Students from Mount Madonna School participated in a
simultaneous ocean
”
toe touch
”
Feb. 1 with students in Hawaii, to draw attention to their
mutual efforts to prevent the destruction of the marine habitat
that threatens sea otters and endangered monk seals.
Students from Mount Madonna School participated in a simultaneous ocean “toe touch” Feb. 1 with students in Hawaii, to draw attention to their mutual efforts to prevent the destruction of the marine habitat that threatens sea otters and endangered monk seals.
Students arrived at 9:30 a.m. to Cowell Beach in Santa Cruz and met up with Save Our Shores, a nonprofit marine conservation organization in Santa Cruz, and Long Marine Laboratory researchers for a beach clean-up event.
At 11:30 a.m., the students dipped their toes into the ocean along with Barbara Jean Kahawaii’s class from Oahu’s Laie Elementary School and Laurie Madani’s 5th grade class from Molokai’s Kaunakakai Elementary School.
The toe touch was to bring awareness to the plight of endangered marine mammals – specifically the sea otters of California and the monk seals of Hawaii which are affected by trash that ends up in the ocean – as part of Worldwide Waste Reduction Day, according to Mount Madonna spokeswoman Leigh Ann Clifton.
The event is a joint effort of Mount Madonna students; Terrie Williams, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at University of California, Santa Cruz; Save Our Shores; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and advocacy group Friends of the Sea Otter.
