August 8, 2025 • 14 mins
The success story of sea turtle conservation in Vero Beach isn't just about scientists; it's about an entire community making conscious choices. Kendra Bergman, founder and executive director of Coastal Connections, shares how the organization has become woven into the fabric of Vero Beach over the past decade.
When Hurricane Milton struck, Coastal Connections immediately mobilized volunteers, removing thousands of pounds of debris from beaches while other groups focused on neighborhoods. This exemplifies what makes Vero special, according to Kendra: "It's a small town without the small town amenities. You get a little bit more luxury, but you feel welcomed into this community."
The heart of their work revolves around sea turtles—charismatic ambassadors that help protect less attention-grabbing but equally vital species. Their sustainability initiatives showcase impressive community adoption: a plastic film recycling program that began with just six Ocean Drive businesses now encompasses 52 establishments collecting 10,000 pounds annually; a revitalized fishing line recycling effort has already collected 212 miles in nine months. Both directly address major threats to sea turtles—plastic ingestion and entanglement.
Perhaps most moving is their impact on future generations through STEM programs for K-5 students. These hands-on activities translate real conservation work into age-appropriate learning experiences, with children going home excited to teach their families and proudly reporting back, "I picked up a piece of trash just for you."
What can you do? Kendra emphasizes that meaningful change comes from commitment to even one sustainable choice: switch to canned water instead of plastic bottles, remember your reusable grocery bags, volunteer for cleanups, or support their work financially. "Whatever behavior you choose that works for you—know in your heart it is making a difference and commit to it."
Subscribe to hear more stories about the people and organizations making Vero Beach special, and visit Coastal Connections online to discover how you can be part of this environmental success story.
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Helping local businesses in Vero Beach connect with their neighbors.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brian Curee (00:00):
All right, welcome back to the Vero Beach podcast.
This is part three.
I didn't know if you wanted totry it again.
Kendra, you want to go one moretime here?
Yeah.
Kendra Bergman (00:07):
Welcome to the Vero Beach podcast with Brian
and Shauna and I'm KendraBergman, the founder and
executive director of CoastalConnections.
Brian Curee (00:15):
Awesome, all right, all right.
Well, we should just wrap it upright there.
She's about to steal our job.
Yeah, all right.
So, kendra, how long have you?
Kendra Bergman (00:21):
been in Vero.
Now you said I moved here 10years ago.
I try not to think about it.
I don't understand where 10years went in my life.
Brian Curee (00:28):
When we were setting up for the interview, I
noticed like on the site you hada different last name.
I'm like, wait a minute, thisisn't the same Kendra.
I don't know if this is thefounder, but it is.
Kendra Bergman (00:35):
So there's a lot that's changed houses, all
these things, what?
Brian Curee (00:42):
do you love most about Vero?
Kendra Bergman (00:47):
I will say it is a small town without the small
town amenities, right.
So like you get a little bitmore luxury, but you feel as
though you're like, at leastI've been welcomed into this
community.
As you know, a staple and by II really mean I, as our
organization, coastalConnections, and every single
(01:08):
one of our team has been.
You know, they're just soimportant and we're recognized
as an important, valuable partof this community.
An example of that would bewhen Hurricane Milton hit us and
all of the tornadoes camethrough, we kind of jumped in
and did what we know how to dobest, and that's cleanups.
Yeah, we really focused on thebeach side, while a lot of other
(01:28):
communities were focused onneighborhoods, and when we put a
call out that we were doingcleanups, we did five.
We removed thousands of poundsof trash.
So like it's just incredible tosee people just out of nowhere
jump in and just help.
That's been really cool.
I love that about this town.
Brian Curee (01:45):
I'm glad that you pointed that out too, because we
drove down here after thathappened.
We were living in CentralFlorida, and we had some friends
that had never been to Vero.
We're like we'll take you toVero, show you where we're going
to move, and we had no ideathat one of the tornadoes had
touched down here when we drovein I'm going on here I didn't
know that they had had all thisdamage and we saw the big
dumpsters flipped over.
Some of those were on roofs andthe trees were just destroyed.
(02:07):
Even with all the devastationit was, it was beautiful to see
so many people coming togetherto help.
I know that's something thatwe've noticed here since we
moved here and started thepodcast.
The support has been amazing.
