.

Go Paperless.  Save paper and get your monthly statements and notifications sent directly to your email address! With this feature SDG&E will also notify you went payment is due.

Sign up for Reduce Your Use alerts. Go to the Earn Reduce Your Use Rewards section and to set up notifications. Help conserve energy on days when we may need to reduce our consumption and you may see a credit on your next bill from SDG&E!

Check out the new Energy Management Tool.  Just click the My Energy tab and check out all the cool graphs and info about your energy usage!

Click here and complete the simple survey.  Finish the quick survey and you’re DONE!  SDG&E will donate $50 to I Love A Clean San Diego on your behalf!

So what are you waiting for? Stop reading this blog post and go have SDG&E donate $50 today!

Volunteers Collect Amazing Amount of Trash at a Beach Many Consider the Cleanest in SD

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

Last Saturday, I Love A Clean San Diego partnered with Jerome’s Furniture to host Jerome’s Cleanup at La Jolla Shores. We weren’t the only ones who thought to hit the beach early; even before 7AM, the parking lot was starting to fill up. But more people usually means more trash, so our volunteers would have plenty to keep them busy.

La Jolla Shores has the reputation of being one of the cleanest beaches in San Diego, but you’d never know it from the sight of our completed cleanup. Our 131 volunteers collected a grand total of 322 pounds of trash and 37 pounds of recyclables! Considering that much of the debris consisted of tiny scraps of plastic and paper, that’s a pretty impressive haul.

Volunteers tracked the items they picked up to help us identify the biggest sources of debris

Some other cool statistics: our volunteers collected 1,527 pieces of plastic—and that’s not even including the 148 plastic bags that they picked up! 1,333 cigarette butts, 79 Band-Aids, 9 pieces of fireworks, and 40 pieces of glass later, our volunteers were able to relax on some of the awesome outdoor furniture that our friends at Jerome’s brought out for us.

Trash piled up quick from this “clean” beach!

This was my first cleanup as Community Events Coordinator, and I was excited to make it a good experience for everyone. Waking up before 5 to load the truck and pick up coffee from Starbucks wasn’t nearly as daunting—I’m an extreme morning person—as making sure that everything ran smoothly throughout the cleanup. I was thrilled to receive some good feedback from volunteers who were having a great time making a difference in their community. Cheerful volunteers, hundreds of pounds of trash off our beaches, and drinking coffee on the beach while sitting in Jerome’s furniture: not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning! I couldn’t have asked for anything more from my first event, and I want to thank everyone who came out to join us this weekend. You really did make a difference!

Though we aren’t hosting a cleanup in August, there’s still a way for you to get your volunteering fix for the month. We’re having a packing party at our office in Liberty Station throughout the month of August to prepare supplies for our countywide cleanup, Coastal Cleanup Day, and need volunteers. On September 15, ILACSD will coordinate more than 80 sites for Coastal Cleanup Day throughout San Diego County; that’s a lot of supplies to box up! If you’re interested in joining us, you can see a list of shifts here or email me at lambrogi@cleansd.org for details!

200 More Ways to Recycle in San Diego

Today’s post comes from ILACSD’s Hotline Assistant, Barbara Lopez!

This year I Love A Clean San Diego was able to add over 200 new centers to its one-stop recycling resource, WasteFreeSD.org. Included in these new additions were 107 e-waste collection events that allow residents to recycle their old electronics free of charge. What does that mean to you? It is now much easier for you to do the “green” thing and recycle.

Here are two of the more unique additions:

Waste to Waves

Although foam packaging is great for protecting your new electronics or appliances, it is not the easiest thing to recycle. Most waste haulers do not accept it in their curbside recycling program so many times it just ends up in the landfill. Luckily, Sustainable Surf’s Waste To Waves program collects packaging foam for recycling. The program has set up drop off locations at surf shops in California, including four in San Diego County (Hansen’s Surf Shop in Encinitas, K-5 Boardshop in Encinitas & Oceanside, and Shaper Studios in San Diego). Once the foam is collected from these surf shops, it is recycled and reprocessed for use in new products, such as recycled surf blanks.

