Coastal Cleanup Day at Malibu Lagoon in Malibu, CA
This past Saturday, September 20 was International Coastal Cleanup Day, which is sponsored by the Ocean Conservancy. Here are a few photos of the cleanup efforts at the Malibu Lagoon in Malibu, CA.

On my trash scorecard, note that 53 food wrappers/containers were found. This did not even include the countless small pieces of styrofoam that were likely once a cup, food container, etc. It's awful for these things to be laying out in the open so close to bird and marine life. The animals often ingest the waste and cannot digest it and become victim to an untimely death.

With very little effort, I also found 53 cigarette butts. In addition to the fact that animals ingest cigarette butts, it's awful that so many people discard their smokes in an area that's so full of dry brush and plants. Southern California (and many other areas) are very susceptible to fire and if you recall, one of last year's fires in Malibu was thought to have been started by a cigarette that was thrown out of a car window.
Hundreds of pounds of trash was collected:


Please do your part to keep beautiful places like the Malibu Lagoon clean and free of trash. If you see trash around any coastal area, please take a moment to pick it up and help keep our environment clean.

International Coastal Cleanup Day is this Saturday, September 20, 2008
If you have a little time to volunteer this weekend, you may want to consider helping out with the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup Day efforts. It's a great way to help the environment and to help countless forms of wildlife that depend on coastal or wetland habitats. You don't need to live near the ocean. . . cleanup efforts will be underway in many inland areas as well. You can learn more by clicking the Coastal Cleanup Day image below and remember to help keep your environment clean all year around. If you see trash laying around outside, make an effort to pick it up, especially if it's in a coastal area.