I didn't realize that thepodcast would take off like it
has so many people to support itand we're excited about it.
How has the community embracedcoastal connections?
Kendra Bergman (02:27):
So well, you know it's.
It's kind of hard to look at asea turtle and tell someone that
you don't like that.
Brian Curee (02:33):
Right.
Kendra Bergman (02:34):
So that's.
I mean we definitely get luckybecause we do work with very
charismatic animals.
It does make it easier toprotect some of the not so
charismatic things around us,like beach plants or, you know,
fish, things like that.
So we definitely use our seaturtles as ambassadors because
people just love them and we'vecreated a sense of desire,
(02:56):
connection and love for them.
But one of the coolest thingsis some of our sustainability
programs that have reallyexpanded over the past few years
.
All of our sustainabilityprograms are rooted in sea
turtle protection.
So there is a reason we do thatspecific program we do our
coastal cleanups because itminimizes single-use plastics or
(03:20):
plastic pieces that areingested by turtles.
We've had what we call washbackturtles.
These are small turtles thathave probably been out in the
water for maybe a week or twoafter hatching and they wash
back in, and 93% of thoseturtles have been found with
plastic in their gut.
Brian Curee (03:35):
They are weeks old.
Kendra Bergman (03:37):
Maybe, so that's a concern to us.
So we're really focusing onminimizing marine debris in that
sense through coastal cleanups.
Well, our single-use plasticfilm or wrap recycling program,
that's where we get to partnerwith businesses, both local,
small, you name it, here in town.
So every single item that getsshipped to, say, a store,
(03:58):
whether it's clothing oraccessories, has to be wrapped
in plastic because it's a, it'sa federal safety standard and so
they have to take off everyitem that's wrapped in plastic.
That plastic is.
Normally it's thrown into thetrash.
Well, it's can be recycled,just not in your standard
recycling methods.
So you can't just go put it inyour blue cart and expect it to
(04:21):
go anywhere.
It's like a trap, it's like aplastic bag.
You can't put it in your bluecart, but it can be recycled.
So we collect that.
We have 52 different businessesparticipating in this program.
It started with six here onOcean Drive and it's now over
three years expanded to 52businesses and we collect over
(04:42):
10,000 pounds of film likebubble wrap type material a year
.
So imagine what 10,000 poundsof bubble wrap looks like.
And then that material getssold to the company Trex.
They do outdoor deckingfurniture.
You've seen this company inplaces like Home Depot or Lowe's
.
So that's been really cool.
And then that's all focused onsea.
(05:03):
Turtles eat jellyfish as one oftheir primary sources of food.
Well, floating single-use filmand plastic looks like jellyfish
.
That makes sense.
So that's our tieback.
And then the last one is oursecond most cause for stranding
or turtle deaths in our countyis fishing line entanglement.
Brian Curee (05:18):
I just saw a post about this on your social media,
so yeah, please explain that,because we started that program
too.
Kendra Bergman (05:23):
We revitalized our fishing line recycling
effort here this past year, sowe are now in month nine of that
new program and we've alreadyrecycled 212 miles of line.
It's just incredible results.
And all of that goes back tohelping sea turtles and removing
that debris from our waterways.
Seeing how the communitybetween the number of businesses
(05:44):
that want to jump on a programor just the number of fishers
that, like the moment werevitalize the program, they've
been participating since day oneLike it's just so cool From our
volunteers.
One of the things that I love somuch about our organization is
the community itself internally,the family kind of feeling that
everyone has.
(06:04):
There are people so manyvolunteers of ours, you know
they start working with us,they're brand new, they just
moved here, they really don'tknow anyone and they end up
finding their new best friendsand that's really cool and that
just then motivates them to getup more frequently, come help
out more, because they knowthey're going to see their
friends and that's awesome.
And the other thing is just whenyou get to listen to the kids,
(06:28):
I think.
So one of the things we haven'treally talked about is our STEM
or science, technology,engineering and math right STEM
school programs.
They're all focused on what wedo in real life as a profession.
We translate those to what kidscan do with hands-on activities
and get them immersed inconservation, and so those are
programs designed forkindergarten through fifth grade
(06:49):
, and the messages that oureducators, our professional
educators, get from thesestudents after their program
about how much they've learnedand how excited they are to go
home and teach their family.
