High School Intern Shares His Love for the Environment

Derek Noah – Middletown High School South – Class of 2013

I have been working with Clean Ocean Action as a high school intern for two weeks now and I have loved every minute of it. COA is just the place for me since I am a huge nature and environment enthusiast. I have seen what it takes to save the ocean and the environment. COA has shown me how to be a go getter and to never give up on the environment. They have also taught me that whatever I do, do it for the environment.

I found my love for the environment early in high school and have pursued it ever since. I like to bike, hike, kayak and I enjoy the outdoors more than my friends. In fact, my friends make fun of me for being an outdoors enthusiast but it does not bother me because I know I am doing something that I am passionate about. The beauty of nature is so overwhelming and serene. I love how our planet is now and I want to preserve it for the rest of the generations to come. I want to protect and save the earth from human destruction.

I am attending Allegheny College, PA in the fall and I plan on majoring in Environmental Studies. The ideal job for me would be to become an environmental consultant. I want to help companies decide, environmentally and economically, what is the best choice. I want to make an impact. I want to save the environment and help others at the same time.

Thank you Clean Ocean Action!

To Help the Jersey Shore’s Comeback, Clean Ocean Action Launches 2013 Year of “Waves of Action” For The Shore

To Help the Jersey Shore’s Comeback, Clean Ocean Action Launches 2013 Year of “Waves of Action” For The Shore 

Year-Long Volunteer Recovery Action Plan Released Today 

Clean Ocean Action (COA) held a teleconference today to announce the 2013 “Waves of Action” program, which will respond to the impacts of Superstorm Sandy and help improve and protect the marine environment.  COA is engaging its network of organizations, businesses, citizens, and municipalities to help coastal communities throughout New Jersey and New York in need over the long term with volunteer action.   

Learn More at www.ForTheShore.org!

“Recovery will be a very long and challenging road,” said Cindy Zipf, Executive Director of Clean Ocean Action.  “It is essential to rebuild better with environmental stewardship and resiliency and provide resources and support to keep the momentum going,” Zipf added. 

Future Waves of Action days in 2013 will progress with the needs of communities and will keep the momentum going for continued improvement of the shore through debris clean ups, sustainable development plans, and projects to improve water quality.  

“Even though it has been over two months since the Hurricane, there are still very real needs in many communities, and we will work to meet those needs for as long as it takes,” said Zach McCue, Clean Ocean Action Citizen Action Coordinator. 


“Rebuilding Sea Bright will take a sustained effort for a couple of years. Partnering with Clean Ocean Action for regular volunteer days provides additional resources that will be very important to the long term recovery of the town,” added Frank Lawrence, Sea Bright Volunteer Coordinator, who participated in the teleconference on Thursday. 

Waves of Action For The Shore: Month-to-Month
January 19 – Clean-Up, Clean-Out 
February 23– Helping Hands at Home 
March 23 – Bringing Back our Ecosystems 
April 27 – 28th Annual Beach Sweeps
May 18 - Back to the Beach  
June 22, July 20, August 17 - Healthy Habitats, Water Conservation and Energy Efficiency 
September 21 – Education for the Future and Long-Term Recovery 
October 19 – Fall Beach Sweeps
November 13-15 – Education for the Future 
December 7 – Waves of Action Conference and Awards 

The Wave of Action on Saturday, January 19, is in unison with Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, which has become a national weekend centered on service.   

“Many of our projects from December are registered again in January, since Waves of Action is the only clean-up effort that some parks and beaches have been able to have since Sandy.  That said, there are also many new locations where people can help,” said Tavia Danch, Clean Ocean Action Education Coordinator.   

A number of organizations and municipalities have been involved in not only the planning of, but are also participating in, Clean Ocean Action’s Wave of Action on January 19.  These groups include: President’s Inaugural Committee, National Park Service, Bayshore Waterfront Park Affiliation, Monmouth County Park System, HOPE worldwide, Borough of Sea Bright, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Wall High School Environmental Club, AmeriCorps Watershed Ambassadors, Red Bank Friends of Maple Cove, United Methodist Committee of Relief, Alliance for a Living Ocean, Beach Haven West Community Association, Surfrider Foundation, South Jersey Chapter, Borough of Ocean Gate and Natural Resource Protective Association. 

Over 1,200 people have already signed up to help to clean out homes, neighborhoods, parks, beaches, and waterways at 27 locations throughout New York and New Jersey, including Atlantic City, Long Beach Island, Sea Bright, Asbury Park, Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and Staten Island and Jones Beach, New York.
   
“Before Hurricane Sandy, many of the people interested in cleaning up New Jersey's beaches were environmentalists,” noted Lindsey Van Zile, Toms River South High School Senior and Waves of Action Project Leader.  “Now, with the help of Waves of Action program, we can all come together and create solutions to major environmental problems and even help those in need,” she added.  


For more information about the Waves of Action program, visit www.fortheshore.org or contact Clean Ocean Action at (732) 872-0111.

School Garden Grants: Plant a Garden, Help Save the Ocean!

