Tidal Waves of Change: Sophie Ringel's Environmental Mission to Clean Miami Beach

In this episode of Sneaker Impact News, Bryan the Botanist sits down with Sophie Ringel, founder and executive director of Clean Miami Beach. Sophie shares her journey from Germany to Miami, the formation of Clean Miami Beach, and her experiences growing into a non-profit powerhouse. Sophie and Bryan discuss the importance of community involvement in environmental cleanup, overcoming challenges as a non-profit, gaining corporate support, and the recent success in advocating for a statewide ban on balloon releases. From sharing best practices for organizing cleanups to highlighting upcoming events like EcoFest, this conversation is packed with inspiration and practical advice for making a positive environmental impact.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
• 0:31 Sophie's Journey to Miami
• 2:39 Cultural Differences and Environmental Awareness
• 8:19 Formation of Clean Miami Beach
• 15:48 Growth and Impact of Clean Miami Beach
• 20:51 Challenges and Future Plans
• 29:08 Celebrating Clean Miami Beach Day
• 29:18 Florida's Balloon Ban: A Major Victory
• 29:46 The Long Road to Legislation
• 32:28 The Impact of Balloon Pollution
• 37:26 Miami Beach's Environmental Initiatives
• 43:14 Corporate and Celebrity Involvement
• 49:00 Lessons Learned and Future Plans
• 51:57 Sneaker Impact Facility Tour
• 56:14 Upcoming Events and EcoFest

Transcript

Sophie Ringel: 0:02

All right, everyone. Welcome back to Sneaker Impact News. I'm your host, Bryan the Botanist. And today I have a very special guest, Sophie Ringel from Clean Miami Beach. Welcome, Sophie. Hello. Welcome. Such an honor being here. Thank you for having me. We're super excited to have Sophie here today, guys. Sophie is the founder and executive director of Clean Miami Beach, a nonprofit organization dedicated to hosting weekly cleanups with the goal of removing trash and raising awareness about the detrimental effects of plastic on our fragile ecosystem. So today we're going to really get to know Sophie, and we want to start with Sophie. What, how long have you been in Miami? When did you start Clean Miami Beach? Tell us about this journey. Awesome. I moved to Miami in 2016 after I was here on vacation the previous year. Okay. And that's when I met this guy who was my neighbor, I rented an Airbnb and I said hello and we talked and stayed in contact for over a year and then I decided we, we wanted to move forward with the relationship. So it had to be a decision made, been made whether he moves to Germany or I come over here. And it was pretty easy that, that decision was really easy. So I. Decided to come over here because I already spoke the language and the weather is so much nicer and the opportunities are bigger. Obviously, it was very tough because everyone I've ever known always lived in Germany. So what year did you move to Miami again? 2016. 2016. Okay. So fairly recently. I moved here in 2008. Oh, okay. Just the amount of work you've done. I was reviewing your bio and we're going to get into Awesome. Into all this. Credible accomplishments as someone who's an environmentalist, I've been looking forward to talking to you for a while. So let's back up a little bit. You were born in Germany? Yes, I'm born and raised in Germany, lived all my life there. I did travel a lot. Germany is from the location very cool in the middle in Europe. So you hop on a plane for two hours and you're suddenly in Turkey, you're in England, you're in France, you're in Spain, it's very easy. Here in Florida, you always, need five hours to actually, or even more, to drive outside the state, and so it's really nice to travel in the in Europe. So you got to travel a lot growing up? I did, yeah. And I also lived in New Zealand for a year. Oh, wow. Which was great, yeah, right after school after I finished studying and everything and yeah, that was the best time, honestly, you were, you're very, naive, you want to learn you want to explore the world and I got to use this opportunity, which I'm so extremely grateful for, to go to New Zealand for a year. Amazing. It was really awesome. Okay. So were you an environmentalist as a child? Unknowingly I was, because in Germany we don't do all the single use plastic here. When I moved over here, I was so shocked. It was, wow. So much everywhere. Everything is single use plastic. In Germany, we don't do that. I don't ever had to eat a meal with a single use plastic fork. We use reusables, and we also, when we go to Starbucks and we dine in, we have our coffee there. We get regular mugs, not to go containers. So there's just different policies in Europe in general for businesses. It's culture, it's education, it's everything comes together. We And in Europe, Europe is just more aware about resources and about conservation in general. And I do remember whenever I went on a hike or walk through the woods with my father, we always picked up trash, but I never really realized that until I moved here, that this was a thing, but we always helped the environment by just removing. Sometimes things fall out of the bag or things like that, people it's not always just throwing trash over there but it happens. So your parents taught you at an early age. I remember my parents did the same. Yeah, like what's littering or yes, you see the signs in the U. S. We have signs on the side of the road that say you'll get fined. Yes. Additionally, it's through the second world war, my grandparents, they survived through this time and they often talked about it that they were out of everything for months. They didn't have anything and they even food, so they had to there was a time when there was no food at all and they had to, they only had some potatoes, so they ate the potatoes really slowly and then even the skin. so much for joining us today, and we'll see you next time. Cause again, we didn't have anything during a war, you don't have the option to buy something on Amazon and just when it breaks, Oh, just throw it out and replace it. And we would always repair things. We would always make sure that we don't have to throw it out. Okay. Cause that's the important question. What does that actually mean? Throwing things out? things out, where to go. And yeah, I was raised that way. So I've always been from heart and core caring for our earth and having our planet in mind and everything I do, everything I purchase and consume. Wow. So did you have any other brothers and sisters growing up? I do. I have a younger sister. Okay. So you're the oldest? Yes. I'm the oldest. Yes. I went to Germany for the Berlin Marathon twice in 2017 and 19. And I went to Oktoberfest in Munich right after the marathon, the next morning. I was there only for a week each time, but I got to see Berlin and Munich. I loved it. I actually have German heritage. Oh. My. Dad's side is 90 percent German and Austrian. Oh, wow From the Kiel area perhaps, but they settled in Kiel, Wisconsin, which is a sister city, but that's enough about me But basically I have my mom's side is more English. My dad's side is German Oh nice, but I have a lot of I still feel like I have the German, blood in me so then you also know that you know from doing from through your family that We don't do all this culture Consumerism. No. We are actually all getting worse now, too, because we always like to copy and follow trends. Which is unfortunate in this regard, but Germany is still very aware. There's so many other environmental regulations. It seems very, orderly there. Yes. And also like you could take Plastics and recycle them at machines and you can stick them in the machine. Yeah, and I thought that was really cool Yeah, just