It means so much of them to gooutside and I picked up a piece
of trash just for you, or likethey draw photos.
It's just the cutest thing tosee how well, how much we can
(07:12):
impact a student's life here andhow special this place is
because we get to offer thoseprograms.
It's just great.
Brian Curee (07:19):
I'm guessing we can learn more about that on your
website as well.
Kendra Bergman (07:22):
Yes, and we are actually.
This is a sneak peek.
We're launching a brand new orI shouldn't say launching we're
hatching a brand new website ina couple of weeks, awesome.
So, yeah, keep your eyes out,because there's going to be a
lot more information about allthese programs that I'm just
rattling off right now.
Brian Curee (07:40):
Very cool, very cool.
Kendra Bergman (07:41):
Yeah, we'll definitely be staying tuned for
that Do we have to do, we haveto like book, like a hatching
watch, like to see that Maybe weshould do a Rand reveal Like I
don't know.
Shawna Curee (07:51):
What are some everyday choices locals or
visitors can make to helpprotect the sea turtles?
Kendra Bergman (07:56):
This is our main talking point in, like any
cleanup event that we ever do,because it's so easy for every
single person in this communityto be a part of the success
story that we're seeing with seaturtles.
This is a success story becauseof all of us, and we need to
recognize that it's not justabout scientists going out and
protecting turtles.
That's not what does it.
(08:17):
It's all of us teaming togetherand it could be as simple as
try not to buy plastic waterbottles anymore.
Use canned water.
If you really want a packagedwater, use canned water.
Aluminum is endlessly recyclable, right, endlessly.
Plastic is not.
You know those pesky bags thatyou have 15 million of now in
(08:39):
the back of your car.
They're like I always have abag but then I never bring it
with me.
Just like make the consciouseffort.
It takes three weeks to build ahabit.
It takes three days to break itkind of deal.
Like just focus on putting thatbag somewhere when you go to
the grocery store and take itwith you.
That simple, but it could be.
Volunteer with us.
Get more involved If you can.
(09:00):
We love volunteers.
We've talked about this alreadyand we need more rescue help.
We need more cleanup help.
We need so much more.
You know, maybe you're notphysically able to do that.
Donate, make sure thatorganizations like ours can
continue to function in thefuture, and donations matter so
much, whether it's $5 or it's$5,000.
(09:21):
Both go incredibly far and makesuch a difference.
Shawna Curee (09:25):
We're $5 million if you're listening and you can.
Kendra Bergman (09:28):
If you are listening and you have a $5
million gift that you can give,let's talk, because I have an
endowment fund that I would loveto set up with you.
Shawna Curee (09:37):
Okay, that's awesome, I just wanted to put
that out there.
Kendra Bergman (09:40):
I mean, you don't know who's listening.
You never know.
We actually were about torelease our new strategic goals
for the next five years.
They're getting published laterin the fall and there's some
really exciting stuff comingdown the pipeline that we're
going to be working with interms of ways that people can
see sea turtles all year roundwith us.
Brian Curee (09:57):
Oh, this is so cool .
I'm so excited, too, that weare now here so we get to see
all this unfold.
This is going to be really coolthis is really exciting.
I'm glad you said that about thegrocery bags too.
I you know.
I've seen the social mediaposts.
I don't know whoever started it.
Sorry if you're the person andyou're listening, but maybe this
will educate you.
I saw it and I'm like I don'tknow if that's a good idea.
And they literally were bag andgo and fill it up with ocean
(10:20):
water, stick your feet in it toget all the sand out and then
put your feet in the flip-flopsand walk away.
I see that increase in how manyplastic bags get left behind,
which could cause big problems.
We have showers.
Kendra Bergman (10:31):
Yeah, I mean our beaches, all of our public
beaches, have foot wash stationsand showers.
Use those.
There's other people that arelike, oh, I'll do a beach
cleanup and I'll just bring aplastic grocery bag that I got
from the store and it's like,okay, that's fine, but you're,
you are giving that bag a secondlife.
But why not just use a beachbasket and use zero plastic at
all?
We would love to see our basketprogram grow and we would love
(10:55):
to try to minimize the amount ofsingle use plastic that you
know makes its way out into theworld your purchases or the way
that you spend your time, yourenergy and you know makes its
way out into the world yourpurchases or the way that you
spend your time, your energy andthe resources that you use, is
your vote right?
