The beautiful beaches of Florida are among some of the best in the world to come to relax on vacation or retire. There are endless miles of pale sandy shores to enjoy throughout the state that offer an amazing time. Florida beaches are home to hundreds of animals and fish that thrive in their environment.
Floridians have a responsibility to keep the beaches clean, however, there’s multiple issues keeping residents from being perfect. Beach pollution on the shores is a major problem that many people will look past, but there is a lot more to it.
Trash piles up, which people would not even think would influence the environment, but trash left behind harms more than the vacation. It harms animals who unfortunately die from entanglement. Dirty beaches are a health risk for people, and they make the area less appealing to tourists, who are a huge source of income for the state.
Beachkeepers Inc. is a non-profit organization owned by two brothers, Andrea and Paul Fazzino, aiming to make southern Florida a more beautiful place.
“My name is Andrea Fazzino, president, and founder of Beachkeepers, seven days a week. Our mission is to clean our beaches, parks, city streets, and waterways,” Fazzino said. These brothers introduced such an amazing program to solve such a prevalent problem.
These brothers run this organization to uplift and bring together their community, along with doing better for the environment. With over 40,000 hours (about four and a half years) of volunteer work accumulated, they have overwhelmingly helped their beaches.
However, these brothers do not stop at just the shores. They take charge and create a cleaner, more enjoyable city as well. “These areas, they provide a great relief for people who are seeking a better rest and relaxation,” Fazzino said. They take pride in their work, and they reflect it in not only themselves, but right back into their community.
Getting out to help is easy, but being in check and gathering more people to make a change is not. To see a difference in the beaches and communities, people need to have pride in it first. People need to be the change they wish to see around others, in other words, “You really are our future. You have the opportunity to make change for us all,” Fazzino said.
These brothers are a real-life representation of how taking charge and putting their hearts into homes makes it not only better for themselves, but so many others around them. It can help by just going to the beach with a friend and picking up any trash visible along the way. Change is not always immediate; it takes time and patience to achieve the goals wanted, especially when it’s for a greater cause.
“Life doesn’t necessarily get easier, we get stronger,” Paul said.
Taking steps to create a more purified environment for land and sea animals, along with the people, will benefit the world in many ways.
People need to take courage and strive to make the beaches a place to enjoy. This cannot be done without help from everyone who wants to enjoy them just as much as anyone else would. It will need work from lots of communities, but anyone can start by joining a cleanup group like Fazzino’s. Remember that taking small steps has a significant impact on the environment.
