Morning pick-me-up

Jenny Marder

From the ground, it looked like nothing special, merely restless

shuffling, giggling, and children weaving back and forth. But from

the sky, the bodies formed a perfect sea turtle, surrounded by a

simple message: “Ocean = Life.”

Orange County students efforts were mimicked by thousands from

cities up and down the California coast who gathered Thursday, May

22, for the Adopt-A-Beach Cleanup to simultaneously send messages to

the sky, calling for protection of our oceans and beaches.

Nearly 700 students arrived at Huntington State Beach from the

inland cities of Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Anaheim. The morning was

spent scouring the beaches for trash and picking up plastic bags,

soda cans and cigarette butts. The afternoon was devoted to the

intricacies of making the turtle design.

“These kids are stuck in a concrete world,” said Stephanie Barger,

executive director of the Earth Resource Foundation and organizer of

the event. “This gives them the opportunity to experience nature and

learn to take care of it.”

Edward Garcia, 11, said he filled a whole trash bag with cans,

bottles, plastic and Styrofoam waste. Others found treasures on the

sand and along the surf.

Brenda Arroyo, 9, held up a small shell, one of many that she had

found that morning and the only one she would be taking home.

“We threw them back,” Arroyo said. “They don’t let us take them.”

The statewide event was sponsored by the California Coastal

Commission and organized locally by the Earth Resource Foundation, a

Costa Mesa-based group that strives to educate people, particularly

children, about caring for the environment.

Volunteers arrived at the beach as early as 6 a.m. to start

tracing the sea turtle shape into the sand.

“You can’t do this by eye,” said Dennis Baker, board president of

Earth Resource Foundation. “You have to grid the whole thing out.”

Baker had the design mapped out on a grid. Using coordinates, he

carved the image out with his feet, while other volunteers crawled

behind him on all fours with florescent tape and orange cones.

Carving the pattern into the sand took four hours.

Evren Ozen, a 10-year-old Native American, played a haunting tune

titled “As things could be” on the flute as the volunteers herded the

youngsters into place. He continued to play throughout the sea turtle

formation.

Designs across California varied, but the message was the same.

“The ocean gives us life, and unless the ocean is healthy, we

won’t have life,” Barger said. “That’s why we did the sea turtle. The

kids can understand that it lives in the ocean and we need to keep

the ocean clean and healthy.”

Barger estimated that about 7,000 students from Humboldt to San

Diego participated in Adopt-A-Beach Day.

“If you inspire just a handful of kids to be environmental

activists, it’s worth it,” said Linda Nichols, member of the Earth

Resources Foundation board of directors. “Plus, it looks like they’re

having a ball.”