First:

I think the biggest thanks and congratulations should go the all the people who just showed up and picked up the trash.

Second (a little background):

I grew up in the Pismo Beach area. I used to party and have fun out in the dunes at Pismo before I was legally allowed to do so. (All you moralists sit down and shut up. I've heard it already.) And in a lot of other really cool spots in the SLO County areas.

One thing that would get you ostricized no matter how cool or crazy you were was littering. I guess things have changed or are different from where I grew up.

On with it:

The anual cleanup is an organized event. I have never been a big fan of events. Too much commercialization. But the amount of exposure the businesses gain for what they put into it seems small. Maybe they just care and this is their contribution to the cause.

So this event is different to me. It brings attention to a problem that we all know exists. TRASH.

Yeah, we all pick up after ourselves. Not really though, or there wouldn't be any trash out there. Reality is...large crowds=trash. So the dunes and the crowds that recreat there aren't special in that regard.

What is special is that a select minority are willing to sacrifice their weekend to make an effort to correct the sins of the unwashed masses.

This year I was on the organizing side of the fence. Didn't do much, just showed up and lent a hand where it was needed.

One thing that was really cool was the prize give away. In order to make it go quickly so people could get out and play, it was decided to have a couple of us take a handful of stuff and walk throught the crowd and just hand it out. The look on people's faces when they got handed something was great. I got to do this twice. I really wish there was enough stuff to have given each and every person something.

All of it was really nice stuff that I would like to have myself, but it was really great to be given the opportunity to give something to people.

They gave a lot too. The time and effort to clean up our playground is priceless.

I wish I had would have had something to give to everyone that day.

Jeff, I don't know if anyone has told you but you were awesome on Saturday. Not just during the giveaway, but the whole time. You and the rest of the team of volunteers worked your backsides off and with such smoothness!

Anyway, you're right. It was fun being able to just hand stuff to people... I got to do that once or twice myself.

This year we had the bittersweet luck of having some really great prizes and lots of "general" prizes but not as many "toss out" prizes as we'd like. One of the suggestions we're already working on is getting started with gathering those smaller prizes right away. We'll focus on the bigger ones closer to cleanup time, but our goal is to gather enough little stuff between now and then that we have plenty to just hand out.

We all know that the cleanup is not about the prizes, the trophies, hot dogs or t-shirts. But it is about getting people out there to help keep our dunes clean and showing our appreciation for those that do is important.

Vicki

wish the people that went to the hill at night would pickup there stuff,

sunday am went over there and it was dirty again, not as bad but sheesh its not that hard to pickup after yourselves

Very well said, all of you, I agree!

I was the last one out of 13.5 and Julie was walking around looking very closely for trash before I packed up. There was one or 2 little pieces she picked up, and there were only ashes in the fire pit when I left.

I agree with Esco, Olds looked pretty bad by Sunday, so there are still alot of people who are not getting the message. Most of it looked to me like it was cans thrown in or near the fire. Obviously people aren't gonna pull hot cans out of a fire to take back to camp, so we need to pass the word - empties go back in the cooler right away, then grab a new one.

I hate to generalize, but I know none of the people I camped and duned with left a speck behind, I notice those things. I'm sure no one from this site left anything behind either. There is a group of people who come out there to party and don't post here, and they litter.

Here's what I'd like to suggest. A couple of big signs somewhere on the way or near the base of Olds showing the fine for littering. This is the "backup" we need. If they are already there, they need to be more visible, because I never noticed them.


If I see a group tossing cans, I'm gonna ask a few in my group to walk over with me and ask nicely that they pick up their trash and not ruin the area. If they're not willing or too drunk to comply, I'll come back with the digital camera and snap pics of them, the trash, and license plate numbers to make sure they know Im not joking.

If they still don't pick up, I'll stop by the ranger's station with the pics on my way home and I will be expecting them to run the plates and fine somebody $1,000. I don't care if the driver didn't do it, he was with people who did, close enough for me.

I would like to ask others to do similar, so much so that soon the partiers will start to say, "Yo dude, there's a bunch of long travels or quads over there. Start picking this stuff up, I don't want another fine or all of them in my face again like last time!"

I think this is the next step in taking our dunes back. Let them dig trenches and throw trash in their own homes, not in out dunes.

Excellent post socaldmax. I didn't see Olds on Sunday, but I can just imagine. The people who did that Saturday night wouldn't have "wasted" their time with the cleanup.

But there have been several times we've been at one of the hills and just handed a bag to a bunch of people standing around. The reaction isn't always warm at first but it doesn't take long for them to come around.

We've thought of maybe bringing those collapsible trash cans if we're going to be there for a while. Now that we have the buggy maybe we'll have a way to do that (and get the trash out that gets put in there).

Constant reminders and, like several people have said, peer pressure -- maybe we can start getting on top of the pile after all.

Vicki

So, just got back from G this weekend, and wow it never looked cleaner!

But, Sat at the drags, just before I left I noticed this guy drinking a beer as he was getting ready to go, and plop! It went under the bike!

I was so pissed that I stayed until he was about to go. I went over to him & pick-up the can and handed it back to him saying "You must of drop this by mistake" now the guy looks at me like WTF, and I proceed to say that if we don’t take care of our sand box, we're going to lose it! After that he accepted it and apologized.

We all need to start taking the chance to educate those that litter that this is a shameful practice.

Too bad we have lost shame in our society, shame is an effective tool for this type of behavior, but only works if we all start use it.

i wasnt their...i still think its great