Editorial: Keep the bay clean
It’s one thing to say you want a clean environment and a greener planet, and quite another to devote your time and energy to making it so. Words have their place, sure, but deeds make all the difference.
On Saturday, Hampton Roads residents can show their commitment to protection of the Chesapeake Bay by participating in this year’s Clean the Bay Day, an invaluable, volunteer-driven effort now in its 34th year.
While registration for the event has already closed, teams will be fanning out along waterways throughout the region to collect trash and restore native vegetation to improve the health of that all-important ecosystem.
School groups, scout troops, civic associations, environmental advocates and civic leagues are all common participants, each working to keep a corner of the commonwealth clean. The weather this weekend looks perfect for spending a Saturday morning by the water.
Not that you need a team to participate. The idea is that everyone does their part, even just a little bit, to reduce pollution in and around the bay. Something as simple as collecting trash while walking along the beach or in your neighborhood this weekend can, together, make a meaningful difference.
Though the last two years have been affected by COVID protocols, volunteers still managed to collect more than 52,000 pounds of litter during the Clean the Bay event last year. According to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation figures, they planted 515 native species of plants and installed nine rain barrels.
That adds to the staggering, almost unbelievable totals since the annual event’s inception. The CBF reports, “Since 1989, Clean the Bay Day has engaged more than 158,200 volunteers, who have removed approximately 6.64 million pounds of debris from nearly 7,750 miles of shoreline in Virginia!”
More than 6 million pounds of trash. It’s disgusting that so much litter and debris ends up in our waterways to begin with, but it shows how vital this annual effort is to protecting the Chesapeake watershed.
Anyone who lives here knows how important our waterways are to our way of life. From recreation to commerce to transportation and sustenance, our communities depend on the ocean, bay and rivers. Our economy revolves around the water.
Hampton Roads is hardly alone. There are about 18 million people who live in the Chesapeake watershed hailing from six states — Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York — and Washington, D.C. Everyone has a vested interest in the health of the bay.
But keeping those waters clean is a daunting challenge. Harmful chemicals and other pollutants run off the land and into the watersheds. People are careless with trash (or, worse, deliberately pitch their garbage in and around the water).
All of that threatens what is a resilient but delicate ecosystem. The Chesapeake Bay Watershed Report Card issued by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science gave the Chesapeake watershed a grade of B- and the bay itself a C. That report measures a number of factors and represents slight improvement over previous iterations.
But that’s not good enough. Not when so many depend on the bay for employment and enjoyment. Not when the seafood we pluck from those waters is threatened. Not when the marine life that calls the bay home is threatened.
We can do more — and we must. Hampton Roads residents should continue to advocate for strong protections for the bay’s long-term health and demand that more resources go toward its protections. And everyone must do their part to reduce pollution and keep harmful items from ending up in its waters.
Clean the Bay Day is one important way to do that. Visit the Chesapeake Bay Foundation website (cbf.org/events/clean-the-bay-day/) to learn more about how to help and take some time this Saturday picking up the trash that others have so carelessly left behind.
The bay is an unparalleled resource for this region and we must work, and fight, to protect it.
