This year, the Trinity Junior Girl Scout Troop set out to earn their Bronze Award. The girls were to come up with a project that addressed a need in the community and organize a project to address that need. The girls chose keeping the ocean clean. I thought that was a natural choice since we live on an island surrounded by ocean, but I wasn’t so sure we would find anything to clean up. After all, Kailua Beach is one of the most beautiful and pristine beaches in the world. Regardless of my concerns, we set out to clean up Kailua Beach, as it is our own backyard.
I took quite a few large garbage bags, but really did not expect to fill them all. I ran out of bags as the trash exceeded my expectations. When we had all we could carry and drag back up the beach, the girls discussed their observations and were surprised at what they found...plastic, plastic and more plastic! The girls pondered the same questions I did when I found the worn tile on the beach in Italy...What was this piece of plastic originally? How far did it travel here? Did it break off of a boat or was it intentionally dumped in the ocean? How much more is out there if these pieces are just what ended up on a beach? If this much trash washes up on Kailua Beach, how much trash is on other beaches?
When you watch a sunrise on Kailua Beach, or see the magnificent blues of the water, or the texture of the sand as the waves recede, it is easy to see God. Kailua Beach is truly one of God’s masterpieces.
Why do we clean the ocean? The answer from the girls was pretty simple...God made it so we should respect it and clean it. Psalm 95:5 says, “The sea is His for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.” Kailua Beach is just one small, but amazing example of the awesomeness of God’s creation. As Christians, we are charged with environmental stewardship. Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’” That is an awesome responsibility. The girls of GS Troop 894 have new motivation to clean by example, and are excited about raising awareness that what goes in the ocean eventually washes up on our beaches. The Beach Trash Art piece the girls created, titled “Man and the Sea” will be on display in Holman Hall on the Makai Campus this week in observance of Earth Day.
Suzette Duvall Nied
5th Grade Parent and GS Troop 894 Leader