Sustainable Saturday at Valley Center Library

Join us for Sustainable Saturday at Valley Center Library – a morning of activities to help us all be more sustainable! Join us at 9 a.m. for a litter cleanup around the Valley Center neighborhood, and/or 10 a.m. for a Swap Party and Fix-It-Clinic in the Library. There will also be resource booths with County information about recycling, composting, and more!

    • 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. Watershed Warriors Valley Center Cleanup (Registration Encouraged): We will be set-up with a check-in table and cleanup supplies at the Valley Center Library. Join us at 9 a.m. to grab supplies and help us clean up to protect the San Luis Rey watershed! After the cleanup, you can get service credit in your Community Hub dashboard. Learn more about this cleanup here!
    • 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. Clothing Swap: Update your wardrobe before the summer season and help divert textile waste from our local landfills! Bring your gently used clothing items to exchange them for other items at no cost. By participating in the swap you will be 👉 Helping to conserve natural resources 👉 Reducing the environmental footprint of producing new goods 👉 Building community. Learn more about Swap Parties here!
    • 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. SD Fixit Clinic (Registration strongly encouraged): Bring your broken, non-working items—electronics, appliances, computers, toys, bicycles, clothes, and more—for assessment, disassembly, and possible repair. We’ll provide workspace, specialty tools, and guidance to help you take apart and troubleshoot your item. Even if we can’t fix it, you’ll learn more about how it was made and how it works. Learn more and sign-up to bring an item here!
    • 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. Seed Bombs Workshop and Seed Library hosted by The Valley Center Library
    • 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. Community Resources: Check-out our information tables to learn more about recycling, composting, and wellness resources available to County residents!

A few things to keep in mind:

    • You can attend any or all of these activities – separate or together, whatever you have time and interest for! The cleanup will kick-off at 9 a.m. outside the library, and the Swap Party, Fix-It-Clinic, and resource booths will be kicking off around 10 a.m. inside the library.
    • We ask that you register for the Cleanup and for the SD Fixit Clinic, so we can be prepared with supplies, tools, and volunteer experts to help with breaking down broken appliances. You can register for each event by following the links above, or clicking “Register” below. No registration needed for any of the other activities – but we encourage you to bring some lightly used items for the Swap Party!

ILACSD Internships: More than copies and coffee

Brittany HuthHi there! My name is Brittany and this summer, I was a Community Programs Intern at I Love A Clean San Diego. I recently graduated from San Diego State University in December with a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration. In my free time I enjoy exploring and taking pictures of scenic locations in San Diego, as well as watching my favorite sports teams – Go Padres! As a San Diego native, I grew up around the water, doing everything from surfing, wakeboarding, skiing, kayaking, and sailing.  I love being outdoors, and that’s why I have a huge passion for the environment!

In my undergraduate studies, I took a class that focused on contemporary urban issues. In this course, we focused on the best methods of sustainable living, and learned about environmental hazards. The topic that concerned me the most was the abundance of plastic bags found in our oceans harming and killing our marine life. This is one of reasons why I applied for an internship with I Love A Clean San Diego.

albatross
Marine life often mistake small pieces of plastics and plastic bags for food which leads to starvation. In this picture, the content of the albatross’s stomach includes bottle caps, and a lighter.

The Community Outreach Intern position sparked my interest because I wanted to expand my knowledge on environmental issues, as well as provide me with the opportunity to give back to the San Diego region. As an intern, I performed a variety of tasks both in-office and out in the community at our events. In the office, I typically focused on outreach to colleges to get students involved, tracked data from cleanup events, organized supplies for events, and coordinated my internship project. At the ILACSD cleanup events, I provided volunteers with supplies as well as informed them about upcoming events and other programs ILACSD offers.

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The ILACSD recycling board is a great way to test your knowledge and learn about the newest recyclable items.

To wrap up my internship experience, I organized a beach cleanup at Whispering Sands Beach in La Jolla. I was accompanied by my close family and friends, who were more than happy to participate! This provided me the opportunity to share with them everything that I learned during my time as an ILACSD intern including information about proper recycling and waste disposal, and ILACSD’s Adopt a Beach Program. In the two-hour cleanup we collected more than 15 pounds of trash and over 400 cigarette butts. To conclude my project I create a short video clip of the beach cleanup!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzZTBQ-3Nck]

My experience with ILACSD has been nothing short of positive! Since I started interning with ILACSD, I have challenged myself to become more environmentally aware of my living habits and to try to make better choices.  Some of the changes I have made include using reusable bags for grocery shopping, recycling more, conserving water by using buckets in the shower, and properly disposing of hazardous materials. I am excited for the change this organization is making in the community and I’m forever grateful for being a part of it! Thank you, I Love A Clean San Diego!

If you’re interested in learning more about environmental issues impacting our local environment please consider applying for one of ILACSD’s internship opportunities. Applications are being accepted now with the intention of the internship starting this Fall. More information is available at http://cleansd.org/v_internships.php.

The ILACSD team  at one of our annual countywide cleanups, Creek to Bay!