Community, Beach Cleanup, Sustainability Devin Moody Community, Beach Cleanup, Sustainability Devin Moody

Sustainable Coastlines Waimanalo Beach Clean-Up

Earth Day 2019 was yet another great success as over 1,050 volunteers came out and 4,000 pounds of debris from Bellows to Makapu`u was collected. This annual event was spearheaded by Sustainable Coastlines, an organization founded in 2010 . . .

Earth Day 2019 was yet another great success as over 1,050 volunteers came out and 4,000 pounds of debris from Bellows to Makapu`u was collected. This annual event was spearheaded by Sustainable Coastlines, an organization founded in 2010 that is committed to keeping our beaches clean.

Earth Day Flyer

Several of our staff members members joined the ranks to help facilitate this large-scale event. Matt, Austin, and Ashton helped to outfit guests with beach cleaning supplies including our sand sifters, bags, and gloves.

The day began with a yoga class provided by Core Power Yoga. As our sea kayak guide Ashton pointed out, this Earth Day celebration began with health for our own bodies followed by health for our planet. She noted that seeing local businesses willing to offer their goods and services inspired the community, and similarly was overwhelmed by the number of people who showed up.

Sustainable Coastlines

As someone who enjoys volunteering, Ashton noted that her favorite part of the day was being able to lead a group of volunteers and supply them with the necessary tools and information. She was also overjoyed to see just how many parents were showing their kids how to take care of our planet at such a young age. As this year’s Earth Day fell so close to the Easter holiday, she noticed how many groups treated the event as a family celebration that positively affected the planet.

Ashton Beach Clean-Up

For Austin, the biggest takeaway was the feelings of empowerment. He noticed the variety of people who showed up. This included families with small children, friends, and even individuals who were even feeling under the weather. Whether people showed up for the entirety of the event, or made the effort to spend an hour of their Easter Sunday and Earth Day weekend cleaning windward Oahu’s beaches, people made it a priority.

Lastly, Matt, a Kailua Beach Adventures veteran, commented that it was great to see the community show up, collect a massive amount of trash, and reinvigorate a lot of hearts and minds. We are excited to continue in this ongoing partnership and are already looking forward to the next beach clean-up!

Earth Day 2019

Read on for a few fun facts about Earth Day and it's inception!

  • Earth Day was born after New York Times’ bestseller Silent Spring was published and shortly after a massive oil spill occurred in California in 1969.

  • 20 Million people participated in the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. They participated in the form of loud rallies, peaceful reflections, nature walks, speeches, concerts, and more.

  • The senator of Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson, spearheaded the Earth Day celebration.

  • The secret to Earth Day’s success was the involvement of college students as this helped the movement gain major traction. The date of Earth Day was strategically planned to fall between spring break and final exams.

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Community, Kailua, Sustainability Devin Moody Community, Kailua, Sustainability Devin Moody

Earth Day Beach Clean-Up with Le Jardin

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, approximately 1.4 billion pounds of trash enter the ocean each year. While we are lucky to teach guests from around the world about Kailua Bay and share our beautiful waters, it is not without reminders of a problem we ourselves have created: plastic pollution.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, approximately 1.4 billion pounds of trash enter the ocean each year! While we are lucky to teach guests from around the world about Kailua Bay and share our beautiful waters, it is not without reminders of a problem we ourselves have created: plastic pollution.

Clean-up

This week on Earth Day, we had the privilege of collaborating with the Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation to facilitate a beach clean-up for the students of Le Jardin Academy. For those unfamiliar with this organization, it was founded by local singer and surfer Jack Johnson, whose passion to protect our oceans inspires his lifestyle and music. (A couple of years ago, Jack Johnson wrote a song titled Fragments that speaks to our ocean plastic problem.)

Le Jardin

Le Jardin has also done work in recent years to reduce their waste. In the spring of 2016, the school began to transition to a waste-free cafeteria with the help of students, the administration, and Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation’s Waste Reduction Coordinator, Doorae Shin. Although many of Le Jardin’s 10th grade class are from Hawaii or have lived here for many years now and are well-educated on sustainable practices and waste reduction, for some students it was their first beach clean-up.

KBA Eco Lounge

To kick-off our day with the 10th graders, we gave them a tour of our facility at Kailua Beach Adventures. Although many students live in Kailua Town and are paddlers, some had never visited our shop. After sharing with these young adults who we are and what we do, Natalie McKinney, Executive Director of the Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation led a talk to discuss what this plastic problem is, why it exists, and how we can begin to lessen our impact.

Natalie asked students, “Where does trash go when we throw it away?” and addressed this intangible place that we so often speak of our trash going. The answer for those of us in Hawaii is Indonesia.

She also discussed plastic’s origin - oil - as well as a major culprit and contributor of micro-plastics - single use water bottles. She shared the surprising fact that more water is used to produce a single plastic water bottle than the bottle itself can hold.

Students also learned that micro-plastics are classified as plastics smaller than 5 millimeters, or 0.2 inches, and most importantly perhaps, students learned about how to actively participate in legislative decisions regarding sustainable practices by submitting online testimony.

© Inspirimental

© Inspirimental

After the educational classroom piece, 60 students alongside KBA and Kōkua staff headed to a section of Kailua Beach with a high concentration of microplastics. By using our handheld sand sifters, students scattered along the shoreline and worked for an hour to collect a grand total of 50 pounds of microplastics. Well done, Le Jardin! Thank you for your hard work - keep it up. We at Kailua Beach Adventures, just like so many people in Hawaii, like to think that every day is Earth Day!

Beach Clean Up
Drone footage by Kellie Spriggs. Check her out on Instagram!

Drone footage by Kellie Spriggs. Check her out on Instagram!

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