Community Action Programs & Initiatives

Our community Action Programs and initiatives extend well beyond removing plastic and debris that negatively impact our communities and wildlife or planting native trees and vegetation. These initiatives also provide knowledge about the local ecosystems and the impact our choices, and actions, have on our planet. Coastlove creates an inclusive and fun environment where all individuals feel accepted, and empowered, and leave feeling excited about conservation and protecting our planet. All Coastlove initiatives and events are always free of charge to the community.

Young Changemakers Program

Coastlove is thrilled to introduce our newest initiative, the Young Changemakers Program, a one-of-a-kind opportunity for high school students in underserved areas to shape their future by making a lasting impact in their communities. Through hands-on experiences, field trips, and meaningful projects, participants will not only earn incentives but also build community pride, learn how to tackle major environmental challenges, and develop leadership and life skills that will benefit them long into the future.

Throughout the school year, students will join like-minded peers, meeting with Coastlove staff bi-weekly to explore key conservation topics like reducing single-use plastic, addressing urban heat islands, promoting environmental justice, and discovering how youth can take action to drive change. On weekends, students will turn knowledge into action through activities such as:

Neighborhood Cleanups: Help eliminate litter and pollution in their local community.
Water Testing: Learn how to protect and monitor water health.
Invasive Species Removal: Play a direct role in restoring local ecosystems.
Dune Vegetation Planting: Support coastal restoration and safeguard natural areas.

By joining this brand-new initiative, students will help shape the program for future participants and earn a certificate of completion. Plus, there will be opportunities to stay involved with CoastLove and keep making a positive impact. If you're a student, teacher, or parent, contact us to learn more about this exciting program and help create a greener, healthier future!

Planting Hope Program

Our communities face unprecedented challenges due to climate change, biodiversity loss, and the destruction of natural spaces. Coastal and underserved communities are often the hardest hit, and in the U.S., a football field’s worth of natural area is lost every 30 seconds. Globally, 1.04 million hectares of mangroves were destroyed between 1990 and 2020.

The Planting Hope Program aims to plant 10,000 native trees and shrubs in the Florida Keys and South Florida, with plans to expand into other regions. These areas encompass diverse habitats, including upland areas, wetlands, pine rocklands, and mangroves. Development and storms have

severely impacted these ecosystems. By planting native species, we restore habitats for endemic wildlife, beautify urban and natural spaces, increase storm protection, prevent erosion, and help sequester carbon.

The program runs year-round, and we invite everyone—individuals, groups, and organizations, regardless of time or resources—to join us in hands-on environmental restoration. Together, we can enhance the well-being of our communities and build resilience against climate change.

If you're interested in partnering with us for a planting event or want to collaborate, we’d love to hear from you! Visit our Donate page to give the Gift of Lasting Change by planting a native tree in a loved one’s name. No matter where you are in the world, you can be part of this movement to create a greener, healthier planet.

Bottle Cap Collection Initiative

The bottle cap collection program aims to keep plastic out of the ocean and environment by bringing awareness, where it might not have been before, to the plastic crisis. Through this initiative, Coastlove is working to give a second life to collected bottle caps, which are often difficult or not able to be recycled.

While this initiative originated in Florida, we are excited to announce Coastlove's bottle cap program has gone "upstream" to Kentuckiana! Chances are, if you aren't from around those parts, you've never heard that word. Kentuckiana, a portmanteau of Kentucky and Indiana, is the area in the Upland South region of the United States containing metropolitan areas with counties in both Kentucky and Indiana.

Bottle caps collected get their "second life" by being turned into park benches and picnic tables, and installed in areas of need. If you would like
to sponsor a collection bucket or bench, email us at info@coastlove.org and we'll get you started.

Healthy Hydration Initiative

With knowledge about and access to single-use- plastic alternatives often out of reach in many communities we believe that we must go beyond just providing knowledge surrounding the negative impacts of this crisis and provide the resources that will allow individuals to begin their journey to a single-use plastic-free future. We do this by educating communities and youth on the importance of healthy hydration, the impact single-use plastic has on the ocean and environment, simple ways on how individuals can reduce their use of single-use plastic, and providing reusable resources to those who otherwise would not have access to them. Reusable resources included, reusable bamboo straws, stainless steel reusable water bottles, and reusable bags.

The program includes an educational presentation, followed by a brief cleanup along a shoreline, park, or neighborhood, then distributing reusable resources like stainless steel water bottles, reusable shopping bags, and reusable straws.

Special thanks to Hydroflask and Parks for All for product donations that make providing quality reusable bottles possible.