Growing up living on a beach has exposed me to the detrimental effects that humans can have on the environment. Vacationers aren’t able to see the damage their carelessness can cause over time. Beach cleanups do assist with some of the pollution taking place on public beaches, but plastics still continue to get left buried in the sand. A study by Carolyn Barry found that these plastics can degrade somewhat rapidly, thus filling the ocean with chemical pollution. Just by chasing after that trash that blew away or picking up an empty water bottle while taking a stroll down the beach can make a huge impact. Every summer I partake in four huge community beach clean ups and the amount of trash collected each time is unsettling.

Through community service projects both on campus as well as at home, I aim to help reduce the community’s carbon footprint. I hope that through this class I can learn more about the other ways I can impact the environment. I also want to learn more about the global sustainability statistics and how carbon footprints can be measured.