Floatopia-style parties harmful to environment

Maytinee Kramer/ Assistant Opinion Director

Floatopia-style parties is an event where attendees bring inflatable rafts, get disgustingly drunk by the beach and treat the ocean like an open garbage can.

If such parties are known for attendees shamelessly tossing beer cans, food wrappers, loose garbage, and all sorts of marine-life-killing flotsam into the current, then why are they still going on?

The Miami New Times reported that Haulover Beach will play host to a Floatopia-style event, called Floatnik, on April 23. The organization putting on the event, South Florida’s Grown and Sexy, has already begun recruiting volunteers to help clean up the beach afterward.

While the organizers want attendees to have a good time, they do demand that everyone avoid taking glass or polystyrene onto the beach.

Their event page states, “For newbies: it’s easy… grab a float, some good people, hit the beach, relax, float, meet people and most importantly, PROTECT THE BEACH you came to enjoy by not littering… ‘Floatnik’ in a nutshell! This is a FREE event we put on for you, EVERYONE is invited… except people who can’t do the only thing we ask for: PUT THE TRASH IN THE TRASH.”

The fact that the organization is recruiting volunteers to clean up before the event even starts already foreshadows a nightmare much like the one we saw on Miami Beach last year when they hosted a Floatopia party.

Due to the mountains of trash left behind, city officials called for an end to the event, while nearly everyone with a beach address and a social media account voiced their concerns.

As reported by New Times who spoke to representatives from the Surfrider Foundation, “Floatopia organizers are almost always overwhelmed by the amount of garbage these events create and — no matter how many volunteers they round up — rarely, if ever, leave the beach like they found it.”

Catherine Uden, secretary for the Broward County chapter of Surfrider told the New Times last year that those who clean up don’t respect the ocean and the animals that inhabit it.

“These people want to treat the ocean like some pool in Vegas, but they don’t understand it’s an ecosystem and not a frat house. There are animals in there that are endangered,” Uden, told the New Times.

Even memories of Miami Beach’s hellish trash catastrophe prompted pressure from environmentalists to shut down a version of Virginia Key’s Float Bash.

“Buena suerte Haulover #Notopia.” Michael Grieco, the Miami Beach commissioner who fought to kick the event out of his city last year, wrote online late last week.

While it’s okay to have fun and party hard, that does not excuse trashing the environment and endangering animals. There shouldn’t be any type of Floatopia-style party in any city. It’s nothing but disgusting, disturbing, and damaging to the environment.

And for those who want a Floatopia-style party or any type of outdoor social gathering for that matter, you better learn to pick up after yourself and stop throwing trash wherever you want. The earth and ocean is not your personal garbage can.

 

DISCLAIMER:

The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of Panther Press Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.

 

Photo taken from Flickr.

About the Author

Maytinee Kramer
Call me May. I’m a senior double majoring in Asian studies and broadcast media and minoring in international relations. I’m a K-pop and Disney junkie, but I also enjoy watching anime and cosplaying. Some of my favorite shows are “Once Upon a Time,” “Supernatural,” and “Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma” while my favorite music artists are 2PM, GOT7, DEAN and Eddy Kim. After college, I hope to work as a news anchor, but I’d eventually like to host a show/segment that focuses on traveling. I am fluent in Thai and currently learning Japanese and Korean.

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