the next episode in our 21 digital film series is now online the series examines the simple question does where you live in the state affect how you live 21 profiles one person in each of our 21 counties and looks at the social determinants that affect that person's life the latest film introduces us to Mary Beth and Scott Thompson their commitment to keeping the coastline in Monmouth County Clean runs deep the two South Jersey natives have been Making Waves as volunteers with clean ocean action for decades and have now recruited their kids and their grandkids to help keep the ocean safe Brianna vannozzi talked to them about their mission to make their passion a family affair Mary Beth let me start with you what compelled you to really dedicate yourself to Ocean conservancy and advocacy for that matter thank you for having us Brianna it's an honor I'd say that the ocean is in my soul um to me it's peaceful and reflective uh yet at the same time it's um energizing and exciting it's just an amazing natural resource that we have and all it asks in return for all it gives us is to protect it and keep it clean and I think that's what we as humans should be doing in our responsible for doing but in a more pragmatic way Scott I'm curious about through the volunteer work that you've done what concerns you the most about where we're heading and what you've been seeing in terms of the changes uh to our our ocean well one of the most pressing issues right now is the wind farms and how they are being proposed and how they may impact what's going on here in uh in the New York White which is our area off the coast um you know there's a tremendous demand for energy and I understand that and with um the greenhouse gas concerns and global warming it's a legitimate Factor but I don't think that we should jump right into it and really push um the industrialization of the ocean without really testing things and trying things out of course there's too much at risk and we need to take a hard look at what we do for energy consumption and take a look at energy conservation and try and try and create that balance between our natural resources whether it's the ocean or anywhere else and Scott your time in volunteering specifically for clean ocean action you all do Beach sweeps about twice a year you've got like 70 locations now that you do what are you finding in terms of pollution what's most coming up both on our beaches and in our Waters and and what's concerning you there well the biggest issue is Plastics and those Plastics come in a variety of different shapes and sizes and basically what ends up happening is once they get out there in the ocean or um in the uh in the waterways that get into the ocean um they break down and once they start to break down then they become part of the food chain and other animals and creatures that are there create um problems um when they're consuming what what they understand is a food source and it's not a food source so we need to come up with better ways to filter through that and take care of our garbage and reduce the plastic consumption and recycle whenever we can make sure that it doesn't go in the ocean Mary Beth I love that this has become really a generational thing we see you your kids your grandkids out there on the beach picking up litter talking about all of these issues what is that meant for you as a family and for raising a family here in the state oh it's been it's been wonderful and and our children really are our inspiration they started volunteering for clean ocean action as children practically as soon as they could walk and now our children are adults and have their own families and they are still involved and to me that's that's what's important is is carrying it forward and teaching generation after generation to become stewards for their environment yeah it's certainly a lasting Legacy Mary Beth and Scott Thompson part of our 21 film series thank you so much for joining me thank you thank you it's an honor [Music]