11/13/2009:

I’ve sent the data cards off to the Ocean Conservancy, and am looking forward to learning more about organizing successful cleanups. I have a phone call scheduled with some great people at the OC next week – will post updates here.

10/13/2009:

Whew! What a whirlwind. Thanks to everyone who helped to clean our nation’s shorelines, thereby helping to preserve the health, beauty, and safety of our oceans. I will post the results within the next few weeks. This year was a good learning experience, and I’m already planning for ways to improve for next year’s ICC.

9/17/2009:

I am about to head out of town for the next 10 days – I’ll be visiting the Texas Gulf Coast! The cleanup that I was planning to attend in Corpus Cristi on the 19th is actually taking place on the 26th. I am going to attend a cleanup in Austin on the 19th instead, at Ladybird Lake. This is a cleanup organized by Keep Texas Beautiful and is not officially in cahoots with the OC’s ICC. At least not this year…we’ll see about next year! Alas, I cannot be in Corpus on the 26th, but would love to hear from anyone who is able to go.

9/9/2009:

It has been a busy couple of weeks, and Texas cleanups are underway! I will be attending the cleanups in the Dallas area on 9/11/09 and 9/12/09. I am really excited to attend the cleanup in Corpus Christi on 9/19/09, where I will help out, take pictures, and learn as much as I can about organizing for next year’s ICC.

I met with Richard Grayson, of rivergeek.com, and gained a wealth of information about river cleanups. Richard is a committed “rivergeek,” who has participated in and organized river cleanups for years. He is a fellow Texas Master Naturalist, and I look forward to working with him and others I meet along the way.

8/21/2009:

I posted some information about how to organize your group, how to get supplies, etc. on the Home page.

8/19/2009:

I am meeting with TMN and City of Plano employee, Vickie Hamrick, on Monday, 8/24 to find a suitable access point to Rowlett Creek within the bounds of Oak Point Park and Nature Preserve. Woohoo!

If you would like to help clean up an inland waterway in your area, please send your site suggestions to me. I will do all that I can to help organize a group and obtain supplies for any efforts scheduled between Sep 1 and Oct 31. I will post additional sites in the table at the top of this page.

8/9/2009:

I have spoken with Renee Tuggle, of the Texas General Land Office, Adopt-A-Beach. She coordinates the coastal area cleanups in Texas for the International Coastal Cleanup Day (ICC). She was extremely helpful, sent me some vital information about coordinating cleanups, and offered to send trash bags and data cards. I found out that the ICC event has a MUCH longer planning process than I imagined, and that instead of July being an early start, it was really a very late start. The deadline for requesting supplies from the Ocean Conservancy was in April!

OK, so for this year, I’m going to do what I can, given my late start. I am going to post a table of inland waterway sites where volunteers will help clean up. The official ICC day is September 19, but debris collected anytime between September 1 and October 31 is counted toward the results. This time period offers other opportunities for people who want to help, but cannot do so on that one day.

More updates to come!

8/4/2009:

The second wave of letters is going out today – this time, to colleges and universities in Texas. The letter is substantially the same, but I did make a few changes. Here is the text – see reference links at the bottom of the page :

RE:          Call for Texas volunteers on International Coastal Cleanup Day – September 19, 2009

Hello!

I first learned about the global event called International Coastal Cleanup Day¹ in 2008. Chances are that if you are reading this letter, you knew about it before me! This Ocean Conservancy event is now in its 24^th year.

The report² produced from this 100% volunteer effort in 2008 revealed an astonishing lack of participation by Texans. When I consider that the ICC started in Texas⁶, I am both proud that the ICC was born in my home state, and aghast that our participation has not kept pace with other states and countries. The Texas Gulf Coast boasts about 350 miles³ of shoreline, but did you know that when you add the miles of shoreline in our bays and other coastal wetland areas, Texas has about 3,351 miles⁴ of coast? Add to that miles of inland waterways, and we’ve got a lot of areas in need of some attention. According to coastal area population estimates from 2000, about 5,211,014 Texans call the area “home”⁴ (we have about 24,326,974 Texans in all).

On International Coastal Cleanup Day last year, about 391,000 volunteers around the world picked up 6.8 million pounds of trash from our planet’s shorelines and coastal waters. The United States had the largest number of volunteers among participating countries, at 183,194 registered people. Here’s the shocker – there were only 3,573 volunteers registered from Texas, while California had 73,691, and Florida had 32,696.  Even with our relatively small number of participants, we logged retrieval of 63,325 marine debris items (that’s right, the Ocean Conservancy actually counts every bit of garbage collected from the day’s efforts). Imagine how much cleaner and safer our coast would be if our number of volunteers were similar to those in Florida or California!

