By Miguel García, 10th grade.

In the third week of September, a group of students along with some science teachers assisted a beach cleanup at Playa Montesinos. Why are beach cleanups so important though? What are we contributing to our planet? Should we keep on doing this? In this article, you’ll find the answers to these questions, and an interview with one of the students that assisted in this cleanup. 

Beach cleanups are organized events where volunteers come together to clean up the coasts, remove litter, debris, and other pollutants that may harm sea life. These cleanups are usually done to protect the wildlife, marine ecosystems, and the overall environment. Even though beach cleanups do help the environment, many argue that the this “solution” is just temporary, as they are not focusing on the cause but on the symptom, and some even argue that the large groups that get together to clean the beaches harm the ecosystem too, as some of these get disturbed by large-scale groups. 

Beach cleanups help beautify beaches, preventing litter from washing out to sea or impacting its wildlife. They also raise public awareness of the global marine pollution issue. Volunteers find beach cleanups rewarding, knowing their efforts contribute to environmental solutions. 

Is not new for the school to do these cleanups, as they continually contribute to local beaches by reuniting large student groups to clean them, but what motivates students to clean our beaches? Some science teachers offer students extra points on their subjects just for assisting the event, the school’s juniors and seniors assist these cleanups so it counts as hours of community work. Luis Torres is a current senior that assisted this cleanup, and we had the honor of interviewing him about his opinion on this cleanup. “It was an impactful experience, when we arrived at the beach it was really dirty, and it allowed us to see how people deal with the issue of pollution” he commented about his thoughts during the event. “Even though we did not clean the entire beach nor pick up all the trash that was there, we do feel like we did a change and it was really a beautiful experience.” We were surprised to hear this, as the school said that they picked up more than 200lbs of solid residue, this proves how contaminated the beach actually is. We asked Luis about his opinion on the school organizing these events, “I think that is great that the school is doing this, as it not only helps us with community work hours so we can graduate, but also we help our environment.” He answered. 

In conclusion, it has been established that beach cleanups may not provide a solution to the problems stemming from pollution however they are useful in the conservation of the marine environment as well as education of the public. The example of Playa Montesinos illustrates how active teamwork of students and teachers can be efficient not only for the region in question but also for people themselves. By doing this, they gathered a lot of trash, got to understand the problem of pollution in practice, and aided in making the world clean and better. These types of projects have the potential to effectively protect the environment when executed with other strategies aimed at waste reduction and pollution control. Adding more schools and communities to participation will create a more responsible generation towards the environment and this way, the beaches and oceans will be loved by the coming generations.

Sources:

MarineBio. (n.d.). Beach Cleanups ~ MarineBio Conservation Society. MarineBio Conservation Society. https://www.marinebio.org/conservation/ocean-dumping/beach-cleanups/#:~:text=Beach%20cleanups%20are%20organized%20events,wildlife%2C%20and%20the%20overall%20environment.

Scubajunkie. (2023, November 9). Why beach cleanups matter? Environment / Marine conservation. Scuba Junkie Sipadan. https://www.scuba-junkie.com/why-beach-cleanups-matter-conservation/#:~:text=Beach%20cleanups%20help%20beautify%20beaches,efforts%20contribute%20to%20environmental%20solutions.