in general, it just seemed like it was a cleaner place to visit. Yeah, it's definitely more organized That is correct. Everything is regulated and there is a place for everything. The air quality was good when I was there So in generally, I think you know, I think of Germans I think of and Norwegians and other countries. Yeah. I think of environmentalism. Yeah. Most countries in Europe do a pretty good job. Yeah. That's awesome. Is there anything else you want to share about your experience growing up in Germany before we move on to Miami? That I had a beautiful childhood. Yeah. Yeah, really. I really had, I had a good time. And good parents. Yeah. Yeah, was the mentality, it was a big culture shift when you moved here though, just overall, but you learned English over there. I did, yes. In Germany, you have, you get taught English at school, and then you have the opportunity to do your graduation in English, and then I went to New Zealand. I always loved watching movies, and they're original. Tell us a little bit about New Zealand. What, what took you there just to explore after college? Yeah, really just that, finished finished school and you've finished your education. What do you do? What are you going to do with your life? Obviously there were no kids yet, no, home, still living at that's not really true. I did have my own home but still, what are we going to do with our lives? Sure. Let's go explore. I see the jungle. Yeah. Yeah, cool. When I think of New Zealand, I think of wilderness. Yeah Did you get to go out in the parks? Sure. Or were you in the city a lot too? You got to see is it very stunning? It is extremely stunning. I kept saying, Oh my God, this is so beautiful here. Oh my God, this is so beautiful here. So, at one point I was so spoiled by, Nature's Beauty that I at some places when I think about it, it's crazy now, but in some places it's oh, yeah, it's pretty nice, but I've seen nicer. Okay. Yeah, we get spoiled in Florida too. Like I've gone to Key West a bunch in the Florida Keys and we just see and we, and the ocean. People come here and they're like, oh my god. It's so gorgeous as we are going to talk about today. It's so important. So let's fast forward to Miami. 2016? Yes, correct. Where and how did you start Clean Miami Beach? Tell us about the formation of that. Sure, yeah, that was in 2019 actually. I moved to Miami Beach then and went for walks after work to decompress, to recharge, to enjoy nature, to really be here for the reason that I moved here. And I walked along the dunes in Miami Beach, and all I saw was single use plastic, especially along the, where the sand reaches the dunes. And it was full of forks, plastic forks, and plastic bags, and plastic straws, and the wrappers that go around the straws, and the utensils. So all soft plastic and light plastic that The wind just carries away. Those red Solo cups and all those things from the hotels. Oh my God, these Solo cups. Oh my God. Like I can tell you, Oh, that's a whole different story. I never drank anything out of these red Solo cups. We need to do something. Why are they here? What are we doing with them? What are we doing to our planet? Did you know that one of these cups stays in a landfill for 450 years? I was going to guess longer than that just because they're so like, you could use them for a hundred years easily in a home. And it's such a mentality and we're not here to be on our like soapbox today, but we also are allowed to have our feelings and our opinions. And it's just ridiculous because as like Floatopia and some of these other events and just spring break and parties, people are drunk and they're just. Throwing them on the ground, as and they're leaving stuff on the beach that's perfectly usable because they are drinking a lot of alcohol, or they're just young and they don't know better, or they're just partying too hard. Yeah, but I must say everywhere. It's not just on the beach. In every office I've worked here, there's red Solo cups. In every event. So it's a matter of convenience or something? In every fair I go, there's always Solo single use plastic cups, and it's just a thing here That you don't see in Europe. No, you don't. Also, when there's a gathering at home, there's a birthday celebration or a graduation, anything, there's always single use plastic at homes. I don't understand, it's really sad. And the huge amounts of plastic bottles that they buy in the big stores. Cases of them. I see it all the time when I'm, I do a lot of events and, we're, I'm trying to stay away from ever buying plastic bottles. I am a cross country coach and I won't buy them for our events. We do 5Ks. We only use like big jugs of water, like the big Gatorade coolers, and I'll buy the paper cups and stuff like that and compostable things, but it's a mentality in the US. We're going to get into that. Cause I want to hear. How you're working with the government to make changes in the community. I want to share it with them But let's talk a little bit more about the formation You were doing these hikes and you were seeing a problem in Miami Beach So I was really upset about seeing all this plastic while I worked there that I had to do something about it So after three days of being angry and mad I decided to put Pick it up. So I did. And at the beginning, my husband, we always walked together and he was not so happy about it. And you were living in Miami Beach too? Correct. We were living both in Miami Beach and together. And he wasn't so happy. He said, Hey, this is family time. Let's enjoy. I said, but how can I can't ignore this. I have to do something. And he really didn't understand why I pick up other people's trash. He said, that's their responsibility. And I agree with him. It's not my responsibility to pick up other people's trash, but leaving it in nature is even worse. So I Continued and I saw somebody else also picking up trash and I ran to her and I connected and said, Hey, another person picking up trash. Thank God I'm not the only crazy person. So we decided to go together once a week after work. It was Tuesdays. And to pick up trash together. And so we met the Tuesday after to pick up trash together and we took a photo and posted it on Instagram and I tagged Miami Pages. And they re shared it and people reached out to us, Hey, I want to join. When are you going again? How can I get involved? So we said, Oh, wow. Okay. Next Tuesday, same time, same location. And we were already four people at the Tuesday after. And then the week after that, we were six people. And the Tuesday after that, we were 10. And then week by week, it kept growing. People were telling their friends. Yeah. And they were just. Also the social media. Social media, people telling their friends. Then we started to work with the schools because students need community service hours in order to graduate and it was just all coming together. Then I received a phone call from the mayor of Miami Beach and I thought at first it was a prank. I said, who are you? And he said don't you know me? I'm the mayor. And I was like, oh, okay. Yeah. So he gave me a recognition for the work that we have been doing. And just one thing led to the other. That's incredible. So I was looking through some of the stats, which I've heard about you for a few years now. I heard the name Sophie and I'd heard of Clean Mind Beach and I'd seen the cleanups. on social media and I moved away from the beach about four years ago, but I lived there from 2008 to 2022. So I guess about two years now. I live in Miami right now near Little River and I do a Little River cleanup. Oh, awesome. We do it once a month on Saturday and it's just me and a couple friends right now, but we're