If you really don't want to seethat kind of material in your
oceans and in your beaches andin your waterways anymore, stop
using it.
You cannot speak louder in aconsumer world to a producer if
(11:17):
you just stop using what theymake.
Brian Curee (11:19):
Yeah, that's some good insight that I have never
really thought about, even whenit comes to the grocery stores
and we're like well, do youalways want plastic or paper?
Shawna Curee (11:26):
I mean, just those things are terrible.
Brian Curee (11:30):
Make a big difference.
Shawna Curee (11:30):
I know you're really not allowed in the
grocery store anyway so don'tworry too much about him.
Kendra Bergman (11:33):
I mean, my husband does all the cooking, so
he does all the shopping.
Shawna Curee (11:37):
The trouble is like he doesn't like budgeting,
so he can't go to the grocerystore.
Brian Curee (11:41):
And I'll just come back with a bunch of pizza For
anybody that's looking atvisiting Vero.
If you're listening to thispodcast or looking up neighbors
on the website, when you seethese great ideas on social
media, like hey, there's a greatway to get the sand off your
feet so you can put your flipflops back on, Just because it's
showing you that on socialmedia doesn't mean it's the best
way to do it, especially forthe ecosystem.
(12:01):
Here, Like you said, we haveshowers, we have foot washing
stations by all the beaches.
When you come off, you're goingto be able to clean off the
sand.
If you do it right there in theocean, you're going to have
sand on you again before youeven get off the beach.
So it's just a waste.
Kendra Bergman (12:12):
I didn't even see that video, probably because
my algorithm would sayabsolutely not.
Brian Curee (12:18):
As we wrap up, I would love just to ask you what
is one thing that you would hopeall the listeners would take
away from this.
Kendra Bergman (12:28):
My real, true hope is that you believe in
yourself that, whatever youchoose to do, that one behavior
you choose to make that worksfor you.
Just know in your heart that itis in fact making a difference
and believe in it and commit toit, because the only way you're
going to make a difference is ifyou commit to that new decision
.
I commit to that new decision.
I commit to picking up a pieceof trash every time I walk
outside.
I commit to buying food at thegrocery store that's not wrapped
(12:49):
in plastic Choosing to gosupport businesses that are part
of our wrap recycling program.
That's what I'm hoping peoplereally realize is just pick one
and stick to it.
It really matters.
It has worked so far with somany people here and it's only
going to continue working if youkeep committing to that.
Our town is growing, so it'sour job to educate everyone
(13:10):
coming in.
Be an educator, not an enforcer.
Be an educator.
Brian Curee (13:14):
Thank you so much, kendra, and I just want to say
thank you again to all of ourlisteners.
That's been tuned in.
If you've enjoyed this episode,make sure you click subscribe
and leave us a review, and besure to check out the Coastal
Connections on social media andon their website.
Shawna Curee (13:26):
Thanks for listening, neighbor.
All right, welcome back to the Vero Beach podcast.
This is part three.
I didn't know if you wanted totry it again.
Kendra, you want to go one moretime here?
Yeah.
Kendra Bergman (00:07):
Welcome to the Vero Beach podcast with Brian
and Shauna and I'm KendraBergman, the founder and
executive director of CoastalConnections.
Brian Curee (00:15):
Awesome, all right, all right.
Well, we should just wrap it upright there.
She's about to steal our job.
Yeah, all right.
So, kendra, how long have you?
Kendra Bergman (00:21):
been in Vero.
Now you said I moved here 10years ago.
I try not to think about it.
I don't understand where 10years went in my life.
Brian Curee (00:28):
When we were setting up for the interview, I
noticed like on the site you hada different last name.
I'm like, wait a minute, thisisn't the same Kendra.
I don't know if this is thefounder, but it is.
Kendra Bergman (00:35):
So there's a lot that's changed houses, all
these things, what?
Brian Curee (00:42):
do you love most about Vero?
Kendra Bergman (00:47):
I will say it is a small town without the small
town amenities, right.
So like you get a little bitmore luxury, but you feel as
though you're like, at leastI've been welcomed into this
community.
