Dozens of volunteers gathered along the Carlsbad coastline on April 26, 2025. These volunteers celebrated Earth Day by removing litter and debris as part of a regional cleanup event organized by I Love A Clean San Diego. Supplies such as bags, gloves, buckets, and trash grabbers were provided, but bringing your own materials was highly encouraged. Once volunteers were stocked up with their materials, snacks, and water, they headed out bright and early to start making a change on the beaches.
I took a great friend of mine to this opportunity, and she was glad to be invited.
“This was my first ever beach clean-up, and I am beyond glad to be out here doing something good for the Earth,” says Laylani Jimenez. With the sun out and sea breeze in the air, Laylani also felt this activity to be relaxing.
“I mean we got to play music, walk around Carlsbad Village, and the beach, while people passing by would thank us for doing good for the community,” “It was such a relaxing day for myself along with the change of scenery, and meeting new people with the same goals as us that day,” says Laylani.
Plastic wrappers, bottle caps, cigarette butts, plastic bags, and many other toxic waste were picked up throughout the day. Volunteers were also taught what to recycle and what to trash. Collecting data while weighing the trash picked up, we were then educated on prevention strategies and how we can change things in our everyday lives. Some examples we were told were using reusable bags while grocery shopping, using paper straws or reusable ones, conserving water, and fun activities like planting a tree.
In 2023, the I Love a Clean San Diego organization brought together 17,760 volunteers and picked up 99,000 pounds of waste from its events throughout the year. The Creek to Bay events are only hosted through April for Earth Day; this year, they had 3,352 volunteers across 130 sites in San Diego County. 80,388 pounds of litter was collected, including green waste, trash, and recycling.
Earth Day has become a global movement where many people dedicate themselves to and believe in environmental protection and climate change. The leaders from this organization remind us that real change begins through the community, with volunteers providing hands-on efforts and wanting to make a change in their community. With the extreme weather changes, driven by climate change, coastal communities such as Carlsbad are under growing pressure to preserve natural ecosystems and limit human impact, which is the leading cause of climate change.
Volunteers involved in this year’s clean-up hope their actions will motivate others to volunteer for future events, start making a change in your community, and act now for future generations. I love that the A Clean San Diego Organization has many events one can sign up for throughout the year, and even hosts educational events for kids, such as an upcoming one for Ocean Day.