on kayaks and we're out there and it's near where the manatees and everything are. But I lived in Miami beach for 15 years of my life. And I coached there at the Hebrew Academy and I worked on Lincoln Road at a wellness company for 10 years and worked at restaurants in Miami Beach and running stores. So I led a track club there for 10 years. So like intimately love Miami Beach, consider myself a local, even though I don't live there anymore. I still swim there at the pools because I still have an ID that says Miami Beach. Shh. But I'm just so impressed with some of these stats at what you have done in a short amount of time. I myself used to walk the beach and clean up with friends. And by myself, just like with one friend that might be hanging out with me. Wonderful. We'd be down at the ocean and we'd be, and we do it every time we go to the ocean, me and my friends in general my closest friends and I it's usually the most mindful people and we, and we just, when we're there, we want, if we see trash, we're getting it into the bin, near, if we're on the towels on the beach and there's something within 50 feet of us, or we're out in the surf, we're picking it out and we're just trying to, get the little bit we see that's near us. Or if we're going for a walk on the boardwalk and we see some plastic cups that are in the dunes, like you're saying, we try to get it into the So a lot of people are doing it. But not doing it together is what I think. And not a lot of people, not thousands of people. I'm just saying there might be dozens of people, or as you've seen, the people that are coming to your group might've been those same people that just were doing it on their own, but weren't doing it as much as they would do it with you. You brought them together. We want to have multiple cleanups happening or just single people who walk along, just pick up your trash or pick up trash that you see on the way. That's the whole point. Keep doing it when they're not even at the cleanup. Correct, that not everyone always has to come to the cleanups in order to make a difference. It's actually the small things that are, have a ripple effect and that, that are making a bigger impact together. Yeah. But what you've provided is structure and also teaching them and we're going to get into that. And I want to hear about, how you guys do it, and what you, the best practices is what I like to call it. But first I want to talk statistics. So to date, Clean Miami Beach has conducted 368 cleanups. Wow. You're approaching 500 soon. Inspiring and educating 15, 200 volunteers and resulting in the removal of over 100, 000 pounds of debris from Miami Dade County's beaches, parks, and waterways. And most recently, and gotten a ton of media coverage, I'm seeing here, Miami Herald, New York Times, ABC, CBS, Fox News. Wow. And New Times just so many amazing and awards. You won the Badass Woman of the Year from the Miami Chamber of Commerce in 2020. The recognition and the stats, 106, 000 pounds of trash. How, tell us about how it got to this level because you went from four people and two to four people to being called by the mayor. Yeah. How did that happen? Was there a certain moment? Was there some steps along the way that just really. Were key moments. Yeah, that was one key moment. I was in December 2019 when we were 140 people at one beach cleanup. Wow. And we were not a non profit at that time. I had already thought of the name Clean Miami Beach and I had already called us Clean Miami Beach and started to print little flyer and you're a graphic designer. We didn't mention that. That's how, yeah, my actual education is graphic design. And which comes in handy. Yes, because I've seen the buckets. You have your stenciled logo on the, your logo is great and it's very clean. It's very beautiful. It reminds me of the ocean and then you have it on the buckets and I'm sure you have shirts and other things to help get this. Yeah. So this moment you had 140 people. 140 people. And it was. It was mind blowing and I reflected and realized that I had created a movement and I wanted to take it to the next level. So I decided to file for 501c3 status, which is the non profit status here in the state of Florida. And it went through pretty easy and also quick. Is that an expensive process? It wasn't, it costs money. You have to file all these papers. I've always heard it costs thousands of dollars. No, that's not. You need lawyers. I did not, I did hire a company just because again, I'm not even from the United States. I wanted to make sure that I file everything properly and correctly, that I follow all the guidelines. So I did hire a company, but they were not that expensive. I did spend almost, I think it was like, Right around 1, 000 for, but everything, for the company, for filing the papers, for getting this all started. And that was something I felt comfortable. You need a bank account too, probably. You do have to have a bank account. You need to have a board, you need to have your bylaws figured out. There are a few things that are on you, but the company was very helpful and guided us through. Awesome. Yeah. That's cool. So you had this point where you formed the organization and It just kept growing. Yeah. And then 368 cleanups. Yeah. You've been very consistent. It sounds tell us about the structure. When do you meet? What time? Yeah, so first of all, it was very helpful to grow with social media, to reach more people in the area. Like I mentioned in the beginning, so many people want to do something, who doesn't want to give back to their community, and make a difference. So that was really great. And you can meet up with other people. And I see in the videos of Instagram, like when you're down at South Point Cleaning, everyone's having fun. Yeah. You get to walk with your friend and you're not grabbing trash. Yeah, it is fun. You can chat while you're doing it, right? You make new friends, so it's probably a great community. We even have a couple that met and dated at the cleanups. Now they're married and have kids. Wow. You're a matchmaker. Yeah, so if you're single, just saying, come to a beach cleanup and bring your date. I think your numbers are going to keep growing, Sophie. It really is fun. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Along the way what really was key was consistency is key. Keep going, keep doing, keep posting, keep talking about, keep inviting. And that's how we grew. That's how I got to these Do you do multiple cleanups a week? Yes, we do multiple cleanups a week. We had weeks around Earth Month. It's in April's Earth 22nd. So that's a very busy month for us. We had, I believe, like cleanups every other day. Wow. Sometimes it also happens when we have two cleanups day. That's not really my favorite because I would like to, it is exhausting and I would like to focus on one, but sometimes we can't avoid it and I'm not gonna say no to a cleanup. Okay. So it happens to happen sometimes. Then we have two a day, but usually it's around. Two to three per week. So when I look at last year, we did 90 cleanups in in one year. That's in 56 weeks. Yeah, that, exactly. But this year it will be even more, which I did not think it would be possible, but I have a very great team. So that's it. You, I'm sure you try to be at all of them, but you eventually can't. And eventually it's gonna grow outside of Miami and other parts of Miami, which we can talk about, too. Actually that's something How's that going? It's going good. Brand new. I'm still in the making, but I'm going to share the news that we're going to launch Clean New York City. Wow. Which I'm very excited about. Really? That's huge. That's big. Yeah, that's big news. So