Shining a light on South Florida eco heroes

This Earth Day marks one yr since Native 10 Information launched its “Don’t Trash Our Treasure” sequence, and all through this journey, we’ve met some fairly exceptional South Floridians doing their half to guard our valuable yard.

We’ve featured many inspiring tales, however there have been three people who actually stood out, considering exterior the field and igniting their very own initiatives to assist restore stability to our pure world.

“Once I first confirmed up right here, it was a landfill, you couldn’t step anyplace with out stepping on a chunk of trash,” eco-activist Andrew Otazo mentioned.

Absolutely dedicated with unwavering resolve, it’s no surprise Otazo is one in every of our most treasured residents.

This 35-year-old from Key Biscayne is on a mission to assist maintain our coastal habitats air pollution free.

“It has gotten worse, and the rationale why is there isn’t a coverage answer,” he mentioned. “It’s simply people and organizations going out on a volunteer foundation and cleansing up the shoreline, and that’s not going to resolve the issue.”

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We first met Otazo final June on Virginia Key when he and 30 volunteers joined forces to clear all particles littering the North Level mangroves.

This was simply the most recent in an virtually weekly sequence of cleanups for Otazo, who since 2017 has been single handedly selecting up different individuals’s trash strangling South Florida’s yard.

Native 10 Information caught up with Otazo at Virginia Key, the identical spot the place we picked up 355 kilos of trash on a scorching summer time day. Sadly, not a lot has modified, because the mangroves are nonetheless choked with litter.

“It doesn’t remotely shock me once more. Like, I’ll clear up a stretch of shoreline. I’ll come again every week later (and) it’s filled with trash once more,” Otazo mentioned.

Actually, up to now 5 years, Otazo’s picked up virtually 10 tons of trash, 19,105 kilos to be precise.

In January, he even had his kayak stolen when cleansing up one of many Spoil Islands of Biscayne Bay.

“Then it began to rain,” Otazo mentioned. “It was chilly. I used to be moist. I used to be drained.”

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The story went viral and somebody gifted him a brand new kayak, however by all of the trials and tribulations and the endless circulate of litter, Otazo is extra decided than ever.

“How lengthy are you going to maintain this up?” Native 10 Information reporter Louis Aguirre requested.

“The remainder of my life till I bodily can’t anymore,” Otazo mentioned. “And now I’m going to inform different individuals to do it.”

Our subsequent most treasured citizen is Jonah Basi, a 17-year-old from Wilton Manors and founding father of MangroLife.

“I need to see big, inexperienced mangroves all alongside the seawalls that I do know are contributing to that cleaner water,” Basi mentioned.

The St. Thomas Aquinas graduating senior goals to cut back air pollution in our waters by eradicating trash and restoring mangroves alongside the shorelines.

“They’re most likely our most necessary flora,” Basi mentioned.

A habitat for marine species and birds, mangroves are a pure filter, absorbing pollution, and are nature’s best protection in opposition to storm surge and sea degree rise.

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“Mangroves achieve this many issues,” Basi mentioned.

Once we first met Basi final June, he and his MangroLife crew planted 28 pink mangrove saplings on the banks of Coontie Hatchee Park in Fort Lauderdale.

Grown from propagules that he discovered whereas doing cleanups round his neighborhood, rising them in fish tanks and pots in his yard, then re-planting them the place they’re wanted most.

We caught up with Basi at Richardson Park in Wilton Manors — the positioning of his first mangrove restoration challenge he launched final Earth Day.

“That is long-term success. This can be a tree that’s been rising for over a yr,” Basi advised Aguirre as he confirmed off his tallest tree. “And at this top, you realize that nothing can actually take this factor down anymore.”

Up to now, Basi has replanted 150 mangroves on public lands round Broward, and although he’s off to Florida State College within the fall, he says South Florida and this mission will all the time be part of his life.

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“This park is my dwelling. All of our different planting places are a part of my dwelling. And if house is the place the guts is, my coronary heart is with each mangrove I planted,” he mentioned.

Our third most treasured citizen is Tico Aran, 36, founding father of Watershed Motion Lab, launching an initiative to revive the misplaced oysters of Biscayne Bay.

Aran, who’s from Coral Gables, hopes to heal our watershed by citizen science and group motion.

“When individuals hear that Biscayne Bay is dying, it looks as if too huge of an issue and it’s another person’s job to deal with, and it’s simply too huge so how can we sort of ask ourselves, ‘What can we do?’” he mentioned.

What Aran did was flip to nature, which all the time gives essentially the most excellent answer.

Wholesome colonies of oysters have lengthy helped the bay filter out lethal vitamins from pollution, and although we people have decimated the oysters that after thrived right here, what if we introduced them again?

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“If we get 25 million grownup oysters within the water — we’re speaking a couple of $4 billion greenback waste water therapy plant. One level twenty 5 billion gallons of water a day will be filtered,” Aran mentioned.

That’s how Aran’s Watershed Motion Lab was born, participating residents to create strains from recycled shells that may function a nursery to oyster larvae to repopulate the bay’s misplaced colonies.

“So sort of because the tide comes up and down, abruptly all these type of areas can be found for the oysters to tackle and colonize,” Aran mentioned.

Aran’s been busy, not solely creating the three,000 strains he’ll want for his experiment, however figuring out the place within the bay there are nonetheless dwelling oysters.

We met up with him at East Greynold’s Park.

“If we will determine the place these wholesome oyster populations are, then we will are available in and assist them with completely different interventions,” he mentioned.

With a simple to make use of app, Aran is encouraging all South Floridians to get entangled to assist him find the place within the bay there are nonetheless dwelling oysters.

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It’s a part of a much bigger mission to interact all of us on this most necessary battle to guard and restore our most valuable asset.

“Do you are feeling such as you’re saving Biscayne Bay?” Aguirre requested Aran.

“I’m rattling properly attempting,” he mentioned.

Aran is most treasured certainly, however then once more, so are all the eco heroes we’ve met this previous yr, together with Dave and Dara Doebler from Volunteer Cleanup, together with Theo Quenee, MJ Algarra, Sophie Ringle, Airina Zhrirkova, Jay And Caiti Waks and Manny Rionda – all of who’re doing their half to save lots of our planet.

You can also do your half, equivalent to by becoming a member of a cleanup or downloading the app that helps Aran discover oysters.

FOLLOW ANDREW OTAZO:

Andrew Otazo (@andrewotazo) • Instagram images and movies

Andrew Otazo (@AndrewOtazo) / Twitter

Andrew Otazo – YouTube

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CONTACT MANGROLIFE:

Mangrolife-fl@gmail.com

FOLLOW MANGROLIFE:

MangroLife (@mangrolife) • Instagram images and movies

(20+) MangroLife | Fb

MORE INFO ON TICO ARAN’S WATERSHED ACTION LAB:

Watershed Motion Lab | Citizen Science

Watershed Motion Lab (@watershedactionlab) • Instagram images and movies