Volunteers to the Rescue!

The San Diego City Council meeting was packed this week as community members anxiously awaited the upcoming budget discussion. The proposed cuts to public services topped the agenda. This includes cuts to local libraries, schools, recreation centers and various other programs. The funding just isn’t available. With the cities multi-million dollar deficit, cuts are inevitable and the tone of this meeting reflected that somber realization. But then the meeting took a positive shift with the agenda item of “utilizing volunteerism.” Different areas of volunteerism were discussed and councilmembers highlighted how nonprofit organizations stand out as leading examples in the community. Councilmember Todd Gloria specifically referred to ILACSD as one of the organizations making a major impact with thousands of volunteers.
“Two weeks ago I was cleaning up a canyon in City Heights…we had a couple hundred volunteers at this canyon and that was replicated at 75 different sites throughout the County organized by I Love A Clean San Diego,” said Councilmember Gloria. “That’s thousands of volunteers helping to clean the city, it’s really incredible.”

Councilmember Marti Emerald attended the Creek to Bay cleanup and talked about how ILACSD is a leading example in mobilizing volunteers.

Councilmember Marti Emerald Kicks's off Creek to Bay cleanup

There were more than 5,000 volunteers out for that cleanup. They were not complaining about work, money…or even getting up early on a Saturday morning. You could see the pride in each smiling face and the sense of accomplishment of working toward a common goal.

It feels good to know that even during times of economic uncertainty, we as a community are still coming together to help the environment. To me, it represents a new number to measure the wealth of a city. How about 30,000? The number of our dedicated volunteers who come out each year to show their love for San Diego…that makes our future very rich!
-Kara Stevens

What Will YOU Find?

You never know what you will find at the Creek to Bay Cleanup. Over the last eight years volunteer have found some very unique items.  Some of our volunteers have found a disco ball, an ab-roller, a purple plastic camel, a velvet suit, a couple safes and even a prosthetic arm and mannequin, among other strange items. Others have found valuables such as a $20 bill, a digital camera, half of a $3,000 check and a wallet with money in it. All of these unique discoveries just add to the excitement surrounding Creek to Bay.  With 75 locations this year who knows what participants may be able to find? This is just another reason that you should come out to one of the Creek to Bay locations this Saturday April 30th, 2011 at 9am and join the thousands of other volunteers that are doing something positive for San Diego. For more information, go online to www.creektobay.org.

One individual found a trophy from 1911. Participate and you might be able to find a trophy of your own.

Organics: what’s the big deal?

Written by ILACSD Director of Education, Connie Glenn

Personally, I love to buy organic food. It’s tastier, free of toxic chemicals, and more sustainable for the environment. However, whenever I talk with people about it, the overwhelming response is “it’s too expensive!” Even Time Magazine showed their cynicism of organics by running a cover article declaring that conventionally grown products are just as nutritional as organics, so what’s the big deal? Buying organic doesn’t have to mean spending more on groceries, and there certainly are undeniable health benefits for your body, and the environment as a whole, when you choose these over conventionally grown items.

First, let’s talk money. Everyone, from my doctor to Diane Sawyer, love to complain about how much organic food costs. In my personal experience, I have found that organic food can cost about the same, and sometimes less, than their conventional counterparts. Often at the grocery store I will see organic items on sale for less than the conventional option. When this happens, I wonder why people would choose to pay more for pesticide laden fruit with a flavor similar to polystyrene (aka Styrofoam)? But they may not even be checking price tags because, in their minds, “organics are too expensive”.

Now, when it comes to which choice is better for your body, consider this: organic foods are grown without chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. That means that these chemicals, some of which are toxic, are not going to find their way onto your dinner plate and into your, or your children’s, bodies. Maybe that organic orange has the same amount of vitamin C as a conventional one, but it will also be free of nasty chemicals like pesticides which have been linked to brain damage and birth defects. Sounds like a healthier choice to me!

There is no question about which is better for choice for the environment. Fertilizers lead to eutrophication (too much nutrients in a water body) which can take out oxygen from the water. When you have no oxygen in a water body, you also have no fish because they can’t breathe. We call this a dead zone, and it doesn’t take a BioChem degree to realize that that is not a healthy water body! Pesticides that run off our properties into local water ways will continue to kill insects out in the environment, and can eliminate entire layers of food webs. Also, they add harmful chemicals into the food chain, which will affect animals throughout the food chain including birds, and of course our favorite species, humans!
Probably the best reason to buy organics is the flavor. If you’ve ever bitten into a strawberry and wondered where the strawberry taste went, you were probably eating a conventional one. When you grow food without adding a bunch of chemicals, and you let Mother Nature work her magic, you will be greatly rewarded with fantastic flavor. They may not be the prettiest sitting on the shelves, but foodies agree: nothing beats the taste of organic food!

Now that spring has sprung, check out some organic, and ideally local, foods at your local store or farmers market. You, your children, and Mama Nature will be glad you did!

Nick Gatelein, An Inspired ILACSD Intern!

