MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – A group of Coastal Carolina University decided to join millions of people across the world marching in the name of science on Earth Day, by organizing a community beach cleanup.
Members of The Ocean’s Keeper and several other volunteers spread out along the stretch of beach by the Boardwalk in Myrtle Beach “There is no planet B. This is it. We need to make Earth Day, every day”, says volunteer Danita Callis. She and her mother, Virginia, live in Maryland and planned to join the original March for Science in Washington D.C. Though a change of plans brought them to Myrtle Beach for the weekend, they still found a way to get involved. “It’s extremely important to me. I’m a high school science teacher, I’m a green school leader at my school. I write environmental science curriculum. Our school just got Green School status yesterday. So we are definitely green.”
Callis says one of her biggest motivations for taking care of the earth is the next generation. She’s even passed the green thumb on to her daughter, who is studying biology at CCU. “She says it’s the future of our children and it is,” Virginia says of her daughter. Danita adds, “We have no other choice. We have to have clean air. We have to have clean water. That’s a no brainer.”
John Simcox, a CCU student and founder of The Ocean’s Keeper, says the group not only wants to protect the environment but help others understand why they should too. “No matter what political affiliation you might have or whatever your beliefs may be. The environment truly affects everybody. This is the only place that we have to live,” he says. And Callis says it starts with understanding that, “Yes we can save the Earth. Yes we can make a difference. And that’s what my students and my children understand. We can do it.”
The Ocean’s Keeper plans to hold their next big community beach community cleanup on World Oceans Day, June 8th. More details on the event are available at the group’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/theoceanskeeper/.
