Cleaning Up Lake Tahoe

25,000 pounds! That's the amount that was taken out of Lake Tahoe by a volunteer group of scuba drivers. Lake Tahoe is a beautiful, blue alpine lake on the border of Nevada and California that is 2 million years old!

The lake is a popular tourist attraction. Sadly, with lots of people, comes lots of trash. The clean up project was started in May 2021 by Colin West. A friend told him about the trash he picked up there, and it inspired Mr. West to do even more.

A non-profit was founded called "Clean Up The Lake" and began a 72 mile scuba clean up that covered the entire circumference of the lake.

According to an article in the LA Times, of the 25,281 pounds of trash, there were, “over 4,500 different aluminum cans, more than 280 different pairs of sunglasses, cellphones and plastic bottles. West said, “The majority of the litter we have pulled out is simply from us human beings having a presence. There is construction debris, there are beer cans or sunglasses or hats that fly off boats. There is intentional litter, of course. But a majority of it is accidental. We are all part of the problem.”

Diver Colin West removing degrading dog toys from the bottom of Lake Tahoe. (Ludovic Fekete / Clean Up The Lake)

This amount of trash is alarming. For all that nature provides, we need to treat it better. However, the clean up effort inspires me, and I applaud all the people who volunteered to make it happen. I hope it inspires you to do whatever you can to make the community and the world a cleaner and greener place. Local trash clean ups are a good start. All you need is a pair of gloves, a few garbage bags and a trash grabber tool. Even a single bag of trash picked up in your neighborhood makes a difference.