JUNO BEACH, Fla. — In one of the many ways, Loggerhead Marinelife Center makes our area a better place to live. The nonprofit hosts regular beach clean-ups near its location in Juno Beach as a way to get the community involved in environmental protection and conservation.
Diane Buhler, founder of the nonprofit Friends of Palm Beach, has been diving in South Florida for 30 years and started the beach clean-ups 12 years ago. She explains that a swift ocean current can impact our local beaches.
"That Gulf Stream that brings us amazing creatures also brings us trash from everywhere," Buhler said. "The trash comes from as far east as West Africa. We get octopus posts from there, we get fishing gear from there."
Volunteer Jeff Koons enjoys the clean-ups, especially during turtle nesting season.
"I want to clean the beaches because I'm walking on the beach and the turtles are nesting, so I was moving pieces of wood," volunteer Jeff Koons said. "I was moving plastics."
Koons also encouraged people to stretch these efforts beyond the beach clean-ups.
"Pick some stuff up no matter where you are," Koons said.
WPTV is holding a Let's Hear It community meet-up at Loggerhead Marinelife Center on Tuesday, July 29 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.!
Everyone is welcome to share story ideas, challenges you're seeing within your community as well as the positives you see in your neighborhood.
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