Heal the Bay

By Max Rosenberg

Theme Editor

Students have teamed up with Heal the Bay, an organization that works to maintain clean and safe ocean water throughout the South Bay.

Heal the Bay encourages high schoolers to volunteer in a number of the organization’s activities, Heal the Bay Chief Marketing Officer Kari Boiler said. From beach cleanups to supporting legislation, students have found a socially-active outlet through which they can advocate for their very own beachside community.

“The organization is important not only to the entire bay but particularly our community,” Boiler said. “[Our] efforts are tracked and rewarded.”

Heal the Bay holds beach cleanups once a month and recruits additional clean-up helpers after rainstorms when pollutants flow out of storm drains to the beach, Boiler said. In addition to cleaning up the aftermath of ocean pollution, the group works to support environmentally-friendly legislation in the Beach Cities.

In 2015, students volunteered with Heal the Bay to defeat Measure O, which focused on oil drilling in Hermosa Beach, and then on the elimination of polystyrene and cigarette butts from local shorelines.

“Heal the Bay has been on the forefront of enacting legislation that aims to reduce the amount of pollution in our oceans,” Boiler said. “We spend a lot of time fighting for strict pollution limits and then urging regulators to hold dischargers accountable when they pollute our shorelines.”

The organization’s latest success was the passage of Proposition 67, which prohibits stores from giving single-use plastic bags to prevent these items from entering and polluting the ocean.

“Our most important work is teaching people about what can be done to protect our coastline and the steps they can take to keep our oceans and neighborhoods in a sustainable state,” Boiler said.