One of ILACSD’s trusty Outreach Interns, Nick Gatelein gives an insider perspective on his internship.

Working as an ILACSD Outreach Intern has been an enriching experience that has allowed me to give back to the community in a variety of ways. It has provided me the opportunity to work side by side with various community members to restore numerous locations within San Diego County by removing debris and working directly with volunteers. It has also allowed me to network with a variety of individuals that understand the importance of environmentally sustainable practices. Through this internship I have also been able to see a variety of locations in the San Diego County including Balboa Park, Ocean Beach, along with many other locations that display San Diego’s diverse beauty.

Nick, one of ILACSD's interns at our Open House

One of the major motivating factors that caused me to pursue this internship with I Love A Clean San Diego was the fact that it provided the opportunity to contribute as an individual and to make a difference in this community both environmentally and aesthetically. It has also allowed me to gain experience in organizing community events and working with teams. I have also been able to receive college credit for this internship through San Diego State University. The flexibility of being able to select which events I attend also makes it easy to create a schedule that works around my school schedule. After working for this organization for a few months it has become clear to me that our contributions are making a BIG difference and that we are providing a valuable service to the community. Working the community events has also been a lot fun because of the team members that we work with and all of the volunteers that we get to meet. As on outreach intern at the end of my second month I am glad that I chose to work for this organization and I would recommend it to others in the future!

Thanks Nick for providing your input and encouraging others to follow your lead! To find out more about internship opportunities, log on to http://www.cleansd.org

Keep the Green Going…Recycle that tree!

Tis the season to recycle and I Love A Clean San Diego (ILACSD) is breaking down the post-holiday basics, starting with recycling your Christmas tree. Every December, ILACSD’s Disposal Solution Center provides accurate information for the proper recycling of holiday trees.

Christmas Tree

Instead of overcrowding local landfills with holiday trees, collected trees can be ground up into high quality mulch or composted and used to enrich soils for next years’ trees and poinsettias! Most waste haulers offer special holiday tree recycling programs to pick up trees with yard waste on regular collection days. In addition to curbside pick-up, tree drop-off sites are located in the communities of Carlsbad, Coronado, El Cajon, Escondido, Imperial Beach, La Mesa, lemon Grove, National City, Ramona, San Diego, San Marcos, Santee, Solana Beach, Vista and Unincorporated County.

Your tree is not the only item you can recycle; wrapping paper, cardboard boxes, packaging peanuts are also accepted for recycling many places. Plus, remember to donate unwanted electronics, clothing, and toys to local charities for reuse.

“I Love A Clean San Diego bridges the gap between residents and recyclers, giving San Diegans the opportunity to make the right choice for the environment”, says Pauline Martinson, ILACSD’s Executive Director.

I Love A Clean San Diego operates San Diego County’s only recycling website and call center which refers thousands of residents to the proper facilities to recycle or dispose of just about anything. From broken surfboards to wine corks, railroad ties to cooking oil, ILACSD’s Disposal Solution Center makes recycling quick and convenient. San Diego County residents can go to: www.wastefreesd.org or call 1-877-R-1-EARTH to learn how to recycle hundreds items.

Holiday Tree Recycling Tips:

  • Trees taller than four feet should be cut in half
  • All tree stands, nails and tree decorations must be removed
  • Check with your local hauler to see if they accept flocked trees

A complete list of tree recycling locations is available through our one-stop recycling database, www.wastefreesd.org or by calling 1-877-R-1-EARTH. Remember to Recycle that Tree!

Day Without A Bag

The Annual Day Without a Bag has come and gone, and the big question is…did you remember to ban single use bags on December 16th? Well, hopefully you did along with thousands of other San Diegans. I Love A Clean San Diego wants to give you a little recap of the impressive successes of the first ever regional Day Without a Bag campaign in San Diego County.

Drumroll please…
Day Without a Bag was a huge success! You might have heard about it on TV, the web, or radio. It was just about everywhere! We even received a proclamation from the County of San Diego recognizing our efforts to encourage San Diegans to live a little bit greener.

A handful of environmental nonprofits in the region teamed up to coordinate a massive reusable bag giveaway stretching from Imperial Beach to Oceanside and Ocean Beach to El Cajon. Together, approximately 230 volunteers from I Love A Clean San Diego, San Diego Coastkeeper, Surfrider Foundation, and the Solana Center for Environmental Innovation gave away more than 30,000 reusable bags on December 16th outside grocery stores and other retail locations. We had lots of help from almost all jurisdictions in San Diego County, namely the cities of Oceanside, Encinitas, Lemon Grove, and Chula Vista. Our friends at Westfield UTC loaned us the use of their mall for our press conference, and even a few bag monsters joined in the fun.

We’re all feeling pretty good that thanks to our efforts, 30,000+ San Diegans have at least one reusable bag to use in place of single use plastic or paper ones. And when you consider that the average San Diegan uses more than 500 plastic bags each year, our efforts could lead to 15 million less bags in our waste stream in the coming year. Hoorray for that! And thanks to all of our volunteers and sponsors who made it all happen.
Save the Date for next years Day Without A Bag event, Thursday December 15th, but remember to live every day without a disposable bag!

