WESC Students Clean Up Edith Read Beach

On Saturday, September 26, sixteen high school students and adults involved in the Westchester Environmental Student Council (WESC) collected and catalogued litter at the Edith Read Sanctuary in Rye through a worldwide program called The International Coastal Cleanup. Each WESC student was provided materials for a safe and efficient cleanup, which took place over a four hour period. The students energeticly cleared approximately 800 pounds of trash off a section of a five mile stretch of beach, leaving the sands pristine as autumn begins.

The curator of the Read Sanctuary, Jason Klein, observed: "Recreational activities on the part of boaters, fishermen, and picnickers, contribute greatly to the garbage on our beaches. This yearly event, and WESC's participation, is essential to helping us restore our uniquely beautiful shoreline." He suggested that more education about the impacts of littering, and enforcement of any existing legislation for preventing litter, would be helpfiul.

The debris information was noted and returned to the Ocean Conservancy, located in Washington D.C., where it is analyzed and used to evaluate existing pollution abatement programs and to develop new national and international policies to protect the health and safety of humans and marine life. The event raises the public’s consciousness of the state of our shorelines and generates important data that show trends in pollution.

In 2003, over 10,000 New York volunteers cleaned 424 miles of shoreline, collecting over 334, 420 pounds of debris. (For more information on the cleanup, and 2004 results not yet released, see alsny.org).

While seeing this significant amount of debris is disheartening and disgusting, it is good to know that the students of Westchester have a clear and passionate concern for maintaining the natural beauty of our environment.

David Weinreb, Co-President of the Westchester Environmental Student Council