Field Outings
The objective of this project is for you to get directly involved with environmental issues in our community.
Beach Cleanup
I went out to Dog Beach, Ocean Beach and participated in a beach clean up. I came across a lot of dog feces and plastic trash. In doing this I learned there is a lot more trash across our beaches than it seems. If you aren't looking for trash you do not tend to notice it. When I was scanning the beach for trash it became more apparent to the eye, making the beach cleanup easier than it seems. Cleaning up our beaches is a great way to help the environment, especially cleaning up dog feces. Dog feces contains 23 million types of bacteria per 1 ounce of feces, it is also the third highest contributor to ocean water contamination. When there is over 409 E. Coli cells per 100 milliliters of ocean water the city is forced to shut down the beaches. Plastic is also a major contributor to ocean pollution. For every square mile of the ocean there are 46,000 pieces of floating plastic. These pieces are responsible for the death of 100,000 marine creatures each year. Also a total of 1 million sea birds have been killed because of ingesting plastic.
Gardening Community
As a part of Biology Honors, we held a meeting at High Tech High for local gardeners who wanted to get together and try to infuse gardening into the school system. Clayton Schudy, as well as other master gardeners came to the meeting where we toured the garden around High Tech High and sat down to discuss future plans to create a community of gardeners throughout San Diego. From this meeting I learned how there are many student parents who have made a big difference in their schools, by adding a local edible garden to the schools property. Doing this has pleased the students and inspired them to grow their own gardens. Having local gardens enlightens our youth on the issues of environmental sustainability, teaches them responsibility, and provides locally grown, healthy food.