Earth Day cleanup, celebration helps make way for sea turtles

Late Monday afternoon, before the Sun set on Earth Day 2024, hundreds of volunteers descended on the sand behind Caddy’s Madeira Beach to take part in the Water Warrior Alliance’s Beach Cleanup Day, one of the conservation group’s semi-annual trash-collection events.

Along with their bright yellow T-shirts, sandwiches and chips, the volunteers got latex gloves, five-gallon buckets, “picker” sticks and bags made of a biodegradable plastic.

They got something else, too. “It’s nice to have a little civil responsibility and give back,” said Nicole B., who was bucket-beachcombing with her partner, Jewel. “We always come to this beach, and it’s Earth Day after all. So when we found out that we could actually volunteer, that was nothing. Straight after work, we came right here.”

It occurred to Water Warrior Alliance founder Jenna Byrne that Earth Day dovetails perfectly every year with the start of sea turtle nesting season, and since the enormous oceangoing reptiles must come ashore to lay eggs during the late spring and summer months, clearing the beaches of man-made debris was a no-brainer (and will go on all summer).

Racquel Charuc noted the bags of trash being dropped off. “That’s sad, but it’s nice to see the community coming together and being a part of keeping it clean, not only for us but for the real locals – the animals,” she said.

Jenna Byrne grew up in New Port Richey. “When I was a kid,” says the environmental activist, “I was privileged to go out and enjoy our local waterways and experience the diversity. And then when I had children of my own and brought them out, everything was dead. And it was devastating. There was nothing left.”

Byrne and her organization were also celebrating the latest victory in their campaign to convince beachside businesses (and dwellings) to convert to amber/red night lighting. Bright white lights distract the nesting females – and the babies, once they hatch, tend to head toward those lights rather than the safety of the Gulf. The results can be disastrous.

The Madeira Beach Caddy’s location debuted its new amber lighting once the sun went down.

Caddy’s owner Marcus Winters spoke, as did environmentalist and social media influencer Caulin (TrashCaulin) Donaldson and Barry Rubin, president of the Madeira Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Coastal Crusaders, Trash Turtles and Trash Pirates – all groups with similar goals – also participated, as did the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

Emily, left, and Racquel Charuc.

The final speaker was State Representative Linda Chaney, who earned an enthusiastic round of applause when she announced that the Florida Legislature in March passed House Bill 321, which makes the intentional release of balloons, whether helium-filled or not, punishable as a littering offense and subject to fine.

“I’ve been an environmentalist since I was in the third grade, and I’ve lived on the beach for 30 years,” Chaney told the Catalyst, insisting she supports “anything that has to do with keeping our community clean, keeping our environment healthy – because the environment is the economy in the State of Florida, so it’s really important.”

Sea turtles frequently mistake deflated balloons for jellyfish and other preferred food, and ingestion can – and usually does – mean death.

“I visited the Florida State University Medical Center,” Chaney said, “and they do surgeries on livestock. A balloon fell into a farmer’s field, and a pregnant cow ate the balloon. She and the baby died. So there’s no good reason to release a balloon, and lots of harmful reasons to not.”

Once the bill is delivered to Governor Ron DeSantis, he will have 15 days to veto it or sign it into law (if he does nothing, it will automatically become law).

When that will happen, Chaney wouldn’t speculate.

She did, however, agree that the balloon-banning law is strikingly similar to Florida’s 2019 ban on single-use plastic straws, which were also proven to negatively impact wildlife.

“To me, it’s less offensive,” she said. “Lots of people don’t like paper straws, they don’t enjoy a drink with a paper straw, but not releasing a balloon is not going to impact your quality of life.”

State Rep. Linda Chaney told the audience about HB 321, “Release of Balloons.”