Hawaii Wildlife Fund to Be Featured on CNN – Japanese Tsunami Marine Debris and Kamilo Beach

On Tuesday (March 5th), Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund (HWF) staff and several volunteers brought an LA-based CNN news crew down to Kamilo Point to talk story about potential Japanese Tsunami Marine Debris and marine debris problems along the southeast coastline.

CNN correspondent Kyung Lah interviewing HWF’s Megan Lamson at Kamilo. Photo courtesy of Harold Leatherman/HWF volunteer.

The story will be told by CNN news correspondent Kyung Lah. The first part of this story will air on Mon., March 11^th at 9am Eastern Standard Time “EST” (4am in Hawaiʻi“ HST” so have your DVRs ready!), at 10am EST (5am HST), and will re-run throughout the day. HWF will post a link on their website  www.wildhawaii.org and on their Facebook page  www.facebook.com/hawaiiwildlifefund as soon as it appears online.

This story will appear as a special on the two-year anniversary of the huge tsunami that originated in the Fukushima district in Japan.

HWF would again like to express our deepest sympathy to the victims and victims’ family of this natural disaster. First and foremost, this event was a human tragedy. Thousands of people died, and yes indeed, tons of debris were also released into the ocean. While we are thankful for the amount of attention this event has caused for marine debris awareness around the globe, we want all of our volunteers to recognize that marine debris has been a serious problem for decades (basically since the invention of plastic). HWF has picked up international debris from shorelines throughout the Hawaiian Archipelago since 1998 and realizes that marine debris is a people problem, not solely the result of a single tsunami event or country of origin.

Let us not forget that each of us contributes to this problem daily by using (and improperly disposing of) single-use throwaway and non-recyclable plastic products.  In turn, we can each be part of the solution and choose to re-use, reduce, recycle, and refuse (excess packaging, single-use items, etc.) and participate in local cleanup events.

While CNN was setting up shop, HWF and volunteers quickly removed over 200 pounds of marine debris from the coastline with an hour’s effort. And until there is a better solution, HWF and volunteers will continue to pick up the pieces here in Hawaiʻi nei.

FYI another follow-up story that focuses on marine debris problems in general, NOAA’s Nets-to-Energy Program, and recycled “ocean plastic” bottled cleaning products by SF-based company, Method, will air on CNN national and international broadcasting programs in April.

Invasive Nightmare