Kids Clean Beaches to Mark Earth Day

Twenty-five years after the first Earth Day was born in a swell of national concern for the environment, many of the adults who lived through it now feel helpless to remedy the still smoggy skies, polluted waters and endangered species.

But not the 4,000 Los Angeles-area children who came out to clean Dockweiler State Beach and the Long Beach city beach last Friday, Earth Day. Not only do they believe there is a solution, they believe they are part of it.

Under a hazy blue sky, 12-year-old Jindry Acosta of Sylmar knelt on the damp sand near the water’s edge and poked at a piece of kelp with a gloved hand. “There’s oil stuck on it,” he said as he examined the blackened seaweed. “People have to stop doing it. A lot of animals are dying.

“A lot of people could die too.”

The children collected tons of litter and debris on the beaches as part of the Adopt-A-Beach program overseen by the Malibu Foundation for Environmental Education and the California Department of Conservation.

The buses rolled into the Dockweiler parking lot from locations throughout the city.

The children hit the beach, armed with sea-green bags for recyclables and royal-blue ones for trash. They spread out across the sand in a sea of bright hats and colorful T-shirts.

They picked up cigarette butts, bits of plastic foam and surf-worn glass. They found needles, a baby bottle, plastic straws and even a piece of what was once a city sign.

Organizers said they hoped the awareness spurred by the classroom lessons and the massive cleanup would spread from the children to families, friends and fellow students.

Taking a break on a bench with a group of friends, third-grader Gharieb Elsayed surveyed the beach in front of him.

“It looks a little better,” he said. “If we all work together we can probably do it. The beach is a fun place to go but it’s not fun when there’s too much trash.”