City, California Wildlife Center, and Rincon Consultants collaborate to bring national event to Malibu shore
Dozens of Malibu residents supported coastal cleanup efforts at Westward Beach on Saturday, Sept. 23, joining more than 50 inland and coastal cleanup sites across Los Angeles County and hundreds more across the country.
The yearly event promoted by the California Coastal Commission and Heal the Bay is the state’s largest annual volunteer event and 2023 marks its 39th anniversary.
The event that was expected to have a modest turnout based on pre-registry volunteer numbers ended up being very well attended by environmental conservators of all ages.
Families with children as young as 4 years old surveyed the cleanup area ranging north as far as Zuma lagoon and south as far as the rocky area of Point Dume. Families checked in at a registry table, where they were given family-friendly giveaways, including water bottles, temporary tattoos, and poppy seeds. Next they were instructed on safety practices and signed liability forms before getting equipped with their clean-up gear.
The conservators fanned out across the beach with trash grabbers, sifters for collecting smaller trash, trash bags, buckets, and forms to tally up the amount of trash they have helped excavate from the Westward Beach sands.
City of Malibu Environmental Sustainability Analyst Solishia Andico spearheaded the event and explained the importance of a hands-on effort from the community to keep the Malibu shore clean.
“The beaches are our number one staple in the city of Malibu. People from all over the world come to visit our beaches so it’s really important for us to keep the beach beautiful. We need to keep it clean but also keep it safe. This event is very important because we can all come together and pick up the trash and keep our environment healthy,” Andico said.
A significant highlight of the event was the success of outreach to the families of young children in Malibu.
Emilie Chaumillon, environmental scientist for Rincon Consultants said she hoped to put her best foot forward to represent her community in keeping Malibu beaches clean. She emphasized the community’s role in environmental conservation not only in the City of Malibu, but anywhere ecosystems are put at risk.
“National cleanup is really important because it engages everyone in the community,” Chaumillon said. “We had a lot of kids here from the community learning about sustainability and why it is important to put your trash where it belongs.”
She explained that families that invest time in educating their children in matters of conservation and sustainability set the wheels in motion for a generation that will maintain a safer environment.
“I’ve noticed throughout my career that it really starts with the kids. If you teach them the right ways to take care of their planet, take care of their environment, it gets passed on to their kids,” Chaumillon said. “It goes up the ladder, up a generation so its really important for you to advocate for your kids at a young age and teach them about environmental practices.”
Malibu resident and cleanup volunteer Emily Morberg found out about National Cleanup Day from her daughter, a student at Malibu Elementary School. She said her daughter’s enthusiasm to clean the beach inspired her to share an experience of natural conservation with her.
“When I picked up my daughter, she had colored a picture of someone cleaning up a beach asking me to bring her here,” Morberg said. “This is a beach we come to often to have picnics or watch the sunset so of course we were super excited to meet some other students and parents here and help out.”
Heather Henderson, program manager at California Wildlife Center has helped host previous cleanup days and said this year’s event stood out among others due to the amount of entire families and children who participated.
“We saw a lot of families who came out together and were really excited to, sounds cliche, but show that next generation how important their individual efforts could be,” Henderson said. “That was something that was really quite unique than in the past, It was really cool to see kids 12 and under out there who are super excited to find that piece of styrofoam and yell ‘I found a piece!’”
Morberg said as a resident, she felt a sense of duty to do her part in protecting her beaches.
“I believe it’s very important for us to feel connected to the earth,” she said. “As a resident, it’s such an important part of my daily routine to get out in nature, so being able to do something to take care of it is such a huge honor.”
