Hobie Island | International Coastal Cleanup 2021

My dear friends, meine lieben Freunde, queridos amigos:

Let’s put the sun and fun back into responsibility! Would you like to help clean up Miami-Dade's beaches in a big way, just like we did the previous years? I will be a site coordinator again and would love for as many of you as possible to show up! Invite friends and family, too. You can simply share this link with everyone you know!! It’s a great, great opportunity to do something for our city, our beaches, and especially raise environmental awareness: EVERY helping hand counts and every effort is worth a lot. Children any age are welcome to join, too! (Linus and Lia are ready to roll! :)) Registration is required to participate.

"Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time, who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done, if we are always doing." — Thomas Jefferson

It’s time for the 36^th annual International Coastal Cleanup! Join us for the world's largest, one-day volunteer effort for our oceans and waterways, and show your commitment to reducing marine debris, along with millions of volunteers from across the globe!

Spearheaded globally by the Ocean Conservancy, VolunteerCleanup.org organizes Miami-Dade County’s local participation in this worldwide event with 45+ simultaneous shoreline cleanups around the county. The Miami-Dade ICC is made possible by the generous support of our tidal sponsor Covanta, with additional support from Banesco USA, Blackstone Charitable Foundation, Miami-Dade County RER-DERM, Pubbelly Sushi, WPLG Local 10, and with special thanks to the Benjamin & Gloria Joannou, Jr. Family Conservation Fund.

We will provide garbage bags, gloves, data collection cards, and a souvenir tote bag with this year’s marine animal theme, the Octopus! *Community Service hours will be provided*. This year's shirts are available for purchase here! 

Details for this site:

• Directions, Parking and Meeting spot Information will be provided to registered volunteers a few days before the cleanup. https://goo.gl/maps/7dQwKyvamxsALPDw9 

Info for Volunteers:

• Dress for the weather and wear appropriate foot-wear. This is a mixed terrain site, and you should wear closed-toed shoes like sneakers, no flipflops or sandals!)
• Sunglasses, hat, and sunscreen are recommended
• If you have gloves, bring them. We will be providing gloves but cannot guarantee they will be in your size. We suggest reusable working, gardening, or dish gloves that you can pick up at the grocery/hardware store.
• Bring water in a reusable container. Let’s reduce waste and refuse single-use disposable plastic water bottles.
• A paper waiver for Miami-Dade county Parks will be required on the day of the event. ** However, if you are under 18 and coming without a parent or guardian, you must have a parent/guardian print and sign the waiver HERE in advance, and bring it with you to the cleanup. 
• Download the Ocean Conservancy’s CleanSwell app to participate in the Citizen Science activity to log, tally and measure the impact of your cleanup.  It is easier and more fun than using the paper data cards!

About International Coastal Cleanup:

Scientists estimate that more than 17 billion pounds of plastic enters our ocean every year threatening marine life from corals polyps to sharks, the health of people, and local economies.

Over the past 36 years, Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup has brought together nearly 13 million people from over 150 countries to collect nearly 250 million pounds of trash along our coastlines and waterways. Every year during Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup, volunteers comb lakes, rivers and beaches around the world for trash picking up everything imaginable along the world’s shorelines: cigarette butts, food wrappers, abandoned fishing gear and even automobiles and kitchen appliances.

By volunteering at ICC, you will be actively participating in a global citizen science project, not only by removing marine debris, but by also cataloguing and tallying what you find using the Ocean Conservancy’s data collection cards or Clean Swell app. The resulting item-by-item, location-by-location Ocean Trash Index that Ocean Conservancy compiles each year provides the only global snapshot of the marine debris littering coasts and waterways around the world.