By PARKER KESTON | Junior Reporter
The first two things every kid thinks about on Christmas are Santa Claus and, obviously, getting presents—red fire engines, pretty dresses, maybe a new pet. But one thing my mom told me is that the best part about Christmas should not just be getting presents. It should be about giving them too.
That’s why I decided to give back to the environment by cleaning up trash at the Jonathan Beach Club this winter. And guess who was there to help me? None other than Santa himself!
Photo courtesy of Parker Keston
Every year, Heal the Bay assigns A-to-F letter grades to 468 beaches along the California coast based on levels of weekly bacterial pollution. Some 95 percent of beaches received A or B grades during last summer (April-October).
Santa Monica Beach, however, was not one of them. It was actually number eight on Heal the Bay’s annual Beach Bummer List, a ranking of the state’s 10 most-polluted beaches.
This is a problem. We want our beaches to be clean and safe for playing and swimming, and it is up to everybody to do their part to clean up the pollution.
That’s why my mom, little sister Riley and myself joined a bunch of other people—as well as Santa—to help.
We picked up Styrofoam, chunks of charcoal, bottle caps and other trash that is bad for birds, bad for fish and bad for other mammals of the sea. Then we threw them away where they belong.
After we finished the cleanup, I had a chance to interview Santa. He wouldn’t answer questions about reindeer or The North Pole, but guess what he said when I asked him what his favorite sea mammal was? A manatee! That’s mine too!
Now that the New Year has arrived, my mom said we should all make resolutions for 2016. Why don’t you make your resolution to try and save the ocean and the beach and other places near it?
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