The International Coastal Clean-Up at Kailua Beach

Kailua Beach is by far one of the most beautiful beaches to be found anywhere in the world. This is just one of the MANY reasons to preserve such a remarkable place for generations to come.

Kailua Beach

Yesterday, I had the pleasure to lend a hand to the Ocean Conservancy and their International Coastal Clean-up event. Every year in September and October, nearly nine million volunteers from 152 countries and locations come together to collect 145 million pounds of trash from waterways of the shores lakes, streams, rivers, and of course, the ocean on just one day each year.

When you really think about it, it’s amazing that just 1 day, with the help of all the volunteers, can do so much good for our oceans and all the sea life that depends on us to keep their environment clean. Just imagine if this event happened 2 days a year, or if more people volunteered with the clean-up of the waterways.

My family with our trash collected!

The items that just our family group collected from this beautiful beach was nothing short of amazing—and disgusting at the same time. We collected everything from beer bottles, plastic cups, tin cans, blankets, clothing items, soda cans, hundreds of cigarette butts, etc…but the largest find by far was 2 huge mounds of tangled ropes and fishing lines that must have weighed 100 pounds each.

It’s time to make a difference no matter where you live. The ocean is so critical to our life-support system, it drives our climate, provides food, water, and oxygen. What if everyone did their part and put their trash in the rubbish can, or recycled it if possible?! So PLEASE, everyone do your part, and make a difference now and for future generations. After all, you can’t “Go Green” unless you “Live Blue.”