Here’s how it works out:

0.015% of the Texas population picked up 17 bits of debris each

0.20% of the California population picked up 12 bits of debris each

0.18% of the Florida population picked up 21 bits of debris each

I think the goal is clear – we Texans need to show that we care as much about our shores as California and Florida! That means we need to increase our number of volunteers by at least 10 times over the number we had last year.

We all know that Texas is a big state, and that our coastal area is just one section in the southeastern part of the state. Someone who lives in the panhandle may wonder what they should or could do to help clean up our coasts. Texas has inland water bodies (rivers, lakes, etc) grouped into areas called Texas River and Coastal Basins⁵. These basins include waterways that lead to the Gulf. I live in Plano, Texas, near the Trinity River, in far North Texas. A cigarette butt, plastic bag, or aluminum can in the Trinity River has a direct route to the bay area in Galveston. I believe your institution is located near the «river_basin». We are all more connected to the sea than it might seem, and you don’t have to travel to the coast to participate!

I am sending this letter out to colleges and universities, in hopes that you and your students may be willing to help me organize volunteers for International Coastal Cleanup Day on September 19, 2009.

I am not affiliated with the Ocean Conservancy. I am a Texas Master Naturalist, nature enthusiast, birder, amateur photographer, and nature blogger. I work from home doing accounting and database contract work. My motivation for doing the research to write this letter, spending money on the postage, and contacting complete strangers is simple – I love wildlife, our lands and seas, and Mother Nature.

Speaking of Mother Nature, Hurricane Ike destroyed lives, property, and homes along our coast, leaving tons of debris in its wake. Hurricane Ike wasn’t the first hurricane to ravage our coast, and it won’t be the last. For one day at least, volunteers can mute the debate over cleanup issues, and just get out there and help.

The health, safety, and attractiveness of our coastal areas play an important role in our Texas economy. Tourism to our beaches and ecotourism to the World Birding Center and other birding hot spots is huge. Our coast also supports various industries, educational institutions, and a naval station.

Please let me know if you would be willing to join me in my efforts to organize a tenfold increase in Texas volunteers this year. I am only one person, and merely a private citizen. I can donate my technical and organizational skills to the cause, and will travel to the Corpus Christi area to participate in the International Coastal Cleanup Day on September 19, 2009. Maybe instructors could incorporate the event into their coursework, or even offer extra credit for volunteers? The clean-up effort actually spans a 2-month period, from September 1 through October 31, 2009. All I can offer to you in return is bragging rights for being part of an effort to Do Something Good for Texas.

The text of this letter is posted on my blog at http://birderslounge.com/coastalcleanup2009/, along with a form that anyone can use to let me know they want to help. This page will also feature regular updates to let everyone know who is “in,” and volunteering details as they are planned. If you prefer to write, the address is Birder’s Lounge, PO Box 860275, Plano, TX, 75086-0275. I’ll even give you my cell phone number, though I’ll omit it from the version of this letter posted on the internet – xxx-xxx-xxxx.

“Goodness is the only investment that never fails.”  – - – Henry David Thoreau

Sincerely,

Amber Coakley

7/30/2009:

I had a fantastic conversation with 2 people from the Ocean Conservancy in Washington, DC. We spoke for about an hour, discussing ideas for reaching and organizing volunteers, as well as details about sites and data collection. Information about the ICC will be sent out to the Texas Master Naturalist listserv, but I am still waiting for confirmation that the ICC will be accepted as a Project. I am almost ready to send another round of letters – this time to selected colleges in Texas.  A little extra-credit, maybe?

7/27/2009:

So far, I have heard back from 1 Texas Master Naturalist Chapter and 1 Texas Audubon Society. I have received another 3 letters back in the mail. I am waiting to hear back from the president of my own TMN chapter on getting the ICC approved as a Project.

I spoke briefly with my contact at the Ocean Conservancy on Friday, and we have a phone call scheduled for tomorrow. I am planning a second wave of letters – will post updates.

7/17/2009:

I exchanged emails with two representatives from the Ocean Conservancy today! They were delighted to get my letter, and arranged for me to speak with just the right person next week. I expect that many of the letters I sent have reached their destination by now, and I hope to have more exciting news to share next week.

7/15/2009:

I spoke to the (acting) president of the Blackland Prairie Master Naturalist about International Coastal Cleanup Day, and asked him to keep an eye out for my letter. I believe he will help, just need to check back with him and speak to our returning president of the chapter.

7/13/2009:

Received one letter back in the mail – bad address. So far, haven’t heard anything, but expect to make some contacts this week.

