Rozalia Project Intern Blog: Makai—To the Sea

Today, you'll hear from 2014 intern, Valerie Pietsch. Valerie attends Cornell University studying environmental engineering and just wrapped up a semester in Hawaii!

“Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.” –Henry David Thoreau

My summer memories at Camp Thoreau were some of the most defining experiences of my life. It was here that I learned to love the outdoors and to want to protect nature. As a camper, I learned to sail for the first time at the age of eight, on small Sunfish boats on White’s Pond. I remember an overwhelming feeling of freedom and adventure when being on the water, and spent as much of my free time there as possible. As a counselor, I continued spending my time on White’s Pond, now teaching this skill to young campers. 

Getting to college, I enrolled as an environmental engineering major. Although I wasn’t sure exactly where I wanted to go with this, I knew that I wanted to protect and restore the environment so that others could connect with it in the same way I was able to. Over the years, it has become more and more apparent that water quality is where my interest lies. I think this passion has stemmed from visiting my family in Colombia. There, tap water must be boiled before use, and bottled water is the main source of drinking water. Having grown up with constant access to clean drinking water, this was mind-blowing to me.

More recently, I was fortunate enough to spend a semester in a field studies program in Waimea, Hawaiʻi. I have been able to travel around the Big Island, as well as Oʻahu, Maui, and Kauaʻi. Connecting to the ‘āina (land) is a huge part of the Hawaiian culture, and my time here has allowed me to understand nature in a much more intimate way. 

In our marine conservation class, I was able to spend class time wading through coral reefs, learning about different types of coral and surveying the health of each reef. We spent time watching whales breech and dolphins spin from shore and on a boat. During our first class out, I spotted something strange at the bottom of the reef. I swam down and pulled it out, and sure enough it was a car floor mat. It was an eye-opening experience for me to see something so dull and familiar in such an incredible and foreign place.

Free diving underwater, I heard a whale song for the first time. It was shocking how close the whale sounded to me, and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I was also able to get my scuba certification while in Hawaiʻi. Scuba diving for the first time was a completely surreal experience, like entering a completely different world. Always having loved adventure and exploring new places, I couldn’t wait to get back out there.

I currently am spending my last few weeks in Hawai’i interning with both a local scuba center and an educational outreach group, removing marine debris from and educating others on coral reefs. I have loved the work I have done here so far, and I can’t wait to continue exploring and protecting the ocean as an intern on the Rozalia Project this summer.

Rozalia Project Intern Blog: Even in Paradise

This year, we have a great line-up of Rozalia Project interns. They come from a variety of academic backgrounds from marine biology to chemistry to environmental policy. We are excited to have their energy and different perspectives on the boat helping with marine debris removal, our education and research. But, we do not have to wait that long to hear from them. This is the first in a series of blog posts. Each intern was asked to write about marine debris from a personal angle. Marina Maze (Marine Biology, UC Santa Cruz 2011) kicks it off...

Even in Paradise

Everyone needs a vacation at some point, to recharge their batteries and let go of everyday stress brought on by our daily grinds. What’s the most popular destination in my book? Hawaii, and I am sure thousands of others would agree. The easily accessible tropical island chain offers a variety of escapes, to white sand beaches, dense green forests and exquisite marine life. 

Recently, I had the pleasure of vacationing on Oahu for two weeks. Anxious to get to the beach and stare at the turquoise water, my friends and I took a day trip to a town called Waimanalo, home of Sealife Park and Hawaii Pacific Universities Oceanic Campus. Sitting on a large stretch of beach chatting with friends taking in the scene, I began to notice something a little disturbing. In the sand there were bright colored pieces of plastic littered everywhere. No one seemed to notice it but me, the marine debris enthusiast. Once I noticed what it was, I could see it everywhere. 

As I sat taking in the sad sight of a tropical paradise poisoned by plastic remains, I realized the immensity of the problem. It struck me that what enters the ocean from our shores, washes up on someone else’s shore thousands of miles away. It doesn’t matter if you’re on vacation, the problem doesn’t go away. Plastic debris still has an immense effect, no matter where you are. Whatever plastic we allow to enter the oceans, will break down into smaller pieces and eventually wash up on someone else’s beach, littering it with undegradable confetti. 

Why did I see so much plastic debris on this beautiful beach in Waimanalo? Waimanalo beach is Oahu’s largest beach, stretching over 5 miles long, and is located along Oahu’s windward shore. The northeasterly trade winds hit this coastline first, dumping any floating trash onto the pristine beach. The steady trade winds and ocean currents create windrows, long visible lines on the surface of the ocean where material such as seaweed, bubbles, phytoplankton and plastic accumulate. These windrows travel with the wind and, in this case, are dumped on Waimanalo’s long coastline. 

Even though I was on vacation, forgetting about work and bills, I still could not escape the problem of plastic debris. Once I pointed the plastic out to my friends, a silence fell over us and I could see the hurt in their eyes as well. This shows that debris we let slip into our ocean, willingly or not, doesn’t disappear into the vast incomprehensibility of the ocean, it ends up somewhere causing problems for marine life and marine enthusiasts. Removing plastic debris that can escape into the ocean will make someone else’s beach cleaner. This is everyone’s problem, it affects people in different ways all over the world. We can all help remove and prevent the distant pristine shorelines of our dream vacation littered by our own garbage.