Community Unity and Feeling Like A Badass
Underneath Walt’s Wharf, empty water bottles float, bouncing in the foaming water, entangled in seaweed. Further down the waterfront are drowned tennis balls, tampons and stretched condoms, almost as plentiful as the rocks and shells that make up Seal Beach. A foam mattress bobs gently on the water, its yellowed bedding slowly falling into the ocean.
Junior Maggie Nieman watches as the waves roll onto the shore, bringing in more trash with each coming tide. Her hand rests on her forehead but her celadon eyes still squint as she stares farther down into the shore. She makes her way beneath the dock feeling the cool water tickle her feet as she reaches for the plastic bottles and tosses them into the large trashbag draped across her arm. Across the beach, members of Community Unity follow suit, picking up scraps of trash, shouting jokes and laughing while music blasts from Nieman’s backpack.
Community Unity is a newly established organization at Whittier College that is also a part of the Social Justice Coalition. Its primary goal is to host community service events to promote awareness about environmentalism such as trash cleanups and recycle drives.
Within five minutes of the group’s cleanup, strangers began approaching members to offer help or to hand over trash for collecting.
“There’s a connection that is formed when you do something for the environment, you gain this newfound respect for where you live and the places you inhabit.”
Toes almost invisible in the sand, a wiry framed six-year old comes running to Nieman holding a bent cup she found wedged underneath a rock. With a gap-toothed grin she presents it as if it were treasure for the group to collect. She scavenges for more obscure trash hidden beneath the sand or waves, her pink shirt wet with salt water.
“It’s important to preserve areas, especially the ones we function in most,” said Nieman. “The beach is a place where most people come to relax and enoy the scenery, but it’s hard to do that with so much trash build up.”
An empty chip bag peeks up through the sand, the metallic lining shining bright in the sun. A seagull pecks at it. Empty soda cans roll into the ocean only to be pushed up against the wet sand with each wave.
“You [get] a special respect for the Earth when you’re getting your hands dirty and immersing yourself in the functions of what it means to maintain a community,” said Nieman. “All that waste gets carried back into the ocean. Sea creatures get entagnled in plastic and can suffocate wrapped around it’s through or ingesting it.”
A group of teenage surfers, hair still damp from the salt water, lean against a sandy hill and pass around a joint. They watch the members pick up trash and wipe sweat from their sunburned brows. With a grin, one of the boys approaches Nieman with the now finished roll. Nieman holds open her almost-full trashbag and he drops it in with a smile.
“Doing good things makes you feel like a badass,” says Junior Kasey Vedder. She laughs and adds, “Doing good things isn’t just impactful to the environment, it’s necessary.”
The teenagers pick up a few empty bottles and scraps of napkins embedded in the sand before heading to the parking lot. The sun’s rays shine brightly on the water, the reflection making the sea sparkle. Bottles, bags and unfinished food that lay on the sand only moments ago are now tucked away in bags brimming with trash.
“If we don’t clean up after ourselves, nobody will,” said Nieman. “There’s a connection that is formed when you do something for the environment, you gain this newfound respect for where you live and the places you inhabit.”
Interested in making a difference? Community Unity meets every Thursday at 8. Email mniemann@poets.whittier.edu for further details on location.