that's gonna be part of The organization in the sense of your community, you will be able to work with both. Yeah, together and there's such a connection between Miami and New York too. So that's oh, yeah And it was also the reason why I chose to name Clean Miami Beach that it is adaptable to any city to any place and eventually the planet. It's a model. Yeah, it's a model That's really cool. So So tell us more about what time you meet and, how long the cleanups are and some of the best practices and some of the things people do there. Yeah. For us, it is pretty easy. I choose a cleanup location from experience now but anyone can do a cleanup anywhere because there's trash everywhere. They can organize a clean Miami Beach meetup? Oh, yeah, totally. If they see an area like Yeah, so that happens often too, that people reach out to us. Hey, I'm here at this area. It's really bad. Can we, can you do a, can you guys do a cleanup here? And then I scout the area, I figure out if there's a permit needed, who is in charge of the area, is it city, state, private? What is the deal? And then we find the right Day, the right time. I like to go two hours before sunset on the beach when we go to Miami Beach, because that's when we find most of the trash. Or when we go to secluded areas where they are not maintained by any municipality, then I like to go over sunrise to be honest. So if it's more like out in a mangrove area it would be early in the morning, but if it's like more in the city, cause I've seen on the, Miami Beach residence page on Facebook. Like sometimes it'll get, like someone will dump a lot of trash, in part of the city. Yeah, like in a urban area. Yeah. Is that also something you guys target? Yes, we Urban trash. Yes we do. Okay. So it's not just out on the beach, but Correct. But you do a lot of cleanups on the beach, correct? Because the beach gets a lot of impact, correct? We go everywhere. We try to focus on hotspot. You go on the island areas. Yes. Since it is clean Miami beach, we focus on Miami beach, but we go also on the mainland. Oh, you do go out in the city too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah we do. I actually have also a cool cleanup coming up in Wynwood in September. So stay tuned for that. Now we like to go to downtown where Bayfront Park is. Okay. Because there's rocks and a lot of trash that gets washed away. Ashore, yeah. The 395 I heard that's Miami Beach ish on the way out there. They did a big cleanup with the Department of Transportation. I think that was in, yeah, May. Yeah. Like they took trucks out and they literally got so much, because it was like the cruise ships could actually see all this trash. Yeah. Oh my god. Yeah. Cruise ship customers, yeah, you want them to have, Perfect experience, but it's important anyways, because what happens is, what is happening? Are people throwing it out the windows of their car on these, or is it coming in off the, is everything? It's multiple sources, but over 80 percent of the trash we find here locally is Local. So what happens is when people discard their trash by throwing it out of the windows, which please, guys, please don't do that. And if you see somebody, please educate them. Kindly too, right? But I've seen it and I've honked and gotten mad before in my own neighborhood. Yeah, no, we can't get mad. We have to be nice here. Because most people just don't know. They come from other countries or other places and they don't have the education. So it's also somewhat privileged, but it really shouldn't be. But we've had the discussion here Conservation or sustainability or environmentalism is a privilege, but it's not. It's not a privilege. It's our planet, it's, yeah, we have one home and we all need to take care and live with nature, not against it. To finish my sentence, when people throw their trash out on the streets, what happens when it rains? The rain washes it through the storm drains right out into the canal system and then goes into the bay and out in the ocean. You mentioned earlier talking about the ocean cleanup where you see how they install these river cleaners with these Inceptors. You can, yeah, you can envision this here. It's the same issue. Like 80 again, 80 percent that we find on the shorelines is street litter that gets washed out. Some comes also from the islands. When people go to the islands, they enjoy a beautiful time out there and then leave their trash behind. Yeah. They recently closed the islands. Yes. They are going to be open. They closed it for a month, which was unheard of. They're still closed. Oh yeah, they closed it over 4th of July, they closed it over Memorial, it was in the paper. They have been closed for quite some time, but they will be reopened, so there's a new campaign, it's called Leave No Trace, and there's signage now everywhere. Wow. So they removed all the trash cans because we couldn't keep up. County couldn't keep up with picking up, bringing their trash and leaving it on the island. Why would you do that? Why can we not take our trash back and discard it on the marina? And especially very important, reduce the amount of trash. Stop all the single use plastic. Leave no trace. So there's no more trash cans on the islands. Take only pictures. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. Anything that's, yeah. So I like that. That's good. Okay. So I'm excited to see how that is going to play out. But still again, street litter is very important to, combat to by first of all, not littering, but then also hopefully there will be a system once in place that there are gutters or like some sort of receptacles for street litter that it doesn't get into our water in the first place. Cause we're lucky. We have a, Decent waste management. So there is, we don't have to, like in third world countries, where there is no waste management at all. People throw their trash in the rivers. That is basically, you have seen it. Yeah. Guatemala unfortunately has one of the worst, and I love Guatemala is one of my favorite countries in the world. But as we were talking, the Clean Ocean Project, they installed the river interceptor and they found that river. I think it was called the Vata or Vaca, Rio Vaca. It is like one of the. It's one of the most pollutive rivers in the world because the landfill for Guatemala City is up at like 8, 000 feet and it's the landfills right outside the city, but it's at the mouth of a river, the head of a river that forms and goes to the ocean and then the rainfall. There is no system in place where they actually have a waste management. Exactly. It's just like a big gorge in the ground that they throw the trash in and, but, it's a big problem because the world is a big place. Miami beach, we're doing a better job. Like I honestly lived through Floatopia. I was in the beach, but as a runner, I didn't go to Floatopia, but I don't know if you've heard of it, but they banned that event because they banned the event because for those that don't know, it was all these thousands of people showed up with floats, for an event down by South Point. And then they all got so drunk. That this is what I heard as a resident. They left everything and they left it in the ocean and they left it on the sand. They left tents. They left coolers. They left alcohol. They left cups and it was literally a hellscape. They took photos of it and because of that they were banned. Which is very unfortunate. This is why we can't have nice things. I would have loved to be there. I would love to have this today, but people are just so irresponsible. Everything is so cheap. And then there's Amazon, or just We need better education. Something has to change in the culture. Oh, I agree. It's