Vanguard

Issue date: 10/1/07 Section: News

Sept. 15 finished out the 2007 Coastal Cleanup efforts for Mobile and Baldwin Counties. Coastal Cleanup is a program of the Ocean Conservatory that helps preserve the United States waterways. The program began in 1986 when an employee of Ocean Conservatory was walking along the shore of South Padre Island picking up litter. Other workers and volunteers joined in to assist. Within three hours, 2,800 members of Ocean Conservatory collected more than 120 pieces of litter from the 1,200-mile span of beach.
Twenty-one of the U.S. coastal states, along with 91 countries, participate in Coastal Cleanup, making it the largest single-day volunteer event in the world. This year's overall goal was to collect 1 million pounds of trash. Volunteers only missed their mark by 96,000 pounds. Mobile and Baldwin Counties collected over 90,000 pounds together on Sept. 15 alone. Since Alabama joined the International Coastal Cleanup in 1987, volunteers have collected around 900,000 pounds of garbage.
The University of South Alabama Earth Science Club, the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, Dr. Mimi Fearn, chair of the earth sciences department, and Dr Barry Nowlin, associate professor of the English department aided in this effort. This group cleaned up banks along Dog River, Three Mile Creek and the Causeway.
Dr. Nowlin had the honor of being a zone leader this year and was in charge of Three-Mile Creek. He has participated in the program for the past few years. Volunteers found shocking and odd items that had been disposed of improperly. Items ranged from purple-striped boxer shorts to a dead pelican that managed to get trapped in a garbage can. "We found many random items such as a 5 foot gumball machine, two opened safes, a game boy, about five tires and tons of cans and containers," Nowlin said.
Dr. Fearn has participated in the Costal Cleanup for nearly 11 years. "I used to be a zone leader for the causeway, then for Dog River. This year I just helped coordinate some stuff for them," Fearn said. Her group covered Dog River, which included 45 AED kids who were in canoes and paddled along the banks picking up trash. Twelve earth science members were located on Moore Creek off of Halls Mill Road. A port-a-potty was found completely submersed in the water, and a trailer was used to haul it out.
Dr. Fearn and her group found many weird items such as a Halloween mask of an alien in the water. "It looked like a buried monster," Fearn laughed. "Most of the stuff we drag out of the water doesn't come from boaters like a lot of people think," Fearn said. "It mostly comes from beverage and food containers people throw out from cars while driving down the road. Then the rain washes it out of the streets and into the water."
The TKEs location was to clean up a ditch behind a Foodworld shopping center, a storm ditch behind Hollywood Theaters and roads along Mobile. A typewriter, an alligator float and a shopping cart were the most interesting things the TKEs found. "It's amazing how much trash washes into storm ditches," Jonathan Morrison, a TKE member said. "Even the smallest piece of trash builds up. It's a real big problem because no one ever sees the storm ditches. When we go out and clean up, it makes us (TKE) feel like we're making a difference."
If you do decide to volunteer, here are some safety tips you might want to consider: 1). Drink plenty of fluids. Working in the sun can dehydrate you quickly. 2). Protect yourself from sunburn. Use sunscreen and wear a hat and sunglasses. 3). Make sure you wear good shoes so your feet do not get cut on debris. 4). Get help if an object is too large for you to move on your own. 5). Be especially careful to not damage areas that are vital to the ecosystem, such as sand dunes.
The Ocean Conservatory Web site, http://www.oceanconservatory.org, contains information for anyone who would like to get involved with the program, along with a history of it.

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