Many of Hawaii's beaches are cleaner today, after hundreds of volunteers picked up the junk that gathers there in the annual "Get the Drift and Bag It" campaign yesterday. Many ‘get the drift’
and clean up beachesBy Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.com"Everybody we talked to said it was a nice break from listening to the news -- that it made them feel good to get out and do something positive as a community," said Chris Woolaway, of the University of Hawaii's Sea Grant Extension Service.
Though the number of participants and an estimate of the pounds of garbage bagged for pick-up won't be available until early next week, Woolaway said, "It looks like we had a good turnout."
Sea Grant and the state Coastal Zone Management Program are Hawaii coordinators for the nationwide effort.
Woolaway said she learned yesterday that despite the terrorism tragedy in New York people there turned out for the event. National organizer, the Ocean Conservancy, had said states could postpone the cleanup if they wished.
"If New York can do it, any one of us can do it," Woolaway said. "The idea is that around the world, on the third Saturday in September, everybody is doing this cleanup."
Oahu had 49 cleanup sites, the Big Island had 20 sites, Kauai participated and Maui County elected (before the tragedy) to hold its cleanup next week instead. Some groups that didn't participate today will also do their part in coming weeks, Woolaway said.
Participating groups included the Lions and Rotary clubs and Boy and Girl Scouts, Woolaway said. The biggest surprise participants were military personnel.
"These people are already working multiple shifts because of what's going on," Woolaway said, "but they still turned out to do this."