just. Such a hearty culture still, of like alcohol and plastic floaties. Let's make floats out of something besides plastic, make them out of bamboo, but especially really people need to learn and understand to preserve the things they have and stop creating so much waste. So taking personal responsibility. Oh, yeah. Okay. I hear you. It's a big thing where I think the groundswell is making a movement in Miami. And as I was looking at your document more here Clean Miami Beach got recognized. For having Clean Beach Week from July 1st through 7th in 2022. And this year in 2024, July 1st was proclaimed Clean Miami Beach Day. Which is so cool. By the mayor, Steve Minor. Yeah. So that's cool. So you guys have your own day and week and it's in July and it just happened, right? That would have been two days ago, three days ago. And then really big news I wanted to mention and talk about before we get into some of the lessons learned is. that the state of Florida recently banned balloons, the release of balloons. Can you tell us how Clean Miami Beach got involved? Because I was seeing In the news and on social media that you guys had a big part in getting the governor to sign that bill recently Which just what went through like a month ago. He just signed it last week. Okay. Yeah, tell us about that sure, so this bill has been on the table in Tallahassee for years and It's multiple organizations that have been working on it. Activists, groups, and even legislators have been trying to get this passed again for years. But every year it died, somewhere along the process. And this year we were presented with the opportunity to actually go to Tallahassee to lobby for this ban. And also other environmental bills, and we spoke to over seven representatives, senators and state representatives to encourage them to please vote yes and to please co sponsor. I was really surprised that we're actually two of the state legislators we have visited that signed onto that bill right then and there, which was great because the more co sponsors a bill has, the more likely it will pass. Okay. And then it passed through all the committees, which was amazing. How much work did it take in the lobbying? Was this like multiple visits or was it pretty quickly that you got the message across? The visit was just that one day, but there is so much work. You personally visited the offices? Correct. I personally went there and I personally spoke to them. And other organizations. And with other, yeah, we were there on the day off with Surfrider, which I was about to mention. I have friends, my friend, Seth Bloomgarden, he's here in Miami, right? Yeah. So it was, they were involved too. Surfrider, Oceana Debris Free Oceans, and many, Volunteer Cleanup many other organizations come always together and advocate throughout the year because it's not just going on that one day. It's so much work over years. Again, it was really important, which entails documenting, which entails reporting it. Putting up on social media, educating the community calling this local state representatives too. We have commissioners in the city of Miami, in the city of Miami Beach we have mayors all over even in all the districts in Miami, there's a mayor, even there's a mayor in Doral, there's a mayor in Kendall and Pankhurst and so on. So speak to those people too, which we also did over years. Again, this is a really been a really long process. And to get back to this year. So it finally passed all the committees, which was a big success already, but then it had to go through the House, and it voted yes, they voted yes for that ban, and then it had to go through the Senate, and they voted yes too, and then what happens, then it goes on the desk of Ron DeSantis, of our governor, and he has, can either veto a bill, or he or sign it. Okay. And during that process, we were a little bit of a bit a little nervous because he just didn't sign it. It has been sitting on his desk for weeks. So what we then did also together with the Ocean Conservancy, with Surfrider, with Oceana, and all the other organizations, so many involved, that's when we did a big call to action. We recorded social media videos, how we called the office of Governor Ron DeSantis. At the beginning I was a little scared, what am I going to do? What's going to happen if I call there? But it was so awesome, so easy, and so simple. So a staff is who you literally just call, there's a person answering the phone, how can I help you? And then you say, hi, my name is, and I'm encouraging to please Three, two, one, which was the ban of intentional release of balloons. So we got so many people to call, which was great. And I believe that definitely adds on to the decision making. And yeah, and then he last week, he signed it and it's now a law. State law. Yeah, and the whole state, which is so cool. So you're no longer allowed to intentionally release balloons. Is it a certain amount? Is it like six or more? It's any amount. Any amount. Yes. So for weddings, they encourage you to use environmentally friendly. Like I saw, like you could use like colored flower or you could use like Flower petals. Yeah, but real flowers. Please don't use the plastic ones. Please use real flowers. Because people want to celebrate certain times. Yes, which is fine, but we don't need balloons to celebrate. And what happens with the balloons? Let's tell people real quickly because I know what goes up. Must come down, right? So you let a balloon go. I, and I do understand why, don't get me wrong. And I must admit, I don't think I've ever said that publicly, but I did let balloons go too. I was a teenager. I was guest at a wedding and it was a thing, and it's still a thing in Germany. That's what Germany neatly needs to step it up to let Balloons go. And here in the United States, we love to do that when somebody passes to wish them the last, nice wishes. Sometimes people write little notes on the balloons, and I do understand. It's a very emotional, very beautiful and sensitive act of togetherness. Sometimes it's an accident that it gets released. Sometimes accidents are not included in that ban. It's about intentional releases. A gathering. Correct. About all the things that we just spoke. So if someone accidentally lets go of one, they're not included in that ban. Your accidents happen and it's intentional releases. And if you're under six years old, you will not be It does not apply to you. It does not apply to you. Yeah. So but the, tell us, the balloons land and then marine life eats it up. Correct. Yeah. So It's one of the most common things that is found, I heard, on the beach cleanups. Yeah. So this year But it could land in the Everglades too, right? It could land anywhere. Yeah. They fly all out in the ocean too. So actually the Miami Dade Sea Turtle Program, they have picked up more than 1, 200 balloons just since this this turtle nesting season, which started in April. Okay. It's incredible. What? This somehow is insane. And they find them in the stomachs, yeah. Yeah. So what happens to animals, turtles think it's a jellyfish. They eat it. What happens to bird is the strings attached to the balloons. They go around, wrap around their wings and their beaks. So they are unable to fly and starve. And what also is affected by it are cows. And that was one of the reasons why this bill actually got passed because the cattle industry was behind it too. Oh, wow. I didn't realize that. So many cows suffocated. Were just trying to eat them? Eat them, yeah. Wow. And nobody who wants to Birds will eat them too, I'm sure, if they can. Birds yeah, a lot of birds, again, like the strings get entangled, they get entangled in them, so what people don't want