~

This is the news page for developments in my efforts to coordinate a tenfold increase in the number of Texans who volunteer for one day to help clean up our shores, both inland and at the Gulf of Mexico.

My initial letter to Texas organizations for help with spreading the word to potential volunteers is posted below:

——————————–

July 8, 2009

RE:          Call for Texas volunteers on International Coastal Cleanup Day – September 19, 2009

Hello!

I first learned about the global event called International Coastal Cleanup Day¹ in 2008. Chances are that if you are reading this letter, you knew about it before me! This Ocean Conservancy event is now in its 24^th year.

The report² produced from this 100% volunteer effort in 2008 revealed an astonishing lack of participation by Texans. The Texas Gulf Coast boasts about 350 miles³ of shoreline, but did you know that when you add the miles of shoreline in our bays and other coastal wetland areas, Texas has about 3,351 miles⁴ of coast? According to coastal area population estimates from 2000, about 5,211,014 Texans call the area “home”(we have about 24,326,974 Texans in all).

On International Coastal Cleanup Day last year, about 391,000 volunteers around the world picked up 6.8 million pounds of trash from our planet’s shorelines and coastal waters. The United States had the largest number of volunteers among participating countries, at 183,194 registered people. Here’s the shocker – there were only 3,573 volunteers registered from Texas, while California had 73,691, and Florida had 32,696.  Even with our relatively small number of participants, we logged retrieval of 63,325 marine debris items (that’s right, the Ocean Conservancy actually counts every bit of garbage collected from the day’s efforts). Imagine how much cleaner and safer our coast would be if our number of volunteers were similar to those in Florida or California!

Here’s how it works out:

0.015% of the Texas population picked up 17 bits of debris each

0.20% of the California population picked up 12 bits of debris each

0.18% of the Florida population picked up 21 bits of debris each

I think the goal is clear – we Texans need to show that we care as much about our shores as California and Florida! That means we need to increase our number of volunteers by at least 10 times over the number of volunteers we had last year.

We all know that Texas is a big state, and that our coastal area is just one section in the southeastern part of the state. Someone who lives in the panhandle may wonder what they should or could do to help clean up our coasts. Texas has inland water bodies (rivers, lakes, etc) grouped into areas called Texas River and Coastal Basins.⁵ These basins include waterways that lead to the Gulf. I live in Plano, Texas, near the Trinity River, in far North Texas. A cigarette butt, plastic bag, or aluminum can in the Trinity River has a direct route to the bay area in Galveston. We are all more connected to the sea than it might seem, and you don’t have to travel to the coast to participate!

I am sending this letter out to organizations I believe may be willing to help me organize volunteers for International Coastal Cleanup Day on September 19, 2009.

I am not affiliated with the Ocean Conservancy. I am a Texas Master Naturalist, nature enthusiast, birder, amateur photographer, and nature blogger. I work from home doing accounting and database contract work. My motivation for doing the research to write this letter, spending money on the postage, and contacting complete strangers is simple – I love wildlife, our lands and seas, and Mother Nature.

Speaking of Mother Nature, Hurricane Ike destroyed lives, property, and homes along our coast, leaving tons of debris in its wake. Hurricane Ike wasn’t the first hurricane to ravage our coast, and it won’t be the last. For one day at least, volunteers can mute the debate over cleanup issues, and just get out there and help.

The health, safety, and attractiveness of our coastal areas play an important role in our Texas economy. Tourism to our beaches and ecotourism to the World Birding Center and other birding hot spots is huge. Our coast also supports various industries, educational institutions, and a naval station.

Please let me know if you would be willing to join me in my efforts to organize a tenfold increase in Texas volunteers this year. I am only one person, and a simple private citizen. I can donate my technical and organizational skills to the cause, and will travel to the Corpus Christi area to participate in the International Coastal Cleanup Day on September 19, 2009. All I can offer to you in return is bragging rights for being part of an effort to Do Something Good for Texas.

I am sending a copy of this letter to the Ocean Conservancy’s Gulf of Mexico Regional Office, and to Dianne Sherman, who is the Director of the International Coastal Cleanup. I want to let them know what I (we) are doing, and establish contacts there to help with our volunteer coordination efforts.

The text of this letter is posted on my blog at http://birderslounge.com/coastalcleanup2009/, along with a form that anyone can use to let me know they want to help. This page will also feature regular updates to let everyone know who is “in,” and volunteering details as they are planned. If you prefer to write, the address is Birder’s Lounge, PO Box 860275, Plano, TX, 75086-0275. I’ll even give you my cell phone number, though I’ll omit it from the version of this letter posted on the internet – xxx-xx-xxxx.

“Goodness is the only investment that never fails.”  – - – Henry David Thoreau

Sincerely,

Amber Coakley