School Garden Grants

Deadline: November 15

The video above highlights the success of  Enright Park Community Garden

The School Garden Grant Program is a collaboration between Whole KidsFoundation and FoodCorps. A school garden is a vital educational tool - every seed planted sprouts a new opportunity for kids to cultivate healthy eating habits! Teaching kids to garden helps them learn about complex topics like sustainability and conservation, food systems, and community awareness.

To be eligible for the $2,000 (US$) School Garden Grant, an applicant must be a nonprofit K-12 school (public, private or charter - elementary, middle, or secondary) and/or a 501(c)(3) organization that is developing or currently maintaining a garden project on school grounds that will engage children with fresh fruits and vegetables.

Garden projects may be at any stage of development (planning, construction or operation). In selecting grant recipients, priority will be given to both limited-resource communities and to projects that demonstrate strong buy-in from stakeholders, as well as demonstrating ability to financially sustain the garden.

For more information, visit http://www.wholekidsfoundation.org/gardengrants.php

Clean Ocean Action supports garden projects, not only because they can help teach children about healthy living and where their food comes from, but because they help protect the ocean.  Gardens help absorb rainwater and reduce the runoff nonpoint source pollution into waterways that lead into the ocean.

Lights, Camera, Clean Ocean Action!

Beach Sweeps Video Online Release! 

 (Sandy Hook, NJ) – Clean Ocean Action (COA) is proud to announce the online release of a video showcasing the Beach Sweeps program.  In 1985, COA launched the region’s first Beach Sweeps program to rid beaches of unsightly and harmful debris.  Today, the Beach Sweeps is one of the longest running cleanups of its kind in the world.  The program has grown from 75 people at one site in 1985 to 7,575 volunteers at nearly 70 sites in 2011. Since 1985, over 90,000 volunteers have participated and removed over 4.5 million pieces of debris from New Jersey's beaches and waterways.

Sandy Levine, producer of the video, is an award-winning television producer who was born and raised at the Jersey Shore. 

“I've known about and respected Clean Ocean Action since the group began in the mid-1980s. I heard that the Beach Sweeps were coming up and I felt compelled to be there to shoot this video. The idea that thousands of people willingly volunteer to pick up garbage was inspiring and I wanted to capture that passion and commitment,” explained Levine.  “When I arrived at Sandy Hook, it was depressing; the sand was littered with all kinds of garbage. A few hours later - the beach was pristine. The Beach Sweeps not only get rid of ugly garbage - they remind us that our ocean and shore need protection. I'm honored to be part of the effort to get out the word that we all can - and must - do something to help," she continued.

Clean Ocean Action was delighted Sandy Levine was able to produce the video.  It provides an important opportunity for everyone with access to the internet to learn about Sweeps and become inspired to participate.

“Over the past 27 years, volunteers have worked hard to collect, catalogue, and remove nearly 5 million pieces of trash from New Jersey’s beaches and waterways,” stated Tavia Danch, COA’s Education Coordinator.  “This video will highlight the great work of our volunteers and inspire others to follow in their footsteps,” added Danch.

Please visit Clean Ocean Action’s website www.cleanoceanaction.org, where the video is posted on our homepage.  It is also uploaded on Clean Ocean Action’s YouTube channel at: http://youtu.be/Z3v7ypuCZjQ.

Clean Ocean Action’s 27^th Annual Fall Beach Sweep will be held this Saturday, October 20 from 9-12:30 PM at over 60 cleanup sites along the NJ shore and waterways from Middlesex to Cape May County.  For more information, or to register groups of ten or more, please visit www.cleanoceanaction.org.

Volunteers Still Needed for 2012 Project PORTS

American Littoral Society is still recruiting volunteers for this week's Project PORTS ( Promoting Oyster Restoration Through Schools) oyster restoration activities. For the 6th straight year, students throughout South Jersey made shell-filled mesh bags (oyster spat collectors) as part of Project PORTS: Rutgers Cousteau Center at Bridgeton and American Littoral Society's education and community-based oyster restoration program to help revitalize Delaware Bay oyster populations and the important fish habitat their reefs provide. The oyster is a keystone species in the bay: improving water quality and providing food, habitat and refuge to countless organisms.

The shell bags serve as a settlement surface for young oysters (spat) when the bay's oyster population spawns this summer. In August, the spat-on-shell will be transplanted to restoration and fishery sites in the upper bay.

American Littoral Society has 2 separate tasks for which they'll need volunteers:

1) Loading a barge with shell bags (Thursday, June 21st 10-12 PM Port Norris, NJ) 

2) Arranging the bags on the sand flats during low tide (Saturday, June 23rd 4-6 PM Green Creek, NJ) 

If you can help on any or all of these days, please contact Jessica Daher at 856-825-2174 or jessica@littoralsociety.org.

Student Summit Photos!

Student Summit at Sandy Hook

 Student Summit at Sandy Hook

May 15 & May 16, 2012

9:00 am - 12:30 pm


Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.

Clean Ocean Action's Student Summit expands learning beyond the classroom.  It is designed to provide middle school students (Grades 5-8) from throughout New Jersey with an opportunity to experience hands-on, marine environmental education at the Jersey shore. 

