Friends of the Bay is inviting you to join the 14th Annual International Beach Clean-Up Day on Saturday, Sept. 16 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. It is the world's largest single day volunteer effort.

Thousands of volunteers in dozens of countries will pitch in to clean the shoreline of debris and litter, and will record their findings for the Center for Marine Conservation.

Friends of the Bay, a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to protecting Oyster Bay and Cold Spring Harbor will coordinate the local beach clean-ups at Beekman Beach in Oyster Bay and at Centre Island Beach in Bayville.

They ask that volunteers bring work gloves and add that they will receive a coupon for a free Brita water pitcher for their efforts.

We as a planet, have to begin to think of how to preserve the Earth. We really need to get behind movements to save the bay, the rainforests, the ozone layer, stop acid rain and protect the whales. We all have to join our voices to the cause. It is interesting that we, as an industrialized power, while using more of the world's resources still generate many of the ideas for saving the Earth.

We who have the most, and the most to lose, have to lead the efforts with more creative thinking on how to learn how to re-use and recycle and not just litter the land with the remnants of our activities.

What was most wonderful was to see how the Town of Oyster Bay reacted to the call to recycle. The town started with the Plainview area, thinking that those residents, who were against having an incinerator put next to them in Old Bethpage, would respond the best, and were chosen as the first to recycle.

The town fathers were surprised to see that the second area to be asked to recycle responded better and faster - the town was on a roll - it was Hicksville. They were ready and eager to save the planet.

The moral of the story is that the average citizen is ready to help.

So, call Friends of the Bay for more information about the coastal cleanup by calling 922-6666, and keep your eyes and ears open for more opportunities. It's our planet that we are saving.

- DFK