As you know, a staple and by II really mean I, as our
organization, coastalConnections, and every single
(01:08):
one of our team has been.
You know, they're just soimportant and we're recognized
as an important, valuable partof this community.
An example of that would bewhen Hurricane Milton hit us and
all of the tornadoes camethrough, we kind of jumped in
and did what we know how to dobest, and that's cleanups.
Yeah, we really focused on thebeach side, while a lot of other
(01:28):
communities were focused onneighborhoods, and when we put a
call out that we were doingcleanups, we did five.
We removed thousands of poundsof trash.
So like it's just incredible tosee people just out of nowhere
jump in and just help.
That's been really cool.
I love that about this town.
Brian Curee (01:45):
I'm glad that you pointed that out too, because we
drove down here after thathappened.
We were living in CentralFlorida, and we had some friends
that had never been to Vero.
We're like we'll take you toVero, show you where we're going
to move, and we had no ideathat one of the tornadoes had
touched down here when we drovein I'm going on here I didn't
know that they had had all thisdamage and we saw the big
dumpsters flipped over.
Some of those were on roofs andthe trees were just destroyed.
(02:07):
Even with all the devastationit was, it was beautiful to see
so many people coming togetherto help.
I know that's something thatwe've noticed here since we
moved here and started thepodcast.
The support has been amazing.
I didn't realize that thepodcast would take off like it
has so many people to support itand we're excited about it.
How has the community embracedcoastal connections?
Kendra Bergman (02:27):
So well, you know it's.
It's kind of hard to look at asea turtle and tell someone that
you don't like that.
Brian Curee (02:33):
Right.
Kendra Bergman (02:34):
So that's.
I mean we definitely get luckybecause we do work with very
charismatic animals.
It does make it easier toprotect some of the not so
charismatic things around us,like beach plants or, you know,
fish, things like that.
So we definitely use our seaturtles as ambassadors because
people just love them and we'vecreated a sense of desire,
(02:56):
connection and love for them.
But one of the coolest thingsis some of our sustainability
programs that have reallyexpanded over the past few years
.
All of our sustainabilityprograms are rooted in sea
turtle protection.
So there is a reason we do thatspecific program we do our
coastal cleanups because itminimizes single-use plastics or
(03:20):
plastic pieces that areingested by turtles.
We've had what we call washbackturtles.
These are small turtles thathave probably been out in the
water for maybe a week or twoafter hatching and they wash
back in, and 93% of thoseturtles have been found with
plastic in their gut.
Brian Curee (03:35):
They are weeks old.
Kendra Bergman (03:37):
Maybe, so that's a concern to us.
So we're really focusing onminimizing marine debris in that
sense through coastal cleanups.
Well, our single-use plasticfilm or wrap recycling program,
that's where we get to partnerwith businesses, both local,
small, you name it, here in town.
So every single item that getsshipped to, say, a store,
(03:58):
whether it's clothing oraccessories, has to be wrapped
in plastic because it's a, it'sa federal safety standard and so
they have to take off everyitem that's wrapped in plastic.
That plastic is.
Normally it's thrown into thetrash.
Well, it's can be recycled,just not in your standard
recycling methods.
So you can't just go put it inyour blue cart and expect it to
(04:21):
go anywhere.
It's like a trap, it's like aplastic bag.
You can't put it in your bluecart, but it can be recycled.
So we collect that.
We have 52 different businessesparticipating in this program.
It started with six here onOcean Drive and it's now over
three years expanded to 52businesses and we collect over
(04:42):
10,000 pounds of film likebubble wrap type material a year
.
So imagine what 10,000 poundsof bubble wrap looks like.
And then that material getssold to the company Trex.
They do outdoor deckingfurniture.
You've seen this company inplaces like Home Depot or Lowe's
.
So that's been really cool.
And then that's all focused onsea.
(05:03):
Turtles eat jellyfish as one oftheir primary sources of food.
Well, floating single-use filmand plastic looks like jellyfish
.
That makes sense.
So that's our tieback.
And then the last one is oursecond most cause for stranding
or turtle deaths in our countyis fishing line entanglement.
Brian Curee (05:18):
I just saw a post about this on your social media,
so yeah, please explain that,because we started that program
too.
Kendra Bergman (05:23):
We revitalized our fishing line recycling
effort here this past year, sowe are now in month nine of that
new program and we've alreadyrecycled 212 miles of line.
