Thank You, Santa Barbara!
Thank you, Santa Barbara. This year, you really cleaned up! Over 1,287 volunteers showed up for Coastal Cleanup Day on Saturday, September 18th at 28 sites throughout the County. You picked up over 5,211 pounds of trash and over 892 pounds of recyclables for a total of 6,104 pounds- just over 3 tons. Altogether, you covered 42 estimated miles at sites ranging from Rincon Beach Park to Guadalupe Dunes.
It was so great to see everyone gathering again in a safe, outdoor setting to help keep the places we love beautiful and trash-free and to prevent litter from ending up in the ocean. We loved seeing your excited faces as you brought back your buckets or bags full of trash, even if your smiles were behind masks!
Coastal Cleanup Day is part of a much larger international event. With 50% of the cleanup sites reporting, the statewide count stands at 21,000 volunteers and climbing. These volunteers picked up 153,281 pounds of trash and an additional 9,256 pounds of recyclable materials, for a total of 162,538 pounds or more than 81 tons.
Volunteers who participated in Coastal Cleanup can visit the Coastal Commission website to fill out the Coastal Cleanup Day Volunteer Survey and be entered in a drawing for prizes.
There is still time to clean up in your neighborhood, local park, or favorite beach. If you missed Coastal Cleanup Day or want to do more, you can cleanup any time during the month of September and your cleanup data will be included as part of Coastal Cleanup Day. Record what you find using the Clean Swell app or the Google form on the Explore Ecology website.
Statewide, Coastal Cleanup Day is presented by the California Coastal Commission. In Santa Barbara County, the event is organized by Explore Ecology and the County of Santa Barbara Resource Recovery and Waste Management, with support from Project Clean Water, and the Cities of Santa Barbara, Goleta, and Solvang and the help of many non-profits, businesses, and generous individuals.
Josh was born and raised in Santa Barbara, where his passion and curiosity for the environment began and has continued to grow. During his undergraduate studies, Josh pursued this interest at the University of California at Santa Cruz, receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies.
Melissa Dodos developed her passion for creative reuse as a mother of four and elementary educator over the past 25 years. She loves to inspire creativity by connecting people with resources and ideas.
Veronica grew up in San Diego and spent four years in San Luis Obispo studying Animal Science at Cal Poly. As an undergrad she learned lots about livestock, agriculture, and wildlife.
Stephanie began her journey as an educator over twenty years ago working as a preschool teacher in Washington state for a cooperative preschool program affiliated with Whatcom Community College. She loved observing the wonder and curiosity of the children and bringing them out into nature to explore the natural world. She continued her love for learning and got her teaching license and then her Montessori certification and worked as an elementary teacher in Tribal, Public, and Montessori schools. She collaborated to create a school garden and her students loved it so much that it became a special place where they could garden, read, explore, play, and it provided a safe sanctuary for students to calm down and reset when they were having difficult moments.
Morgan’s mermaid soul is always seeking adventure—swimming a relay across the Santa Barbara Channel and taking the first photo of a newborn orca off Anacapa Island being standout experiences close to home.
Lindsay Johnson
