BRISTOL, R.I., Sept. 7, 2007 – Next weekend, a group of Roger Williams University students will tally the trash they pick up on the Bristol, R.I., shoreline as part of the International Coastal Cleanup, sponsored locally by the Audubon Society of Rhode Island. And the University is seeking members of the public to assist in its efforts.

On Saturday, Sept. 15, all interested volunteers are invited to work with the students to clean the beach under Mount Hope Bridge near the University’s Bristol campus. The trash tally will produce current trash data, which has previously been used in legislative hearings to support the need for coastal preservation.

Another goal of the event, according to Audubon, is to educate the public on the harmful effects of shoreline trash and its negative effect on the Right Whale, an animal of which only 396 remain in the North Atlantic.

At the Mount Hope Bridge site, the Roger Williams students will start cleanup efforts at 4 p.m. Volunteers are welcome to join the team at the bottom of Ferry Road. For more information on the Roger Williams site, contact K.C. Ferrara at the University’s Feinstein Center for Service Learning and Community Engagement at (401) 254-3765 or kferrara@rwu.edu.

For information on additional sites throughout Rhode Island, contact the Audubon Society at (401) 949-5454.