Junior Lifeguards Commit to Beach Clean Up Projects Locally and Beyond
John Palminteri
CARPINTERIA, Calif. (KEYT) – Whether they are home or on vacation, Junior Lifeguards are cleaning their environment after a presentation on the Carpinteria shores Wednesday morning.
Organized by the non-profit Tidy Seas and the City of Carpinteria, the kids were out with gloves on their hands and carrying paint-style buckets to find even the smallest pieces of trash and microplastics.
This effort is before 4th of July celebrations, and additional cleans up are planned afterwards.
Volunteers are taught to take these projects on the road when they are on vacation and carry the message forward from the Central Coast where environmental stewardship is in the forefront.
Ryan Wong with Tidy Seas said, “they don’t really notice until they do. and then they start living a life that is far more sustainable.”
Carpinteria City Councilmember Wade Nomura said, “I’ve been to beaches like this where you can’t even walk on the beach because of all the debris, the trash and dangers of health T.his place here is pristine. It has a lot has to do with the culture of the young ones.
The kids walked from the west end of the beach all the way down to the State park area.
Hugo Goodfield, a Junior Lifeguard had trash including plastics, which could be small containers from food places. He said, “people come out and have their chips and salsa and they just leave it because don’t care and that’s not OK.”
Some clothing was in the bucket carried by Finley Barr who said, “I didn’t expect to find the pants but chips, bags and stuff.”
With one of the loaded buckets, to the top, Kermit Seefeld said, “I expected it to be about half full but not like this, it’s amazing.I got so much trash. “
Many of these junior lifeguards.said what they are learning on the Carpinteria beaches they will be taking it on the road on their summer vacations as well.
“When I go to their home (other areas) where they live, I do the same for their beaches,” said Goodfield.
After hearing some good advice, “I always see these things leave it better than you found it so that’s what I try to do every time,” said Eugene Nimmons.
In the big picture, Wong said the effort on the beach carries over and parents notice. “Now their kids won’t stop picking up trash and they call people out on their trash because kids don’t have filters which great . It is a great problem to have that kids won’t stop picking up trash and educating others.”
Nomura said seeing the kids was encouraging and “a lot of pride here and that why we have them helping out so much.”
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