It's just incredible results.
And all of that goes back tohelping sea turtles and removing
that debris from our waterways.
Seeing how the communitybetween the number of businesses
(05:44):
that want to jump on a programor just the number of fishers
that, like the moment werevitalize the program, they've
been participating since day oneLike it's just so cool From our
volunteers.
One of the things that I love somuch about our organization is
the community itself internally,the family kind of feeling that
everyone has.
(06:04):
There are people so manyvolunteers of ours, you know
they start working with us,they're brand new, they just
moved here, they really don'tknow anyone and they end up
finding their new best friendsand that's really cool and that
just then motivates them to getup more frequently, come help
out more, because they knowthey're going to see their
friends and that's awesome.
And the other thing is just whenyou get to listen to the kids,
(06:28):
I think.
So one of the things we haven'treally talked about is our STEM
or science, technology,engineering and math right STEM
school programs.
They're all focused on what wedo in real life as a profession.
We translate those to what kidscan do with hands-on activities
and get them immersed inconservation, and so those are
programs designed forkindergarten through fifth grade
(06:49):
, and the messages that oureducators, our professional
educators, get from thesestudents after their program
about how much they've learnedand how excited they are to go
home and teach their family.
It means so much of them to gooutside and I picked up a piece
of trash just for you, or likethey draw photos.
It's just the cutest thing tosee how well, how much we can
(07:12):
impact a student's life here andhow special this place is
because we get to offer thoseprograms.
It's just great.
Brian Curee (07:19):
I'm guessing we can learn more about that on your
website as well.
Kendra Bergman (07:22):
Yes, and we are actually.
This is a sneak peek.
We're launching a brand new orI shouldn't say launching we're
hatching a brand new website ina couple of weeks, awesome.
So, yeah, keep your eyes out,because there's going to be a
lot more information about allthese programs that I'm just
rattling off right now.
Brian Curee (07:40):
Very cool, very cool.
Kendra Bergman (07:41):
Yeah, we'll definitely be staying tuned for
that Do we have to do, we haveto like book, like a hatching
watch, like to see that Maybe weshould do a Rand reveal Like I
don't know.
Shawna Curee (07:51):
What are some everyday choices locals or
visitors can make to helpprotect the sea turtles?
Kendra Bergman (07:56):
This is our main talking point in, like any
cleanup event that we ever do,because it's so easy for every
single person in this communityto be a part of the success
story that we're seeing with seaturtles.
This is a success story becauseof all of us, and we need to
recognize that it's not justabout scientists going out and
protecting turtles.
That's not what does it.
(08:17):
It's all of us teaming togetherand it could be as simple as
try not to buy plastic waterbottles anymore.
Use canned water.
If you really want a packagedwater, use canned water.
Aluminum is endlessly recyclable, right, endlessly.
Plastic is not.
You know those pesky bags thatyou have 15 million of now in
(08:39):
the back of your car.
They're like I always have abag but then I never bring it
with me.
Just like make the consciouseffort.
It takes three weeks to build ahabit.
It takes three days to break itkind of deal.
Like just focus on putting thatbag somewhere when you go to
the grocery store and take itwith you.
That simple, but it could be.
Volunteer with us.
Get more involved If you can.
(09:00):
We love volunteers.
We've talked about this alreadyand we need more rescue help.
We need more cleanup help.
We need so much more.
You know, maybe you're notphysically able to do that.
Donate, make sure thatorganizations like ours can
continue to function in thefuture, and donations matter so
much, whether it's $5 or it's$5,000.
(09:21):
Both go incredibly far and makesuch a difference.
Shawna Curee (09:25):
We're $5 million if you're listening and you can.
Kendra Bergman (09:28):
If you are listening and you have a $5
million gift that you can give,let's talk, because I have an
endowment fund that I would loveto set up with you.
Shawna Curee (09:37):
Okay, that's awesome, I just wanted to put
that out there.
Kendra Bergman (09:40):
I mean, you don't know who's listening.
You never know.
We actually were about torelease our new strategic goals
for the next five years.
They're getting published laterin the fall and there's some
really exciting stuff comingdown the pipeline that we're
going to be working with interms of ways that people can
see sea turtles all year roundwith us.