to do is, they don't want to accidentally kill wildlife while they're celebrating. So that's where the education comes in. That's what happens when you let a balloon go, and if I personally would have known how damaging it is to our wildlife, I wouldn't have let those balloons fly at that wedding that I went as a teenager. And I'm really glad that it is a law now. Now we need to educate people and just, inform them because I'm pretty sure the intentions are most. Most of the cases are positive intentions and they're not bad people and we do want to celebrate life with life, what I like is that you're seeing the problem and then you're working for a solution. Exactly. There's problems with the fishing industry, as you and I were talking about with the clean ocean, the ocean cleanup project outside of the podcast. We were talking about how they traced a lot of the trash they're finding in the Pacific Patch to Fisher, to fishing nets, industrial fishing, but also to cruise ships, I'm sure, and to other boating. It's not necessarily coming from the shoreline as much as it's coming from. So if we look at the trash we find here locally and our shores, that trash is 80 percent local. So that really comes from us. But if you're out there in the ocean and in far remote islands, you do find a lot of industrial fishing nets, which we find here too. Don't get me wrong, but it's not. It's not as much as it is out in the ocean. So what are the, again, some of the things, are you finding straws still? Because I know Miami Beach banned styrofoam years ago, right? Miami Beach and Surfside and Coral Gables, which are some of the most mindful communities. I know Coral Gables, we've worked with Clean, is it the Keep Clean? Coral Gable is beautiful. And then the city of Coral Gable is, we've had discussions with, and we've gone to their Earth Day and their sustainability village at the farmer's markets, and they're great and they're super committed. And Miami beach seems to be very committed too, in that they've banned Plastic straws and styrofoam? Styrofoam. And What else? Plastic, single use plastic bags? No, bags, unfortunately, we're not allowed. They tried to, right? We're banned from banning, they were preempted. Preempted means we're banned from banning plastic bags in the state of Florida. But the successes are the styrofoam, which is very important because styrofoam is the most toxic form of plastic there is. There's so many chemicals. And that it won't break down either. Toxins. Chemicals. In the styrofoam and it never breaks. So it's very harmful. So please, if you use styrofoam, please don't. It's really bad for your health and for the environment. Yeah, demand places. And in a sense, demand nicely that please can I I want to keep being a consumer here or a customer, but can you use paper? Yeah, like the paper is a very usable way to go. We always want to think of all the resources that we need to bring in your own. Bring your own cup, bring your own bottle, have your own cups out when you have a gathering. That's the ultimate go a way to go. We want to reach zero waste in one way or another. What's very important to understand is that the average American produces around 4. 9 pounds of waste per day. Okay. But in Miami Dade County, it's almost eight. Oh, wow. Per person. Wow. It counts per person, per day. Okay. I didn't know those statistics. Which is a horrible statistic. It's a horrible fact. Has a lot to do with the With the hotels and the tourism industry, but also with what I've personally seen, all the single use plastic, they're used in offices and homes where there are reusable items available. It's always better to use reusable. Yeah, to go back to the city of Miami Beach, the ban of the straws and what's also banned in the city of Miami Beach is the use of balloons. At marinas, beaches, and parks. So you can't even take them outdoors because they could fly away. I saw the signage on Miami beach and 71st street beach when I was there. And I'll have to just a super quick story is that my friend and I, this was about a month ago, two months ago, it was before the bill was signed. It said no balloons allowed at this party area, like where the gazebos are, and there was a giant bunch of balloons right behind it, pink ones, for a young girl's birthday party, and they were having so much fun, but my friend and I were both like, oh my gosh that's I don't want to take a photo and put this on social media, because I'm not trying to but I noticed when I went back a week or two later, In the same area, no balloons. And this was more recent. The first time it was like a couple of months ago and it was just like right behind the balloon, no balloons. And they're trying to educate, letting people know. And it's the same thing with plastic straws and it's the same thing with the single use bags is to just don't bring them to the beach, because it's too risky. Yeah. Let me tell you, I had a really happy childhood and I never, there were never balloons involved. So all the kids, they will still have a beautiful birthday without balloons. And there's so many beautiful alternatives that we can use. These paper pom poms and paper combs and paper garlands are so beautiful and they are not expensive and they are reusable, but you can also throw them away, which, whatever wouldn't be the best option, but it's not as harmful as a balloon to the environment. And the children will have a fun birthday. This way too. Yeah, so you guys are a fun group. You're not a serious group. Tell us a little bit more about the group. Yeah, the group and people have helped you become. Yeah. No, that's very important for us when everyone that comes to the cleanups always enjoys a good time because I make them fun. The whole team makes it fun. It's important to Be happy and you can't really be sad on the beach anyways and depressed, it's a mood boosting place. Yeah. So you give them buckets, right? Let's talk about the best practices. So everyone gets a bucket to take on their cleanup. Yes. With your logo on it. Yes. They get a bucket, they get a picker, they get gloves. And we also do a safety briefing, of course, to explain the do's and don'ts and what to expect. And then they're heading out. If you guys are staying, Like pairs or something. Yeah, we sent them out in pairs or whatever they like, like people sometimes like to be on their own. Some people find it meditative. If they want to do, they have the headphones on and they would just want to be in their zone. So you don't have to be in a pair, but it might be sometimes, you're doing it at night and you're, or not at night, you're doing it in the daytime in general. So it's I was just, As far as safety factors they're not going out that far that there's, and we're pretty like we're on the beach, so it's, there's, I don't, yeah. So there's not as big of a need to always have someone, unless you're like a kid. And then, yeah. We, children need to have a chaperone. Yeah. Yeah. You give them gloves. Correct. We give them gloves. We give them the buckets. And then these like cloth gloves too. Yeah. So they have a rubber protecting on the inside of the glove. And Pickers. And Pickers. And then we always have a challenge, who picks up the most cigarette butts, who finds the weirdest trash. And now recently we have a small baby turtle as a like a little turtle thing and we hide it. So on the volunteer that finds it, that gets a prize too. Wow. So people, and people, a lot of companies, so we offer also corporate team outings. And they are, they sometimes have. Competitions with their teams, the sales team and the R& D team and HR are against each other, and they really So you have corporations and businesses