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Canada: 200 Toronto Students Clean Up Beach, Pose for Aerial Photo to Launch Eastern Shoreline Cleanup |
| June 14, 2004 |
Source: Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre
By Andy Torr
AquaNews Staff Reporter
 | "Clean up, Canada!" was the message for Canadians from the students who participated in the Toronto beach cleanup.
Photo: Vancouver Aquarium |
With the help of over 200 enthusiastic students and a steady supply of garbage bags, the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup kicked off its eastern Canada campaign at a Toronto beach on Friday. After spending an hour cleaning up the city’s Eastern Beaches shoreline, the students gathered in the shape of an enormous loon and were photographed from the air.
The students focused their efforts on cleaning up the debris from recreational activities that frequently take place on the popular beach. In just under an hour, they cleaned up a staggering 10,000 cigarette butts from the beach – 4,000 of which were collected by a single grade eight class. In total, the students collected over 20 kg of cigarette butts and food wrappers alone. After the cleanup, they cleaned themselves up and sat down to enjoy the litterless lunches they had each packed that day.
Friday’s event mirrored a similar scene on a Vancouver beach last week, one that saw 500 students clean up 38 kilograms of garbage in one hour, before posing for an “aerial art” photograph in the shape of a whale. In both cities, the message from the students was the same: “Clean up, Canada!”
“Last week’s aerial art events in Toronto and Vancouver were a great start to the 2004 Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup,” said Jason Boyce, National GCSC Coordinator. “The students at both events showed real commitment to cleaning and restoring Canada’s waterways, which is an encouraging sign for future generations.”
Each year, the Vancouver Aquarium organizes the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup as part of the International Coastal Cleanup. The effort will see more than 25,000 volunteers take to river, stream, lake, ocean, and wetland across Canada this fall, September 11 through 19, 2004.
Marine pollution is a serious threat to the world’s waterways, and is responsible for the deaths of countless whales, dolphins, sea turtles, sea birds and other animals each year. The goal of the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup is to help change attitudes and behaviors about garbage; to make Canadians think twice before throwing a wrapper out of their car window or 'butting out' on the street.
Last year 20,000 volunteers across Canada cleaned nearly 50,000 kilograms of garbage from 969.6 kilometers of shoreline. Cleanups took place in communities from British Columbia to Newfoundland, and as far north as the Yukon.
The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, presented by TD Friends of the Environment Foundation is a free participation event. To volunteer for the 2004 cleanup, click here.
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