Southern California

Tidy the Tides at Coastal Cleanup Day

There are several spots around Southern California that need your time, effort, and give-back gumption.

What to Know

  • Saturday, Sept. 21
  • 9 a.m. to noon
  • 70+ cleanup sites

Before tidying something up, say, the kitchen floor, you likely pause to fill a bucket with some water, one of the first steps to take before reaching for a mop.

But sometimes places that already possess water, as in, an incredible amount of water, also need some tidying, some TLC, and a lot of de-cluttering action.

Take the ocean, for example. Volunteers who tidy its shores don't show with a bucket of water (obviously), but they do come ready to gather all kinds of trash, the sort of items that are left on the beach or that wash up in the waves.

And thousands of those volunteers will visit the Pacific Ocean, and inland streams, and places near lakes, and other land-meets-the-wet locations on Saturday, Sept. 21.

That's Coastal Cleanup Day, and 2019 marks the 30th anniversary of this important to-do, one that has seen tons of trash make it out of the sand, the reeds, and the areas where it gets in the way of fishies, fowl, and other water-loving critters.

How to find your pitch-in spot?

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Oh happy news: There are several dozens destinations to choose from around Southern California, over 70 in all, including Arroyo Seco, Leo Carrillo State Beach, and Gardena Willows Wetland Preserve.

Heal the Bay is at the SoCal helm, by the by.

Once you arrive at your chosen spot, you'll collect litter, probably a lot of it, for proper disposal. It doesn't belong where herons hang out, nor giant sea bass, nor big horn sheep, and we all know that, and we can do something about it.

The egrets and whales and sea lions can't write you thank you notes for helping out, but, if you listen closely to their caws and barks and calls, you might just pick up a positive vibe.

Oh wait: That positive vibe is coming from within you, and the wider community, because helping our water stay healthy is good for the sea lions, the birds, the humans, and the big, round-ish, spinning-through-space place beneath our feet.

Have a pal you can sign up with? It's all super-easy, and "(n)o special equipment or experience is necessary." Start here and get that positive vibe inside your heart growing, pronto.

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