Background
Aventureros Averting Plastics for a Better Baja, driven by youth leadership, took significant steps toward preventing debris from entering the Bahía de los Ángeles Biosphere Reserve in the Gulf of California. The youth, who participate in an environmental education and action program through Vermilion Sea Institute (VSI) called Aventureros, were drivers for each aspect of the project. The purpose of this approach, both in the program generally and in this project, was to develop a generation of environmental change-makers on the Baja Peninsula and to ensure that the community of Bahía de los Ángeles, Mexico is well-prepared to prevent marine debris for decades to come. Furthermore, this program uniquely connected with communities throughout the USA and inspired them to action through teacher education and collaboration.
Bahía de los Ángeles, home of about 1,000 residents, attracts many ecotourists and sportfishing enthusiasts. Bahía de los Ángeles sits along the shores of a critically important but highly threatened marine environment home to transient whale sharks, sea turtles, and other endangered animals. Unfortunately, the town does not have a sophisticated trash/recycling program, and most of the trash is discarded and unmonitored in the uncovered dump or surrounding desert. Due to the shallow nature of the unofficial dumps and lack of containment, a significant amount is blown by strong westerly winds through the desert and into the ocean.
The project ran from October 2022 through September 2024, and had four primary community-driven objectives:
- Conduct and enact place-based plastic prevention programs.
- Engage and train local youths to become leaders and advocates for their environment, specifically for debris prevention, within their community and on the Baja Peninsula.
- Debris monitoring and removal from beach and desert sites before they reach the ocean.
- Disseminate findings and methods to allow other communities to replicate the project.
This project focused on place-based science, and centered youth and the community in methodology and approach. Additionally, visitors (tourists, educators, and scientists) from the US who visit Bahía de los Ángeles learned about the debris prevention efforts in the town. They even participated in beach clean up events and service projects, bringing their experience and knowledge back home. Finally, visiting graduate students, scientists, and tourists supported the project during their visits and brought home news of their experiences and newfound knowledge.
Snapshot of Accomplishments
Pounds of debris removed
Total Participants
More Sustainable Takeout Container Replacements
Debris Monitoring, Removal, and Recycling:
- 15 shoreline surveys were conducted using the NOAA Shoreline Survey Protocol
- 55% of the debris was plastic
- 13% of the debris was glass or metal
- 73% of the debris was found in the back barrier while only 27% was found on the beach
- 12 beach and marine cleans
- 4 desert cleanups
- 2,097 lbs of debris removed from marine environments (through NOAA protocols, beach cleans, and community events),
- 116 lbs of debris removed from the desert (through desert cleans and community events)
- Marea Viva was created as a community recycling, upcycling, and reusing hub
- 3,850 lbs of debris recycled, upcycled, or reused by Marea Viva (plastic, aluminum, and glass)
- PET accounted for 76% of plastic collected
Community Engagement:
- 10 community events with a marine debris component (in addition to 15 shoreline surveys, 12 marine cleans, and 4 desert cleans)
- 710 total participants across all events, including 519 adults and 191 youth
- 465 individuals cleaned beach, ocean, and desert environments
- 209 visiting scientists partook in marine debris activities
- 12+ USA school and neighborhood clean conducted as a result of visiting scientists disseminating methodologies and learnings
- Frequent social media posts—often once a day during the summer months, or when other visiting groups were collaborating with us
- 3 “Trashy 1- Pagers” — or infographics on our research, findings, and efforts were created and posted around town and shared digitally
- 5 Spaghetti dinners were hosted where community members could come to the field station and learn about the project, help identify clean-up sites, and share other valuable perspectives related to the work.
Mitigation:
- 25 individual food vendors subscribed to more sustainable to-go options throughout the program
- 17,300 to-go plastic items replaced with more sustainable options
- The in-town market carries more sustainable to-go options
- Hamburger Safari blog
Youth Leadership:
- 14 Aventureros advanced to become Guías (young eco-tourism leaders)
- 3 Aventureros earned placement in the Héroes del Mar program
- 15 shoreline surveys led by Aventureros using the NOAA Shoreline Survey Protocol
- 9 Aventureros traveled to conferences, workshops, or symposiums across Mexico to learn from others how they are mitigating plastic pollution
Education:
- 79 youth from the community attended Aventureros and learned about plastic pollution and mitigation strategies
- 133 youth participated in at least one beach clean and the learning activities before and after the beach clean
- 4 different community groups or organizations partnered with us to teach Aventureros and community members something related to marine debris (e.g., Grupo Tortuguero, Mujeres de las Alas)
- 12 Aventureros received CPR and scuba certifications so they could learn about underwater pollution (and ecosystems)
- 65 public school teachers from the US and parts of Mexico visited and learned from the Aventureros
- 21 youth and community members traveled to conferences, workshops or symposiums across Mexico to learn from others how they are mitigating plastic pollution
The Plastic Project Handbook
30+ unique learning activities were designed to educate youth and community members about marine plastic pollution.
Many of these can be found in the The Plastic Project Handbook published providing an open-access educational approach to the plastic pollution problem.