The event was held at Coney Island beach in New York City. Employees and their families came together for a great cause. While the focus was on cleaning the beach, our main goal was to educate and raise awareness for the current and future generations to come.
Many people are unaware of what is happening with the oceans. They lead busy lives and go to their local beach for a fun day or go away on vacation to some tropical island. They take in the view, and it all looks lovely and peaceful. Our goal is to make people aware of how the oceans and their lives are interconnected. Ocean pollution is not only what washes up on our beaches but what gets into our food supply. Chemicals, toxins and heavy metals work their way up the food chain and end up on the menu.
We believe that by getting children involved at a young age, they start understanding the importance of the ocean and develop habits that benefit the environment. They can learn about the impact of pollution on the environment and start thinking about what small steps they can take to start making a difference. Picking up trash, learning the importance of recycling and making them aware of their carbon footprint are just some of the good habits children can learn that will help keep oceans clean and there’s no better way to this than through a hands-on project.
While the amount of trash collected was important, we believe the biggest gain was getting families involved and educating them about the importance of the oceans and why projects like these are beneficial to all. We wanted to achieve this by incorporating fun into this event, so we held a sandcastle building contest for the kids who attended and gave out prizes.
We also asked the kids to draw a picture of what they imagine when they picture the beach and bring it with them. The drawings were so good we held a contest for that as well. We had four winners.
Below are our winners:
We had Caitlyn Simon and Ian McGrath from the City Parks Foundation give a small speech on the importance of keeping our oceans clean and provide information on the wildlife and plants that exist at the beach and on the shoreline.
At MTS Logistics, we earn our living through ocean freight. 90% of world trade moves by ocean freight. We have a responsibility to help keep our oceans clean. We need to do our part for our local community to help keep our beaches clean while raising awareness to the issue. We need to make up for some of the issues that are causing damage to the environment.
We had a great time at our event, it was a successful day. We hope everyone learned something new or left with a better understanding of how important the oceans are to us. By raising awareness and educating others, change will come. The next generation is already a step ahead in being more environmentally-conscious than previous ones. There is good news on the horizon in the shipping industry with cleaner ships being ordered and new technologies are being used and developed to collect plastic from the world’s oceans.