Brian Curee (09:57):
Oh, this is so cool .
I'm so excited, too, that weare now here so we get to see
all this unfold.
This is going to be really coolthis is really exciting.
I'm glad you said that about thegrocery bags too.
I you know.
I've seen the social mediaposts.
I don't know whoever started it.
Sorry if you're the person andyou're listening, but maybe this
will educate you.
I saw it and I'm like I don'tknow if that's a good idea.
And they literally were bag andgo and fill it up with ocean
(10:20):
water, stick your feet in it toget all the sand out and then
put your feet in the flip-flopsand walk away.
I see that increase in how manyplastic bags get left behind,
which could cause big problems.
We have showers.
Kendra Bergman (10:31):
Yeah, I mean our beaches, all of our public
beaches, have foot wash stationsand showers.
Use those.
There's other people that arelike, oh, I'll do a beach
cleanup and I'll just bring aplastic grocery bag that I got
from the store and it's like,okay, that's fine, but you're,
you are giving that bag a secondlife.
But why not just use a beachbasket and use zero plastic at
all?
We would love to see our basketprogram grow and we would love
(10:55):
to try to minimize the amount ofsingle use plastic that you
know makes its way out into theworld your purchases or the way
that you spend your time, yourenergy and you know makes its
way out into the world yourpurchases or the way that you
spend your time, your energy andthe resources that you use, is
your vote right?
If you really don't want to seethat kind of material in your
oceans and in your beaches andin your waterways anymore, stop
using it.
You cannot speak louder in aconsumer world to a producer if
(11:17):
you just stop using what theymake.
Brian Curee (11:19):
Yeah, that's some good insight that I have never
really thought about, even whenit comes to the grocery stores
and we're like well, do youalways want plastic or paper?
Shawna Curee (11:26):
I mean, just those things are terrible.
Brian Curee (11:30):
Make a big difference.
Shawna Curee (11:30):
I know you're really not allowed in the
grocery store anyway so don'tworry too much about him.
Kendra Bergman (11:33):
I mean, my husband does all the cooking, so
he does all the shopping.
Shawna Curee (11:37):
The trouble is like he doesn't like budgeting,
so he can't go to the grocerystore.
Brian Curee (11:41):
And I'll just come back with a bunch of pizza For
anybody that's looking atvisiting Vero.
If you're listening to thispodcast or looking up neighbors
on the website, when you seethese great ideas on social
media, like hey, there's a greatway to get the sand off your
feet so you can put your flipflops back on, Just because it's
showing you that on socialmedia doesn't mean it's the best
way to do it, especially forthe ecosystem.
(12:01):
Here, Like you said, we haveshowers, we have foot washing
stations by all the beaches.
When you come off, you're goingto be able to clean off the
sand.
If you do it right there in theocean, you're going to have
sand on you again before youeven get off the beach.
So it's just a waste.
Kendra Bergman (12:12):
I didn't even see that video, probably because
my algorithm would sayabsolutely not.
Brian Curee (12:18):
As we wrap up, I would love just to ask you what
is one thing that you would hopeall the listeners would take
away from this.
Kendra Bergman (12:28):
My real, true hope is that you believe in
yourself that, whatever youchoose to do, that one behavior
you choose to make that worksfor you.
Just know in your heart that itis in fact making a difference
and believe in it and commit toit, because the only way you're
going to make a difference is ifyou commit to that new decision
.
I commit to that new decision.
I commit to picking up a pieceof trash every time I walk
outside.
I commit to buying food at thegrocery store that's not wrapped
(12:49):
in plastic Choosing to gosupport businesses that are part
of our wrap recycling program.
That's what I'm hoping peoplereally realize is just pick one
and stick to it.
It really matters.
It has worked so far with somany people here and it's only
going to continue working if youkeep committing to that.
Our town is growing, so it'sour job to educate everyone
(13:10):
coming in.
Be an educator, not an enforcer.
Be an educator.
Brian Curee (13:14):
Thank you so much, kendra, and I just want to say
thank you again to all of ourlisteners.
That's been tuned in.
If you've enjoyed this episode,make sure you click subscribe
and leave us a review, and besure to check out the Coastal
Connections on social media andon their website.
Shawna Curee (13:26):
Thanks for listening, neighbor.
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