Opinion: When celebrating Earth Day, don’t forget our coast and the ocean

Dedina is executive director of WILDCOAST, an international team that conserves coastal and marine ecosystems and addresses climate change through natural solutions. He lives in San Diego and was the mayor of Imperial Beach from 2014-2022. Kemsley is the conservation director of WILDCOAST and lives in Santee.

You don’t have to travel far to experience one of the most important wildlife migratory corridors on the planet. Just offshore from San Diego is a Blue Corridor or superhighway for fin, blue, gray and humpback whales. These leviathans are joined by white and mako sharks, elephant seals, leatherback sea turtles and bluefin tunas. Closer to shore, leopard sharks, bottlenose dolphins, harbor seals and sea lions make their home along San Diego’s gorgeous shoreline, providing a cornucopia of ocean wildlife for residents and visitors alike.

The presence of such a rich marine environment off of our coastline is a reason to celebrate this Earth Day, but also to take stock of how we can protect the ocean treasures that make San Diego a jewel for all of us who call it home. With news about accelerating climate change, and especially record ocean temperatures, it is easy to get cynical and/or hopeless about repairing our planet.

But instead of wallowing in despair, here are some suggestions on how to make Earth Day something to joyously celebrate year-round and have a positive impact on our beautiful blue spaces in the process.

• Visit your local tidepools: Take your family and friends on a coastal adventure to enjoy the magical world of tidepools. Each pool is a mini universe, teeming with exciting turban snails, playful hermit crabs and elegant anemones swaying with the rhythm of the ocean. As you marvel at this spectacle, you’re not just a visitor, but a guardian. By following good tidepooler rules — never removing animals, shells or rocks from the tidepools, leaving animals where they are, walking gently and taking care not to step on plants or animals, and not turning over rocks — you’re helping to keep this underwater wonderland alive and thriving. Whether you are visiting the tidepools in Encinitas, Solana Beach, La Jolla or at Cabrillo National Monument, it won’t be just a visit, but also a journey into understanding and respecting our oceans. While you’re there, keep an eye out for WILDCOAST’s tidepool ambassadors who educate the public about good tidepooling practices and protect the myriad resources found in these precious intertidal ecosystems, many of which are located within marine protected areas.
• Organize a beach cleanup: Grab some gloves, trash bags, and your family and friends, and head to the beach for a cleanup. Every bottle cap, every wrapper, every discarded soda bottle you pick up means one less hazard for our underwater friends. It might seem like a small action against an insurmountable problem, but with 31.8 million visitors to San Diego each year, many of whom visit the beach, imagine if everyone picked up just three pieces of trash. You can also join the countless beach cleanups organized by WILDCOAST, I Love a Clean San Diego, San Diego Coastkeeper and the Surfrider Foundation, or mark your calendar for California Coastal Cleanup Day on Sept. 21.
• Rewild a local wetland: Wetlands are carbon-capturing champions, as well as flood fighters and biodiversity boosters that are like bustling cities for wildlife, providing homes for a diverse range of species. If you want to get dirty and make a difference, look for volunteer opportunities to remove invasive species from around San Dieguito Lagoon with the San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy, plant some trees and native shrubs at Batiquitos Lagoon with the Batiquitos Lagoon Foundation, or remove discarded fishing gear from the Agua Hedionda Lagoon with the Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation. WILDCOAST has teamed up with these amazing organizations to rewild over 50 acres of our precious coastal wetlands and make sure these superheroes remain at full power. You can find additional volunteer opportunities in Mission Bay with San Diego Audubon and on San Diego Bay with the Living Coast Discovery Center in Chula Vista.

On this Earth Day, we are reminded of the call to action to make a difference and protect, restore and take care of the only home we have. In the words of San Diego’s legendary oceanographer extraordinaire, Walter Munk, “People should treat the oceans like we do anything else that we care about — with consideration, with care, and affection.”