International Costal Clean Up was covered by - SABC NUUS

[Liesel James]

Dear Green Friends,

September was Arbor month and also the 25th Annual Coastal Clean Up. It was wonderful to register our project in Kalk Bay onwww.oceanconservancy.org and am encouraged to see how many more projects were registered in and around Cape Town compared with last year.

I haven't had feedback from the other organizers but I am sure a lot of rubbish was collected everywhere. In Kalk Bay the Shark Institute cleaned up the northern part of Kalk Bay and Little Green Fingers focused on the Southern side around the harbor.

It was pretty disgusting to say the least. A lot of rubbish was actually being washed out of the ocean: Glass, netting, earbuds, lots of plastic, human feces, tyres etc were collected on the day. We recorded each bag and the data had to be faxed through to Ocean Conservancy. Again lots of earbuds collected makes me wonder about the landfill in Strandfontein that blows into the sea as well as the question around sewage and the effectiveness of waste water treatment in the area.

We had children from the following schools helping:

Bay Primary, Hyde Park Primary, Imhoff Waldorf, Kommetjie Primary, Redham Primary and Sunvalley. All working together towards a common goal.

The kids were rewarded with a meal from Lucky Fish and SABC News were there and our message was broadcast on national TV that night.

I am waiting for some pictures from some of the moms who were there. Kevin stayed at home with my son and daughter who were both ill and I forgot my camera in all the craziness - so please moms send me some pics of the day!

SAVE THIS DAY 10/10/2010 FOR PLANTING TREES AT PRINCESS VLEI. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE INSTILL A CULTURE OF ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS AND ACTIVISM IN OUR CHILDREN AND SAVING THE WETLANDS IS AN IDEAL OPPORTUNITY TO DEMONSTRATE THIS. DETAILS TO FOLLOW SOON.

THIS INITIATIVE IS ORGANISED BY WESSA AND IS A CITY WIDE EVENT UNDER THE 350.ORG 101010 CAMPAIGN.