Description

For this community challenge, you will host a Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup with your family and friends!

A shoreline is any piece of land connected to water. This could be the beach on the ocean or a lake, the side of a river or stream, or even a storm drain on your block. Waterways are all connected in one big ocean around the globe. (This is actually Ocean Literacy Principal #1!). Litter deposited in a river, stream or drain can easily make its way to the ocean through wind and ocean currents. Regardless of where you live, you are near a shoreline and that shoreline connects you to the water all over the world.

Fun fact: In 1994, employees and volunteers at the Vancouver Aquarium decided to clean up a beach in Stanley Park to protect the city’s shorelines. Since that first cleanup, a program grew in BC with 400 volunteers. Then, the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup became a national conservation initiative in 2002 with cleanups in every province and territory. By 2003, more than 20,000 volunteers were taking part. Now, you can get involved too!

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Task

Here is what you need to do:

BEFORE YOUR EVENT

1. Set a day, time and a location. You can do a clean up anywhere land meets water (ocean, river, lake, puddle, storm drain).
2. Register your clean up as a private event. 
3. Invite your friends and family to join you. Invite your work's sustainability group or your campus Environmental club.
4. Bring with you protective gloves, garbage bags, recycling bags, and bag or box that is safe to store biological waste.
5. Print off Shoreline Cleanup Data Cards and a Shoreline Cleanup Waiver for participants who didn't sign up online

DURING YOUR EVENT

1. Be sure to do a safety briefing including site safety and dangerous item disposal (needles etc.) 
2. Clean up! Be active on social media using our hashtags #OceanBridge #LeadersToday and tag @OceanWise @leaderstoday and @SocDevSoc on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook!
3. Wrap up: Weigh all of the trash. Separate recyclable and compostable items and dispose of all trash appropriatel
4. Have fun! You are directly impacting the health of the water in your life.

AFTER YOUR EVENT

1. Submit your Shoreline Cleanup Data Cards to shorelinecleanup@ocean.org
2. Share your experience! Tag your service on our Ocean Service Activities map. Take photos and share them on our community space gallery, write a blog or post what you found to the discussion board.

Ready to take it to the next level?

 Plan a shoreline clean-up with your community

Want to do something a little simpler?

Join an already existing shoreline clean-up or clean-up on your own

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Continue to #BePlasticWise With Your Friends, Co-workers and Classmates »