Have you ever been to a beach? Felt y0ur feet being exfoliated by the warm, golden bronze sand and having the invigorating wind nip at your skin. Ever played beach volleyball? The rays from the sun are beating down on your skin as you dive down to hit the ball before it touches the ground, and your friends all run to you to give their congratulations. Been swimming? That’s the best. Feeling the rush of the cool ocean water rush past your skin and ignoring the salt-water sting and opening your eyes to see the stunning reef under you? It’s all worth it. Spending a day at the beach is one of the greatest experiences you can get when coming to Hawaii. But what if all of a sudden, that was all taken away from us? What if the beaches got so polluted due to human impact that we weren’t allowed to use them anymore? Honestly, that’s what might happen if we continue to treat the beaches the same way we’re treating them now. Hawaii is fortunate to have magnificent beaches accessible all year round, but due to pollution from the people who are careless with our beaches, our use of those might be slowly coming to an end. Therefore we need to start enforcing stricter rules to make sure our beaches stay available to our use for generations to come.
Starting in the 1940’s, plastic use has skyrocketed significantly. What’s not good about plastic? It’s lightweight and durable. Everything is being made out plastic now; water bottles, bags, containers, and more. But that’s both a good and bad thing. Too much trash, namely plastic, is being thrown into the oceans. Plastic is really hard to get rid of, because it doesn’t break down without help from man. Also, plastic can be a magnet for toxic chemicals, which can turn them into poison basically. This can contaminate both the water, and the sea creatures that see them as food. Even though this might sound harsh and severe, the government should make a law banning plastic use on the beach. This isn’t that bad, since there is other more eco-friendly and biodegradable substitutes for plastic that are in works and being produced currently. And with plastic gone or at least appearing less and less in our oceans, that can make a huge impact on the amount of trash polluting our oceans.
Hanauma Bay on Oahu has shown us that it is a relatively clean beach, meeting 4 out of 5 of the standards for a beach that follows the best practices like testing the waters more than once a week, having water quality that meets a certain health standard, and always issuing advisories promptly according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. This is probably due to the fact that Hanauma Bay is strict about its rules and regulations in order to keep the beach both enjoyable, yet hygienic. Visitors to Hanauma Bay also have to watch a short 10-minute video that warns you not to touch or feed the marine life, as well as how the beach was formed and everything. On the other hand, Ala Moana Beach that’s also located on Oahu and known as more as a heavy tourist beach, has little rules and enforcements, and doesn’t require visitors to do anything before going on to the beach. In result, it only met 2 out of 5 of the standards of the NRDC. What this might mean is that visitors to the beach, people visiting from outside the state especially, should be required to watch a short video about how delicate our oceans are, and how much they mean to the people of Hawaii and some rules that they need to follow in order to keep it that way, since it seems to be working out for Hanauma Bay. This may be a little more costly, but it’s something that would really help us to save our Hawaiian beaches.
Ever have those days where you just sit around, bored, doing nothing? Well, we should all make a pledge to do something productive on some of those days. Hawaii should start having community beach clean up days every month on the third Sunday of every month, or another day like that. It would be a great way to meet new people and spend a day doing something you know is good for your community. It also will raise a lot of awareness that our beaches do in fact need help, and that help can come from all of us. Everyone could also bring or make food, making it a giant potluck that makes it seem more fun than just doing plain work. This idea might be semi-costly, with the need for advertising to put the plan out there, and maybe providing water for all of the participants at each beach cleanup. But the ending result, where the beaches are all clean and the community is on a good feeling buzz knowing that they played a part in helping our environment? It will be worth it.
So with a few new procedures and rules, we can work together to fix these beautiful beaches so that they will be available to us for generations to come. After all, it’s the least we can do to give back to these islands that have gave so much to us. One person’s effort may just feel like it’s only helping a single water drop. But with all of our efforts together, we can restore the sea. <3
