Ventura Volunteers Safeguard and Improve the Environment

“Care of the planet begins in one’s own front yard.”—L. Ron Hubbard, “The Way to Happiness”

After this year’s July 4th celebrations, Volunteers from the Church of Scientology Ventura held a cleanup of litter left by those celebrating the holiday at the city’s Marina Park. The 15-acre, family-friendly beachfront recreational area, with picnic and barbeque areas, sand volleyball court, children’s play area, and a replica of an antique sailing ship, is a great place to watch boats cruise the harbor, fish from the dock, and let kids run free. 

With buckets and grabbers in hand, volunteers headed to the beach July 6, where they picked up and disposed of cigarette butts, Styrofoam containers, plastic in all shapes and sizes, fireworks, clothing, and a large piece of a broken foam boogie board.

Trash that escapes into the ocean can create a wide array of problems, affecting water quality, endangering plant and animal life, not to mention creating an uninviting atmosphere.

The volunteers based their cleanup on the precept “Safeguard and Improve Your Environment” from The Way to Happiness, the nonreligious common-sense moral code written by L. Ron Hubbard:

“The idea that one has a share in the planet and that one can and should help care for it may seem very large and, to some, quite beyond reality. But today what happens on the other side of the world, even so far away, can effect what happens in your own home.“

“Care of the planet begins in one’s own front yard. It extends through the area one travels to get to school or work. It covers such places as where one picnics or goes on vacation. The litter which messes up the terrain and water supply, the dead brush which invites fire, these are things one need not contribute to and which, in otherwise idle moments, one can do something about.”

“There are many things one can do to help take care of the planet. They begin with the idea that one should. They progress with suggesting to others they should.

“Man has gotten up to the potential of destroying the planet. He must be pushed on up to the capability and actions of saving it.

“It is, after all, what we’re standing on.”

The volunteers teamed up with a group from the Ventura Kiwanis Club who were also there for a beach cleanup day. 

Anyone wishing to take part in the next cleanup is invited to join the volunteers at Marina Park Beach on Saturday, August 6 at 9 a.m.