Green teenager organises beach clean-up

Unknown, 2013-02-21

A Crewkerne teenager has organised a Somerset beach clean-up to raise awareness of the effects of ocean littering.

Abbie Barnes, 16, attends Richard Huish College in Taunton where she is working towards her dream of becoming a wildlife conservationist and natural history film maker.

The budding ecologist is urging people to join in with beach clean-up on Lilstock Beach near Minehead on Sunday.

She already has some classmates on board with her eco mission but wants to spread the word further and get the local community involved.

She said: "I feel so strongly that we have a duty to protect the planet that we have been given. That is why I organised this beach clean-up.

"Although we should take from the planet, we must always remember to give - sadly, we often forget that part."

She is also making a short film about plastics in the ocean on the day of the clean, which she hopes to enter into competition run by environmental education organisation EcoTales. The competition judges include wildlife presenter Michaela Strachan.

Miss Barnes said she has felt the urge to help conserve the planet and support wildlife across the world since she was very young.

She said: "My mum said one of my first words was 'birdie' and that I spent hours in front of geography books before I could even read. I have always had a huge love of wildlife and seen everything as the best gift of creation. I have not done a project like this before so it is all new to me. Although I film wildlife locally, I have never created a film for a competition like this.

"I am treating it as professionally as possible, and after reading some wildlife film-making books that I got for Christmas, I have been ringing and meeting experts, researching and creating story boards and going through them with a variety of people."

The clean-up takes place from 11am until 1pm on Sunday.

Miss Barnes said: "It would be fantastic to have other members of the public come along and help clean up the beach, as not only does it help raise awareness and clean up the coastal landscape, but also it gets people outside on a damp February morning.

"Even if the weather is too bad to film, the clean-up will go on regardless - that is the most important thing to me."

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