Gnarled fragments of Wingstop containers, green Starbucks coffee stirrers and plastic car parts are just some of the keepsakes left over from the Associated Students Inc. (ASI) beach clean up this past Friday at Dockweiler Beach.
A handful of students braved the hour-long shuttle trip to the beach from campus. They trekked across the beach, donning green rubber gloves and slinging orange buckets in search of paper, plastic and other environmentally harmful trash.
Though only a handful of people showed up, after a mere hour-and-a-half, they were able to collect thirty pounds of trash collected.
Dockweiler Beach was chosen for its notoriety as a polluted beach, according to the event organizer and ASI environmental affairs commissioner Javier Moro.
Just a few years ago, the beach was closed after treated wastewater was released into the ocean, according to The Daily Breeze.
“Climate change is a really big issue for students to fight for and pay attention to,” said Moro. “Everybody in college should be worried about this because that’s their future. It just started snowing in L.A. the other day. We’re living in it and we need to pay attention to it.”
Cal State LA student Joel Huerta said it was his first time participating in a community service event, though he hoped to continue based on this experience.
“I was interested because I know there’s a lot of trash at the beach and it harms the environment and specifically the animals,” said Huerta. “They can get sick or ingest something.”
Huerta was not alone; fellow Cal State LA students Juan Gonzalez and Angela Snyder said that they hope to attend future beach clean ups.
“It’s a big part of our ecosystem and if it’s getting filled with trash and animals are dying, then the least we can do is come and try to clean some of the trash before it gets into the ocean and makes things worse,” said Snyder.
The Center for Student Involvement (CSI) and the University-Student Union will host two Eagles Care events: Cigarette Butt Clean Up on March 27 and Hathaway Sycamores on April 12. Visit the CSI office, U-SU 204 to sign up.