that are actually bringing people out to clean up. So tell us about some of the companies and brands you've worked with. Oh, so many amazing companies. My favorite cleanup was with Shakira. Oh my God, I was not expecting this. I know. Yeah, I need to put that in a bio. Yeah. Shakira she personally didn't join the cleanup, but her team and it was in her name and it was branded by her for her song. Yeah. No, she released a song last year. Need to look it up. Copa. Copa Vacia. Copa Vacia. It's the empty cup. And in her video, she's a mermaid lying in a ton of trash. So she wanted to raise awareness about how much plastic and trash there is in the ocean. And we need to do something about it, which was really great. So it was perfect for us. Yeah, that was my favorite brand, basically. That's got to be also at one of those moments where you're like, wow, like Shakira's team, like just asked to like partner up with Clean Miami Beach. When they called, I was like, wow, what? Yeah. Is Messi next? I know. When Messi signed in Miami and everybody didn't know. memes, where Messi was at Publix and Messi was everywhere. I'm sure you've seen it. Yeah. We did one too, where Messi was at the cleanup. And yeah, he's warmly invited. So Messi, if you're hearing this, please come. What other brands and companies have gotten involved? Yeah. Big local companies like in hospitality, we had Groot Hospitality and other companies and we love to work with Lifestyle Miami. Oh, they're great. Yeah, amazing. Only in Dade joined us too. And yeah, other local offices, but big brands. We had Amazon, we had T Mobile, we had Deloitte. I need to look it up. Those are all great to hear. Cisco, Figma, so when you hear some of these names, La Mer, Shiseido Paramount is a client with us too. Production and, Tiffany and Co. Wow. These are sectors that sometimes get a bad rep, want to name anyone in particular. I'm just saying that like, When you hear of a bigger company like Amazon, sometimes people just think the worst. Yeah, so it's good to hear that they're actually getting involved. And I do understand why they're, this is just greenwashing. This is just for them to, look good. PR. So that might be to some extent true, but I am welcoming every opportunity that I get from, so we're also same with PepsiCo. We also had a cleanup with PepsiCo. And they are one of the biggest polluters, but I see every cleanup with any client as an opportunity to get them out there, to actually get them to the beach. Yes, they know that But it's always a difference when they actually see it, when they see how much plastic there is in the ocean, how much gets washed ashore, how many smaller pieces of plastic get washed ashore that had already broken down. And also to be outside, to be in nature, to connect with nature, to see hello to the ocean, to see the beauty of the ocean. It is so important that we remind even those, hey, we all have this planet as one home, please do better, yeah, because it's so impressive when you're at the ocean, like how powerful and big it is. But also just how beautiful Miami is and our world. I'm from Wisconsin, the Midwest, and it's beautiful there too. It's beautiful everywhere. Just important to take care of your home and our home is the entire, our founder says there is no planet B. Exactly. Kudos to the founder. He's so right. There is no planet B. And that's what I mentioned earlier when people say, Oh, let's just throw it out. Where is that? Yeah. Is that the landfill? Is that a better place for the things? It's really important to look at the earth as a whole and see that there is no such thing. Like ignoring the consequences. Yeah. I don't want to have to deal with this anymore. Exactly. What do we do with the mattress when we're done with it? It's what happens to all the stuff that people buy? Exactly. Clothing, you should recycle. You can grind clothing as we talked about and make new clothing out of it. And you can grind plastic and make clothing out of plastic, but we need to come up with better materials and plastics and that's on, Coke can help a lot with Coca Cola and Pepsi and all these companies. I hope that they come out with something soon because, the Aquafina's and everything, and it just drives me. It breaks my heart because I will not buy any of that stuff. I haven't bought it in years. So as we, my cross country team, we don't drink out of plastic bottles because I tell them about how bad it is to the leaching, the plastics, the chemicals into your body from it. And it's all getting shipped across the country, huge distances, the amount of fossil fuels being used instead of just local springs, in Wisconsin, we used to get our water from local springs. But we also need to understand that plastics reached a market on a big scale in the sixties. which is not that long ago, and We've known for a while that there's plastic in the ocean and that actually just took us 60 years to completely pollute our oceans. Today, there is 170 trillion pieces of plastic in the ocean and it only Took 60 years. So what that actually means for us as humans, we don't know yet. There have been now recently, and new studies came out that there's microplastic in the human, placenta in unborn babies in our brain, in our blood, everywhere. Reproductive organs, whatever. Yeah. Yes. Reproductive, yes. Like this study, what that means, embryos, like you said, placentas have it. It's just crazy. It's what? What that means for human health. We don't know yet because this is brand new data, but what we do know is that we really must change and it can't be good. So the ultimate goal again is to switch to reusables to preserve the things we already have and reuse them instead of creating more waste. Agreed. What are some of the biggest lessons you've learned as the Executive Director and just along the way, since you started this, so impressive 2016 to 2024, it's eight years. That's when I moved to Miami. Miami was, yeah, it's 19. So we just turned four, yeah, we just turned five. Okay. Five years of growth, four to five years, what are some of the biggest lessons you learned? Cause I'm sure there were some hardships. Along the way, too. Yeah. What were some of those? Hardships is always funding. That's always our biggest topic as a non profit. We depend on donations. So there is no such thing as, oh, we're getting money from whomever. No, we do depend on donations. So That's something that's really hard, and lessons that we have learned are actually all good lessons because we understood that if consistency is key and that every person can make a difference. In the beginning, I often felt overwhelmed when I saw all this trash, and then I came back to the same location and the same trash was back. It was just a week past, and Happens today still it can get overwhelming. What am I going to change, it's, yes. And you can also get depressed and overwhelmed when you think about climate change in general. How am I going to make a difference, and we have learned that every single action, no matter how big or small matters, because they all add together and it does, Inspire others. It does. Look at the numbers. One hundred and six thousand pounds of trash removed. And that's just, we are all just one person. And when I say in the restaurant, no straw for me, please. Yes, it's just that one straw, but what if other people do it, too? And they do, and you need to mention it when you're ordering it, right? Because sometimes they'll just bring it, if you don't, and then it's almost on you. You got to mention it nowadays. Yeah, you have to say it right away when you order. And nicely, too. We don't need to, just, I would prefer no plastic. Yeah, because I'm saving the