We don't swim in your toilet, so please stop peeing in our pool.

For those of you that live in or around San Diego County you're well aware of how beautiful the weather was on Sunday. It was another one of those southern California coastal city days, the warm sun shining down creating a blanket of warmth amidst the cool and refreshing ocean breeze which whips around in a playful dance. Much like a few other thousand San Diegans I headed down to the beach, son in tow, to enjoy what our little piece of heaven has to offer. That day the beach offered up any form of sand covered enjoyment that you could conjure up, a strong breeze for flying a kite, unobstructed sun for tanning, decent southwest swell for fun little waves to ride, and miles upon mile of warm sand to walk upon. My son was stoked to be on the beach and have the chance to once again search for "crabbies" as he so affectionately calls the small soft shelled sand crabs. It's almost become a ritual with every day at the beach to scourer the sand at waters edge for these buried treasures, and if it keeps the little man happy then so be it I'm wrist deep in moist sand and loving it. At some point during our fevered hunt for the elusive crabbies, my miniature crab-man got his sights set on the muscle shells scattered across the beach. We proceeded to comb the beach due south for any pretty shells that caught our eyes, scanning all of the drift wood and seaweed that we came across.

Now as a member of the San Diego Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation I'm more than familiar with the human waste, both organic and inorganic that makes it's way into our coastal waters. The fact that about 80% of California's 33 million residents live within 50 kilometers of the Pacific Ocean goes to show how much runoff and pollution has the potential alone to reach the ocean. It's a sad and disheartening fact that 3,985 beach days were affected by closures or advisories during 2004. Water testing has detected human adenoviruses, fecal coliform, and other disease-causing bacteria, pesticides, herbicides, and heavy metals. In fact a study by University of California, Irvine Department of Environmental Health, Science and Policy estimates 74,000 people go to the doctor for stomach illness, respiratory disease and eye, ear and skin infections caused by exposure to the polluted waters south of LA in a typical year. Contributing greatly to this problem would be that every day, 37 ocean outfalls in California discharge over 1.5 billion gallons of sewage containing about 120 million tons of mass solids (sewage sludge).

These facts and information have never been more obviously thrown in my face then on Sunday as I walked along the beach. As my son and I were combing the beach looking through the piles of seaweed, we were put off by the amount of trash that was intermingling with what had washed up on the beach. It looked more like someone had emptied their trash can straight on to the beach, there was every from of trash that you could think of; beer cans, broken bottles, plastic cups and containers, miscellaneous torn clothing items, and various particles of food. As much as I wanted to distract my son from the filthiness that his fellow human counter parts create, and continue on with our shell gathering, I felt it more appropriate to take this as a chance to educate his developing mind about an increasing problem that will (not could) greatly affect his future. We played a new game, see who can find the most garbage, and it went remarkably well. He enthusiastically ran up and down the beach yelling out "look daddy more icky trash" with a huge grin on his face. Only an innocent little child can find joy in what's actually a horrible daily injustice thrown upon Mother Nature. And just maybe when my son gets a little older he'll have an appreciation for the ocean and the beach and have a greater desire to better the conditions that we've put on upon one of the planets greatest resources. Maybe we can all learn from this Sunday afternoon experience.