BLIA Los Angeles Volunteers Join International Coastal Cleanup Day at Long Beach

Fo Guang Shan Hsi Lai Temple

Inspired by Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s call to protect both the environment and the mind, the Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) Los Angeles Chapter joined International Coastal Cleanup Day on September 19. Organized by the BLIA Long Beach Subchapter, the beach cleanup brought nearly 100 BLIA members, Hsi Lai Scout members and their families to Junipero Beach in Long Beach, where they worked alongside local community organizations and volunteers to clean the shoreline and protect the coastal environment.

Two buses transported participants from Hsi Lai Center to the beach. Upon arrival, Venerable Hui Ze of Hsi Lai Temple Social Education and Outreach Department encouraged participants to care for both the external environment and the environment within their own minds. He encouraged everyone to cultivate wholesome thoughts through service to others and reminded participants to warm up before the cleanup to avoid injuries while bending or squatting to pick up trash. Venerable Zhi Min of Hsi Lai Temple General Affairs Department then led the participants in a series of warm-up exercises.

After receiving gloves, trash-picking tools and trash bags and reviewing the cleanup procedures and safety guidelines, participants divided into groups and spread out along the beach. Some of the debris found on the shoreline had entered the ocean through storm drains and later washed back onto shore with the tides, while other waste had been left behind by beachgoers. Common items included cigarette butts, bottle caps, straws, food packaging and pieces of Styrofoam. Some debris had weathered over time into tiny fragments scattered among seaweed and grains of sand, making it especially difficult to collect.

BLIA members and Scouts carefully searched for, sorted and collected the waste, eventually carrying dozens of bags of trash to the designated collection area. Because many participants were wearing BLIA uniforms, other volunteers approached them to learn more about the organization. BLIA members introduced the association and shared its Three Acts of Goodness—Do Good Deeds, Speak Good Words and Think Good Thoughts—turning environmental service into an opportunity to connect with the wider community.

Cub Scout Emily participated in a beach cleanup for the first time with her parents. The family worked together to pick up small pieces of trash scattered across the sand, while her parents used the opportunity to explain how waste can affect the ocean and coastal environment. Through participating as a family, environmental education became more than a lesson—it became an experience put into practice in everyday life.