This was our first morning waking up in California, and after packing our lunches we set off towards Half Moon Bay, where we were to meet with Brandy, the director of a community-building organization based in town near Half Moon Bay. One of the main focuses of the organization is the beach of Half Moon Bay, a beautiful area that is consistently abused by weekend party-goers, litter by visitors, and runoff from other areas. After arriving and finding a number of other vehicles at the location, we were excited to get started. We introduced ourselves to Brandy, and after distributing the gear we would need, we discussed our favorite topic, water.
After we finished our discussion, we made our way down to the beach. The path was not easy, as several streams needed to be crossed in order to make it down the hillside. Once down there however, the trek was worth it, not to mention what a great bonding experience it ended up being as we helped each other cross over deep spots or far jumps. The bay was wide with fine white sand and tall cliffs cutting the skyline into the blue-gray water of the ocean. We could see other volunteers dotted around the beach, all working on the same mission: to remove as much human impact from this natural area as possible. The bulk of the material we found were micro-plastics, a type of litter that can also greatly impact the wildlife in the area as marine life will commonly consume it, inadvertently poisoning their bodies with the small bits of plastic. A while into our work, we were surprised to see a large gray-brown body appear on the sand. This turned out to be a juvenile elephant seal. It was unusual for elephant seals to frequent this beach, and before long, a representative from the Marine Mammals Rescue Center arrived to attend to the situation. This turned out to be a great opportunity to talk to him about his perspective on the drought as a caretaker and advocate for marine mammals. He then explained to us how this seal was probably sick, or otherwise it wouldn’t have come to this beach where it was so uncommon to see others of its kind. Eventually a team arrived to carry this “baby” up the steep hill. It was an impressive feat to watch, considering the sizable weight of the seal and the rough terrain. After we finished our work at the beach, we returned to the meeting spot at the top of the hill and said our goodbyes and thanks to Brandy. We then had a late lunch and returned to San Francisco for the night. We then spent some time walking along to the fisherman’s wharf to better capture the culture of the city.
Reflection:
It was very interesting to speak to Brandy about her role as a community organizer, and what her experience with water has been, especially in regard to the recent drought and the community members she works with. It was especially interesting to hear about how the beach was affected by the drought in that the river that normally ran down into the water was now much smaller and in some areas completely dried up. Because of this, people visiting the beach could much more easily transport coolers down to the beach, which in time greatly increased the amount of litter left on the beach.
In general it has been amazing how many of the people we didn’t expect to have as much experience with water revealed very developed perspectives on the different aspects of the water issue. Their passion for the issue was very inspiring all around.
