Barbara Fegan, founder of Coastweeks, has seen a lot of coastal changes in her 74 years. I am proud of Coastweeks, we have had achievements, but we can't rest on our oars. Beach Cleanups Coastweeks kicked off with the International Coastal Cleanup on Sept. 16, 1995. Last year more than 139,000 people worked at beaches and inland waterways removing 2,820,789 pounds of trash and collecting valuable data on the kinds and amounts of trash littering America's rivers, lakes and beaches. This year's figures were not available at press time.
Volunteers fill out data cards indicating what kind of trash they found on their beach.
CMC collects the cards and uses the information to identify the sources of marine debris and work with businesses and legislators to help prevent it. Each week of Coastweeks focuses on a different theme. If you're a teacher, parent, student or part of an environmental club or a library, you can celebrate Coastweeks by organizing activities around these themes. Laws That Protect the Coast Elected officials on the local, state and national levels play a major role in the future health of the coastal areas of our country. Everything from local zoning ordinances and building codes to state rules about pollution and fishing affect your coastal environment.