ILACSD Heads to Florida

ILACSD’s  Executive Director and Director of Development and Marketing have just returned from traveling across the country to Orlando. But, this was not a holiday vacation, instead of lounging by the pool…it was too cold for that, they attended dozens of seminars to learn how I Love A Clean San Diego can be even more effective in keeping San Diego clean!

I Love A Clean San Diego received a scholarship to attend the annual Keep America Beautiful conference. Many of you probably don’t know that ILACSD is a Keep America Beautiful affiliate, the only one in San Diego and one of only nine in California. Nationwide, there are almost 600 Keep America Beautiful affiliates, and even a few in Canada. What brings us all together this week is our common goal of keeping our communities litter-free!

The two lucky ILACSD senior staff members packed in many hours of training on all sorts of topics from school gardens to the hidden costs of illegal dumping. We are not only learning from the experts who lead the seminars, but also learning from other Keep America Beautiful affiliates about their successful programs.

As one of the keynote speakers mentioned, “people tend to care more about the cleanliness of their ashtrays than the health of their environment” when discussing what motivates people to litter. Isn’t that awful? Well, let me tell you, I Love A Clean San Diego is here to change that! Stay tuned for more updates!

I Love A Clean San Diego staff with Keep America Beautiful CEO Matt McKenna – (Nov.2010)

From Talking Trash to Tracking Trash

All of us at I Love A Clean San Diego are excited to embark on a new program called Trash Trackers this winter. We are extremely pleased with the tone and the results from the program’s kickoff last week. Our Community Events Department coordinated with a small group of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers that were motivated and ready to get out there and get really dirty to protect their environment. The group tracked types of trash found in a particularly trash-ridden section of the Otay River in Chula Vista. Whether these volunteers were painstakingly picking up thousands of small pieces of Styrofoam cups and pellets or removing large auto parts from the river, they took great pride and care in marking each item on trash tracker sheets.

Volunteers exhibiting such gusto are a true inspiration to all of us! Those of us who attended the event were thrilled to get to spend more time cleaning up alongside each of these volunteers through this smaller scale cleanup program that is unlike any other ILACSD program.

Not only did we get to work with a fantastic group of volunteers and remove thousands of pieces of trash, we also were able to collect data on the type and source of trash found in this targeted impaired waterway. At ILACSD we hope to inspire behavior change through all that this program provides – hard data and event photos that show the direct problems caused by litter building in our waterways. See for yourself in photos included from the event. We hope that the shocking sheer volume of Styrofoam and other plastics found at this site will inspire our volunteers and readers to always be mindful of the impact daily habits have on the environment here in San Diego County.

Continue reading

Recycling from Past to Present

This week was a big one for the environmental community. Monday we celebrated America Recycles Day across the country with a proclamation from President Obama himself. While it was long and a bit dry, there were a few parts that really resonated with us, and reassured us of the importance of our work.

Each small act of conservation, when combined with other innumerable deeds across the country, can have an enormous impact on the health of our environment.  On America Recycles Day, we celebrate the individuals, communities, local governments, and businesses that work together to recycle waste and develop innovative ways to manage our resources more sustainably.

Recycling is important, and for some it’s easier than others. When I Love A Clean San Diego made the commitment to serve the community in 1954, recycling was term rarely used. Through phone book recycling drives, Christmas tree recycling programs, electronic waste collection events and our Disposal Solution Center, www.wastefreesd.org, I Love A Clean San Diego has always been first to tackle a recycling challenge.

We were especially happy to hear the report out on Monday from the City of San Diego which announced that the 2010 recycling diversion rate is their highest ever, at 66%. While we don’t want to strain a muscle patting ourselves on the back for this accomplishment, we know that I Love A Clean San Diego’s efforts over the past 56 years may have something to do with this recycling success. But, as a city and a county, there is still room for improvement. Why not shoot for 75% diversion from our landfills? But how?

Good news for those of you living in within the City of San Diego. The City of San Diego also announced on Monday that they will be accepting many more “rigid plastics” in the blue curbside bins. These items include clean plastic food packaging, plant pots, toys, even lawn furniture. The complete press release with all the new rigid plastic rules can be found on the City of San Diego’s website.

And to provide some inspiration for all of us who sometimes struggle with recycling, here’s another excerpt from Obama’s proclamation.

On America Recycles Day, let us respond to our collective responsibility as a people and a Nation to be better stewards of our global environment, and to pass down a planet to future generations that is better than we found it.

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves!

ILACSD’s Back to Blogging

That’s right, after a significant hiatus from blogging, I Love A Clean San Diego is back! We have so much to say, and so many events to talk about, restarting the blog was pretty much a no-brainer. Many of our staff members will be contributing to the blog, and if you’d like to be featured as a guest blogger to give a first-hand account of your experiences with ILACSD please contact u.

We look forward to sharing with you and hearing from all of you who have helped shape the environmental movement in San Diego County!