turtles. I always say why I don't want a straw, just so that they understand, too, and that they hear it more and more. Okay. And yeah, so that's definitely something we have learned over time is consistency is key and go for it, do really help protect the ocean, be mindful and everybody around you saying, oh, you're stupid, you're like, that doesn't change anything or something. Do you get any nasty messages ever? I'm sure. Yes, we do. There's always haters everywhere, but that's okay. At least we get the conversation going. Okay. I've seen nothing but, consistency from you guys in the sense of just Always, getting involved, and so it's been really incredible to meet you today. It's our first time meeting, but I feel like I've known you because we're birds of a feather, I feel like our parents did, taught us about, certain things growing up, and it's important Keep sharing that information with others. So thank you so much for your time. I wanted to ask you a couple more questions in our last section here. Is Sneaker Impact, you got to tour our facility today. And I know you were taking some photos and meeting some of the families and the workers and saw our different, recycling streams. And what was your impression of the facility? What Sneaker Impact is up to. I had no idea there's so many shoes and clothing out there. Oh, wow. That was a lot. And I was yeah, positive. It was amazing to see that the that there's Sneaker Impact that does something for the planet to collect them, sort them, clean them prepare them for their afterlife. So then they get to not go to the landfill. Second life, yeah. Up cycling. Yeah, no, that was amazing. It was very impressive. Thank you. Happy to see you. Yeah. We want to get involved with Clean Miami Beach. So please consider us a new partner and I'm personally going to start coming because I think that I got a little isolated from the community. Doing a lot of stuff besides the running community. I just got so into the running community that I didn't do a lot of other communities. So I want to get involved. Like what, how is the easiest way for people who are new? Do we go on your website? Do we go? Cause I haven't been to an official Clean Mind Beach cleanup. You better. And I feel ashamed to say that, but now I'm going to be at the next one. So how do, How does a newbie like me get involved? So the best way is to go on Instagram. Follow us on Instagram. That's already done. Perfect. A link in the bio leads to this cleanup schedule. And then just sign up. Okay. So is there an online waiver to make it easier? You will receive an online waiver, but you can also sign up one online to scan with your phone. Do you do it easily? Do you know, like you guys have a tent and everything I've seen and you have, when people show up, do they check in with you? Yes, they check in and that's where the QR code is, where you can sign a waiver if you haven't signed it before. How many people are coming on average? A hundred and plus clean up. Yeah. Do you find more during certain times of the year? Honestly, it's all year round, we're growing strong. Yeah. And after the rainstorms is a really probably important time. I know in the rivers that I work on, this local river, whenever it rains really hard, it seems like there's a lot more trash. Yeah. Cool. What else do you love in Miami? Let's talk about your other passions real quickly before we let you go. I love the ocean. I love to spend every moment I have, whether on a paddleboard or boat or anything that floats. Do you paddleboard? I do paddleboard, yeah. It's a passion of mine, and I love the food in Miami. It's so amazing to have so much Latin American influenced food available, and people, the culture. I know there's a lot of People saying, Oh, Miami is so pretentious and snobby, but there's also really cool communities where you actually can count on your people. So I really do enjoy that. Down to earth locals. Yeah, no, yes. Down to earth locals. Perfectly said. And I really enjoy to connect with those communities and. Yeah, we see sunshine being outside. Are you a mom? I'm not. No, but I'm a dog mom. You're a dog mom. Okay. Yeah, we talked about this. I have cause I know you said you were married. I wasn't sure if you were okay. You have a dog and how's your dog? Do you bring your dog out with you too? I wish, but he gets very jealous and then he starts to bark a lot. But so he's coming on the paddleboard cleanups and on the boat cleanups. That's when he's joining. Awesome. Yeah, Paddleboard, so you can take them out on the paddleboard. Yes. And that's important too, is when I'm, I have a friend in Miami Beach that got me into cleaning up on paddleboards. paddleboard and you see some plastic, just put it on the paddleboard, same thing with anything. Anytime you see plastic, pick it up and it helps. Cause like you said, I love that every little bit helps and you're never going to say no to a partner, no matter who they are, even if it's the worst polluter in the world, if they're trying to get involved, just let them get involved. Just get them out there, show them first hand, cool. I think today was just a really awesome conversation about positive change in the world and good news. Can you leave us with some closing thoughts for the sneaker impact community? Yeah, everybody matters. Everything we do matters and all the small things matter. So let's get together as a community. There's no planet B, be kind to each other and just do the best we can. Awesome. Is there anything going on in the next couple of weeks or upcoming projects you want to shout out real quick? No, not right now. We're regrouping for, we're already planning for next year. There is going to be our end of the year event, which is happening for the 3rd. consecutive year. It's called EcoFest. We're hosting it after the Art Basel weekend. Okay. Please join us there. It's in December. EcoFest? Yes, it's called EcoFest. Is that in Miami Beach? It's on Miami Beach, a beautiful gathering. I thought we had a food fest, we have a wine fest, we have an art fest, but we didn't have an EcoFest, so I created EcoFest. Really? Yeah, and it's a really fun gathering with lots of food, lots of vendors for sustainable holiday gift shopping. You can learn more about your local community groups that do environmental work and lots of music and Again, food and everything is plastic free. So I'm very proud of that. Where do you have that? It's usually on Miami beach at the Normandy Fountain. It's a North Miami beach. I know Normandy. That's where I swim at the pool. So that's, yeah, they call it the heart of the bay. There you go. On 79th street Causeway. Yes. So that's in Normandy. Normandy Fountain. Normandy Fountain is where we host the Awesome. I want to be at Ecofest. That sounds right up my alley. Yeah. Sophie, this is amazing. So I want to shout out some of your links and socials. Your website is cleanmiamibeach. org and Instagram is cleanmiamibeach and you're also on Twitter at cleanmiamibeach and I'll share how people can get ahold of you if they want to reach out for any other support and questions. Wonderful. Thank you so much. I hope this is the first of many times we get to chat with you about the success of Clean Miami Beach. Something that I'm so excited to have this opportunity today. So thank you for coming on our podcast and please consider Sneaker Impact, your new friend. Awesome. I'm so excited. Thank you again for having me. This was wonderful. And I loved learning more about the work that Sneaker Impact does. So amazing. Thank you. Yeah we're all working together to help make the world a better place. Thank you for your work and thanks for joining us today. Perfect. Thank you.