This comprehensive environmental education program is designed to motivate teachers and K - 12 children to care about the beaches and oceans. It demonstrates how the beaches and oceans get dirty and provides "hands-on" opportunities to make a difference by recycling, reducing litter and cleaning up the beaches. This program excites and inspires teachers and children to care for the world today and to increase their appreciation for the beaches and oceans.

The two steps of this powerful, motivational Adopt-A-Beach School Assembly Program that creates responsible stewards of the Los Angeles watershed and marine environment are:

This forty-five minute presentation showing students the way to cleaner beaches and oceans consists of:

• A demonstration of the whys, facts and benefits of recycling.
• A slide show illustrating how the increasing amount of plastic and debris in the world's oceans entangles and kills birds, dolphins, turtles and fish.
• An explanation of the Los Angeles storm drain system showing the connection between the urban environment and the beaches and oceans.
• A school Recycle-A-Thon follows the assembly to fund additional buses to the "Kids" Ocean Day Adopt-A-Beach Clean-Up.

Since its inception in 1994, the "Kids" Ocean Day Adopt-A-Beach Clean-Up has hosted almost 85,000 students who have redeemed aluminum cans to help pay for their buses.

On Earth Day 1998, nearly 4,500 kids participated in the Fifth Annual "Kids" Ocean Day Adopt-A-Beach Clean-Up at Dockweiler State Beach in Los Angeles and at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. At both locations, kids sent out a distress call to Save Our Seas by standing on the beach and forming the letters "SOS" for an aerial photograph. This was an effort to call attention to the plight of the world's oceans as part of the U.N.'s designating 1998 as the International Year of the Ocean. The event was covered by all local newspapers and news stations in both Los Angeles and San Francisco and by NBC's national news. For the year 2000, the 7th annual Clean-Up the "Kid's" formed a whales tail on the sand and spelled out "Gracias", to send a big thank you to Mexico for their role in keeping the grey whale habitat free from development.

 MEETING COMMUNITY NEEDS

Our children hear about and experience many of the bad things about living in Los Angeles. . .crime, poverty, earthquakes, the high cost of living, lack of jobs and deterioration of the environment. They are also aware of urban run-off, marine debris, beach litter, plastic, oil, grease and other sources of pollution. This constant stream of negative information both frightens and overwhelms children. The program goes directly to schools and addresses these concerns and the need for recycling and litter reduction by focusing on how these issues impact the health of the Los Angeles area marine environment.

The goals are to motivate the students to care about their environment and then become involved in community service. Getting more kids to the beach and in touch with nature, along with challenging them to recycle, reduce litter, participate in beach clean-ups and take an active role in the care of their environment, increases the likelihood that this behavior will become part of their lifestyle. Research has shown that the effectiveness of the message increases proportionately with the frequency of times it hits home. Armed with increased knowledge of the importance of recycling and litter reduction, the students will influence the habits of their friends, families and especially their parents. This increases the chances of recycling and litter reduction at home and in the neighborhood. The program teaches our children that they, as individuals, can make good things happen. More importantly, the students learn that their actions affect the world around them. This is a very powerful message. It promotes a sense of pride and self-esteem that will help them grow into concerned adults who take an active role in their communities.

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