I grew up in Venice Beach, California. I love the beach; it is one of my favorite places to be. The boardwalk always was packed with people leisurely strolling along, looking at the cheesy souvenir shops, the tattoo and piercing parlors, and the snack shops filled with all sorts of deep-fried delights. When I was younger, when we'd go to the beach, my cousins and I would run straight into the ocean and stay in there playing for a long time. And it's no surprise that we hung out there for as long as we did, because I remember that the water felt really clean and looked really blue.

When my cousins and I eventually emerged from the deep, there would be a huge umbrella propped in the sand, waiting to shield us from the bright rays of the sun. Because she knew we would be ravenously hungry and thirsty after our hours long jaunt in the ocean, my mom usually had packed a picnic basket brimming with food and stuffed a cooler with water bottles, juice, and soda.  After we had finished eating, we would all go to the jungle gym and monkey around on dry land. But before we would leave, my mom would insist that we clean up after ourselves and would give us bags for us to throw our trash in. She hated dirty places and didn't want us to mar the pristine beauty of the sand and water. 

When I moved from Venice, I expected everything to stay the same. But, when I went to visit the other day, here is what I saw. 

I'm surprised that the guys in the video were OK with swimming in the polluted waters. I stopped getting in the water in high school because it looked so dirty; it felt thicker and a lot sandier than it was before. When I was younger, you would never see trash in ocean, but nowadays, you see trash bags and even food wrappers.

The guys that I interviewed didn't think the pollution would affect them. I don't agree with them, but to their credit, they did admit it was a bad thing for the wildlife that lived in the ocean.  L.A. beaches rank high in terms of ocean pollution. But it's not just in L.A.: beaches the world over are trashed. A recent study by CSU Long Beach researchers shows that California sea lions have high levels of DDT and PCB's both of which were banned decades ago, but linger in waters and sediments. And another recent study shows that mixtures of commonly used pesticides at concentrations found in local waters can be lethal to salmon and steel head — and presumably many other types of fish. When we throw the toxic chemicals into the ocean it is very hard to get them out since they seep into the sediment, enter the food chain, or simply flow with the currents. And the food chain affects not only the animals, but also humans. Some Asian communities in Southern California have gone to great lengths to address the the toxicity of seafood by weeding it out of markets. Some people think that limiting fishing will help reduce pollution. I don't think we should stop fishing permanently, but I think there should be a limit. Reducing this type of pollution is important not only for the occasional swimmer or a squeaky clean fish stick supply, but for the ability of the ocean to spring back from irregularities in the ecosystem.

We need to save our oceans because they are in danger of dying. The ocean is such a beautiful place; it is useful for so many things we do, like fishing, swimming, and boat trips. The creatures living beneath the ocean need it to stay in good condition in order for them to be able to survive and live. Besides, California is known for its beaches, so it would really upset visitors if they came down and find it trashy and dirty. I've grown to cleaning up after myself because of what my mother taught me, and I wish others would do the same. As a native of the Golden State, it saddens me to hear people say they don't like getting in the water because it's dirty and green.

In my mind, I'll always remember the water being a little bit bluer than it is now.

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