Nike Reuse-A-Shoe

Many of us go through a pair, or two, of running shoes each year and are left wondering if there’s another way to dispose of them besides putting them in your trash can. Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe program allows you to recycle your old athletic shoes by dropping them off at a participating Nike store. Collected shoes are then shipped to a recycling facility where they are sorted and processed into 3 raw materials: rubber, foam, and fabric fibers. This recycled material is used to create new athletic surfaces such as tracks or is used in new shoes and apparel. Nike collects about 1.5 million pairs of shoes every year and has collected 28 million pairs since 1990 through the program.


To learn about other unique recycling programs right here in San Diego, visit WasteFreeSD.org.

Guest Post: Tips to Conserve Water at Home

Today’s guest post comes from Amanda Tatum of The 1:1 Movement!

Greetings I Love A Clean San Diego Readers,

It’s The 1:1 Movement here. 1:1 is a nonprofit organization headquartered in San Diego and dedicated to raising awareness about conservation, sustainability, and how each of us can play a role in keeping San Diego America’s Finest City, much like I Love A Clean San Diego.

Water has been a particularly hot topic in recent San Diego news. While our City Council has been working diligently to pass legislation which will lessen our dependency on imported Colorado River water, we at 1:1 would like to highlight a few water conservation tips, ranging from simple to advanced, we can all do in our homes- starting today.

  • Turn off the water

First things first- consider turning off the water when you are not using it. An example which comes to mind is when you’re brushing your teeth. According to Water Sense, partner of the Environmental Protection Agency, you can conserve over 3,000 gallons of water per year by turning off the faucet while you polish those pearly whites.

  • Place a bucket in your shower to collect water

Another idea to utilize water and save some pennies on your water bill is to place a bucket in your shower. The water collected can be used to hydrate your lawn, plants, flowers, or edibles you have around your home.

The average San Diegan uses 88 gallons to 140 gallons of water a day- 30 gallons of which are devoted to showering. A bucket is a simple and cheap solution to catch water while you wait for the ideal showering temperature. There are specific showerheads and technologies you can purchase and install in your home, but for renters or those on a thrifting budget- consider a bucket.

If you use earth friendly soaps such as Dr. Bronner’s or Everyday Shea, feel free to creatively step around the bucket while you sud up. Be cautious as your shower can be a slippery place! Another perk of these earth friendly soaps is the assurance that the soapy water which is washed down the shower drain will have a less detrimental effect on local wildlife and ecosystems.

  • Convert your washing machine to a greywater system
Before laundry to landscape installation

For the more ambitious, we recommend converting your washing machine to a greywater system. A conventional washing machine uses about 40 gallons of water every load. Converting to a greywater system is a permit-free, legal method of greywater reuse. Those 40 gallons of water can be diverted from “going down the drain” to irrigate your landscape- be it fruit trees, a lawn, or garden. Think about that monetary reduction in your monthly water bill!

After laundry to landscape installation

In collaboration with the San Diego Sustainable Living Institute, The 1:1 Movement will be hosting a Laundry to Landscape Greywater course on Sunday, August 26 at 10am. Spots are limited so we encourage you to reserve a spot today to learn more about how you can wash your clothes and conscience clean at the same time!

As our local representatives are hard at work ensuring San Diego can be the safest, cleanest, and healthiest it can be, we as San Diegans can do our part to be part of the solution, too. To get involved with the San Diego community, check ILACSD and The 1:1 Movement websites for upcoming events in your city. If you have any questions or comments about The 1:1 Movement, please feel free to emailamanda@1to1movement.org.

Volunteers Make the World Go Round

Today’s post comes from Jemma De Leon, whose 16 months as ILACSD’s Community Events Coordinator left a lasting impression on our staff and the thousands of volunteers she came in contact with. We know that she is moving on to bigger things, but her dedication to the environment and her quirky sense of humor will be greatly missed by all of us here at ILACSD!

