If you’ve lived in Hawai’i for a while, it’s likely you’ve seen them at a beach or on maybe on Instagram. Sustainable Coastlines is everywhere and has been around since 2010. What started as a casual meetup with friends launched into a nonprofit organization with a mission to care for our coastlines.
Rafael Bergstrom is their current Executive Director. He says that the organization first started with a beach clean up on Makapu‘u of about 200 people. At the time their primary focus was plastic pollution on Hawai’i’s beaches. In 2019, he took over and has been building upon their mission ever since.
Sustainable Coastline Advocates for Fun With a Side of Education
What makes the organization different is their focus on fun. While climate change and plastic pollution can understandably feel like heavy issues, Bergstrom says they strive to bring people together in a lighter atmosphere. This can look like live music, activities for the keiki, and partnering with others to share their ideas at their local events and festivals. Bergstrom wants people to go home with a memory and experience.
To him it’s less about driving home a message or spreading fear and more about, “This sucks but I can do this and this won’t suck as much. It’s about connecting with people on a human level.”
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Sustainable Coastlines are known for their beach clean-ups that protects wildlife from pollution. And this is imperative because Bergstrom says plastic pollution is a real threat. “It’s fascinating because our parents and grandparents generations lived without plastic. It’s pretty new to human kind. The 50s was when it really started to proliferate.”
The result of all those single-use plastics (hello takeout containers, berry clamshells, plastic Boba straws and iced coffee latte cups) as well as commercial fishing nets is that mankind has created a monster island known by many names. A vortex of plastic waste sits between Hawai’i and California polluting marine life, our water.
Bergstrom says, “We are releasing 14 million metric tons of plastic into the ocean every year the equivalent of two garbage trucks every minute of every day.”
While many plastics end up on the sand, he says the problem is deeper than what we see on the surface. Plastic isn’t able to break down and ends up in the water column. And it’s not benign either. Plastics are full of toxic chemicals from fossil fuels, chemicals our kids are swimming in, marine life are consuming and which ends up in our water.
The real issue he says is mass consumerism which creates an insane amount of plastics used in everything from fishing nets to toys to other products and wrapping to protect products.
What Can We Do?
Bergstrom says the number one thing we can do is change how much plastic ends up in our waste.
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Use water bottles. You don’t need a fancy Yeti or Stanley. Mason jars actually work better than plastic water bottles.
- Use your own bag. You can bring your own bags when you go shopping and if you’re a store or restaurant owner, you can save money by not providing plastic bags/containers/straws, etc. to your customers.
- Carry your own utensils and leftover containers. Bring your own utensils so you don’t need to use plastic ones and if you’re eating in a restaurant and have leftovers, put them in your own containers.
- Show up as a citizen in your community. Vote. Participate in local meet ups, including your kids’ school PTA, and neighborhood board meetings. Advocate for change. Get to know your neighbors. Talk to people face to face. Helping each other is the way to make change.
- Donate or volunteer with Sustainable Coastlines.