The activities included in the Student Summit have been selected to present students with an interdisciplinary marine and environmental education experience that complements the New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards.  Clean Ocean Action's Student Summits (program and materials) are FREE.   The Spring Student Summit is for middle school students in central and northern NJ and takes place at Sandy Hook. Schools simply have to provide their own transportation. 

Students participate in six hands-on roundtable activities, which include learning about horseshoe crabs, identifying seashells, studying invertebrates, observing a model of nonpoint source pollution, and learning the lethal effects of litter on the marine environment.  Students from the Marine Academy of Science and Technology (MAST), a high school located on Sandy Hook, serve as peer teachers at the activity workstations.   

In addition, naturalists and other education professionals lead students in twelve field activities throughout the parks.  Some students use seine nets to collect and identify common marine species.  Other participants learn about key bird species, participate in a beach cleanup, test water quality, learn fishing techniques, learn to surf, and traverse trails with park naturalists.  It is a memorable experience for all participants.

Schools must apply to Clean Ocean Action  for participation in this program and agree to the Terms of Participation. For more information and to register contact:

Tavia Danch

Education Coordinator

Clean Ocean Action

(732) 871- 0111

Education@CleanOceanAction.org

Big Week-Bigger Weekend!

This week was a big one here at Clean Ocean Action, but the weekend will be bigger!

Over the past few days, COA has had meetings with Congressmen and Senate Staffers on ocean pollution prevention issues, been busy attending (sometimes remotely) seminars and colloquia on stormwater, ocean policy, environmental law, and other coastally-related issues, and we’ve also managed to clean our office kitchen!

The top story of the week, though, was on Thursday.  A tip of the hat to COA’s Education Coordinator Tavia Danch and the success of the 23rd Annual Fall Student Summit!  Highlighted in a story in the Asbury Park Press entitled “Fall Summit teaches students about beach stewardship” (http://goo.gl/vXAmL), the Summit saw over 325 middle school students visit Island Beach State Park for a day of ocean and coastal education!

Students came from 13 schools across Mercer, Ocean, Camden, and Monmouth Counties.  Late each summer, COA sends out invitations to every school in the state, asking for interest in spending a day with us at the beach – and we’ve had constantly increasing levels of involvement and interest from across the state.  In the Spring, COA hosts its Monmouth County Student Summit for middle schoolers from Monmouth and more northerly counties.  The Spring event is a two-day summit, drawing almost 600 students total.

These two summits wouldn’t be successful without the help and expertise of high school volunteers from Ocean County’s Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science (MATES) and Monmouth’s Marine Academy of Science and Technology (MAST).  This week’s Fall Summit went off without a hitch thanks to over 50 MATES students that taught a dozen lab stations and led almost as many field trips through the dunes and marshes!

If your school is looking to spend a great day on the beach with COA next year, send a note to Tavia Danch and she will get you information.

This week’s events were BIG, but the weekend will be Bigger!

Saturday:

-          COA Staff will be at the Rumson/Fair Haven High School’s Environmental Festival, in Rumson, NJ to help RFH students get the word out about actions that can be taken in your home, yard, and neighborhood for a cleaner ocean!  Read about some of the over RFH Fall Festival happenings here!

-          All day Saturday, COA will be at the Asbury Park BeerFest (click here for ticketing info) – a one-day, two-session celebration of New Jersey’s finest craft and historical brews.  COA, along with Best Day Foundation, will be sharing parts of the proceeds of the event (thanks!!!), so make sure to stop by our tables when you’re at the festival (and drive safely!).

Saturday & Sunday

-          COA volunteers will also be at the North American Sea Glass Festival at the Ocean Place Resort in Long Branch supporting the work of local artists and activists interested in a more pristine ocean environment!

What Is Your Ocean Connection?

Welcome to National Environmental Education Week (EE Week), an annual celebration of teaching and learning about the environment. Held each year the week before Earth Day – April 10-16, 2011 – EE Week provides educators with resources to promote K-12 students’ understanding of the environment. Recognizing the importance of protecting the health of our ocean and understanding our dependence upon it regardless of its proximity, the National Environmental Education Week 2011 theme is Ocean Connections.  EE Week is providing resources, teaching tools, lesson plans, webinars, and activities to help teachers and students across the country explore their connections to and dependence upon the ocean.  Learn more at www.eeweek.org/ocean_connections.htm.

There are 5 easy ways to participate in EE week:

1.       Incorporate environmental themes into daily lesson plans

2.       Set up a nature scavenger hunt

3.       Help students inventory the many ways our daily lives depend upon the ocean such as for regulation of climate and weather, for food or for other resources.

4.       Partner with a local business or community group to host a clean-up (hint, hint: participate in the Beach Sweeps!)or water-quality monitoring event

5.       Help students identify and investigate their watershed

Congratulations to our Student Ocean Advocate, Brian Geiger of Manasquan High School who won 2^nd Place in the People’s Choice Awards of the Planet Connect Get Green Video Contest!  This video contest is part of EE Week.  You voted for his video, A Step in the Right Direction, a couple of weeks ago.  To take another look, find his video here.  You can see all the other winners and their great videos showing their Ocean Connections here.

We love seeing young minds taking action and showing their passion for the marine environment!