Jemma weighing trash at Cupid’s Cleanup

“ILACSD hosts many events throughout the year, for which their successes all greatly depend on the participation of volunteers.”  If that at all sounds familiar then you’re likely a recipient of one of my MANY letters of appreciation that I sent out over the course of my 16-month stint as Community Events Coordinator.

Now I’m one to sometimes be jaded (there’s a reason I’ve been compared to Daria by many a child of the 90s), somewhat balanced by an unhealthy appetite for a heavy workload and expediency.  But I have never lost appreciation for the thousands of volunteers that I have had the pleasure of working with through our ongoing programs and monthly events.  Even though ILACSD has a top-notch staff, our impact would be nothing without the throngs of volunteers (you guys!) that pull themselves out of bed early for our weekend events.  I was always touched by, not only the dedication to environment that volunteers exhibited, but the daily reminders that there are awesome people in the world with go-get-‘em attitudes, kindness, and dedication.

I remember my first official day as I transitioned from intern to in-office staff member.  It was a disposal event in National City, for which people started lining up as early as 6AM to drop off large trash items like building materials and old mattresses.  Sandwiched in the queue of overflowing pickup trucks was an older gentleman who opted to shuttle his items back and forth on a dolly from his nearby home, adamant that he wait his turn like everyone else. I was beyond ecstatic to later see a father-son team in line offer their truck, saving him several dolly trips to our dumpsters. More than a year later, this image still resonates with me.

The ‘tire crew’ at Tijuana River Cleanup

More recent was June’s Tijuana River Valley Cleanup.  The tire crew, which included far more than those pictured, was so enthusiastic, eagerly chasing me down to report the latest tire stash sighting that needed to be hauled in the ILACSD truck.  (If the opportunity ever presents itself, try lifting a sand-filled tractor tire into a truckbed. Then you will understand the definition and necessity of teamwork.) I was also humbled to learn that one of our regular volunteers had spent more than two hours on public transportation to attend our cleanup.  You know who you are, and I still think you’re amazing.

These are only a few of the standout moments that have punctuated my time at ILACSD. I describe them, in part, as a ruse to avoid talking about myself, but mainly a necessity since it has been the volunteers that have defined much of my growth over the past year and a half.  My next move will be to London, where I will marry my passions for urban design and environmental safekeeping by pursuing a master’s degree at the London School of Economics.  I only hope to meet some equally awesome people there as well.  I leave SD confident in the ILACSD team (the staff and interns alike) and excited/anxious to see what awaits me abroad!

August is Donation Drive Month at ILACSD!

Today’s post comes from ILACSD’s Director of Development and Marketing, Morgan Justice-Black!

Not long after I started working at I Love A Clean San Diego, we received a donation in the mail. Inside the envelope was $12 in cash and a note from a young girl named Madee. In the note, she wrote that she wanted to donate her babysitting money to keep San Diego’s beaches clean.

Our clean water mascot, Captain Wetiquette!

With more than 3 million residents, San Diego County is ranked as the 5th largest county in the United States. The sheer size of San Diego County makes it challenging for countywide organizations like ILACSD to reach every community. Each August, ILACSD staff and Board launch a Donation Drive to raise funds to expand programs and help fund some of the more random equipment purchases not typically covered by contracts or grants.

From a new set of walkie talkies for our staff to be able to communicate with each other at cleanups, to new tires for our work truck, we’ve got a few pressing needs that you can help make a reality! We’ve also got some big programmatic goals that include expanding our reach and providing education to new communities around San Diego County. (You can read more about our goals and programs in our Annual Report.)

Tell your friends and family that August is Donation Drive month at ILACSD! Encourage them to go onto our website, www.CleanSD.org, and make a donation, or give us a call at (619) 704-2781 and we can process your donation over the phone.

Even if you only have $12 to give, every gift makes a difference.