On Saturday, September 21, members of the Monsignor Edward Pace High School Environmental Club, National Honor Society, and Science National Honor Society participated in the International Coastal Cleanup at Florida International University’s Biscayne Bay Campus.
The International Coastal Cleanup is an event organized through local chapters of the Ocean Conservancy, which is meant to assist in protecting our coasts and help educate the public on the issues and problems that marine pollution causes to our beautiful oceans.
The students at Pace High School have been a part of this effort for the past three years, with increasing student participation in each of those years.
While it was gratifying to help clean up coastal pollution, as the Environmental Club president, I feel that the existence of such extensive pollution shows there is still a lack of environmental awareness in South Florida on the effects of coastal pollution.
I hope there will be day when students can come to our coastal areas and not find over 70 pounds of debris within two hours of cleanup that has been tossed into our coastal environment. The Pace students were able to collect bags and bags of debris, including bottles, plastic bags, styrofoam, and household products negligently left behind.
We all feel strongly that maintaining our marine environment is both the right thing to do for our planet and our local economy!
With the continued guidance and support of Ana Millan, the Environmental Club Moderator, and Luis Mayo, the National Honor Society and Science National Honor Society moderator, Pace High School students hope to continue participating in this event and look forward to raising awareness in their school and community in order to mitigate the long term effects of pollution.