In a scene from the 1999 film American Beauty, a teenage boy captures the beauty of a plastic bag dancing ephemerally with his video recorder, ultimately discovering an entire life behind things. Within a movie context this scene represented a meaning of life epiphany gained through seeing beauty in the discarded, the no longer used. Cut to our day-to-day reality, and that plastic bag would be just another piece of discarded trash polluting our neighborhoods and eventually our oceans. For Michael, the impetus behind the nonprofit Local Cleanup, beauty lies in the picking up of discarded trash; seeing it as an opportunity to make a place “a little bit more beautiful” than when he got there.
On the corner of Texas and El Cajon Blvd in front of the Reflect mobile coffee truck sipping a delicious cardamom latte, I was able to catch up with Michael and learn more about his origin story. As we sat down a napkin flew into the air and we both immediately jumped up to catch it. Even through our laughter there was seriousness. The errant napkin was a timely reminder of why we were meeting in the first place; reminding us how one piece of litter can change the course of an entire life and how leaving it on the streets impacts our environment.
On the website localcleanup.org it states that it all started with one person grabbing a bag and cleaning their neighborhood. But who is that person? And why were they compelled to spend their free time picking up what others tossed so carelessly? After some reflection, Michael shared that yes, he was the one behind the mission statement. His drive for a clean community all started when he was a young boy when he watched his dad picking up a piece of litter that did not belong to him. He was unaware at that moment exactly how much of an impression that small act of his father would make on him. However, the universe continued to guide him, and on one of his runs he noticed a guy picking up trash with a grabber in their neighborhood. This was the eye-opening moment, the epiphany, of how just one person could make an impact. Michael immediately went online and bought a grabber for himself. He happily realized now, at any moment, on any of his walks he was now able to “leave a positive trail” wherever he went.
Michael was making an impact now. He had a grabber and was ready to work, but his calling would eventually be much greater than a one-man operation. His drive for making an impact was growing on a bigger scale. Michael’s vision and calling originated one weekend morning during a seemingly uneventful trip to the store. At his local grocery store there was a huge pile of trash left behind. His sense of obligation would not allow him to leave the store without picking up all the trash. It eventually took him two hours to clean it all up. While he was cleaning, he said he entered this deep meditative almost flow like state and kept thinking, “How cool would it be to set up something for others who also have a passion to help?”. Yet, his thoughts also turned defeatist and creating something bigger just seemed too difficult to initiate. He realized he would need so many things to get that started, one of the main components being a pop-up tent and he just could not justify the cost at that time. Thinking back on that moment, Michael laughed, saying, “Throughout that two-hour period it is like the universe heard me and called me out. Because as I was cleaning this pile, I found this pop-up on the side. After it was pressure washed it looked brand new really. And so that was the one thing holding me back and now I had no more excuses”.
So finally heeding the universe’s call, Michael established Local Cleanup as a proper nonprofit organization in December 2024. Truly encapsulated a grassroots movement, it began on the local level and is completely community driven. Local Cleanup relies on volunteers to continually show up and make a statement that they care about their communities, their neighborhoods, and the environment. Michael believes that “Our environment is a reflection of who we are”. This belief inspired the Local Cleanup tagline: Cleaning What We See, Reflecting What We Are. Although, by the numbers, the amount of trash littering our streets and ending up in the ocean is astronomically large. As a community we have a lot more cleaning up to do to reflect our beauty within because the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board estimates that county storm drains carry approximately 30 million pounds of trash to the ocean each year.
However, since the initiation of Local Cleanup there have been ten cleanups in five different neighborhoods and 380.5 pounds of trash safely removed from the streets and parks and out of our beaches. Michael pointed out that one of the things he loves about what they are doing that makes them unique is their focus on urban environments. Stopping the trash inland from getting to the beaches in the first place has a huge impact and creates more opportunities for those looking for ways to help the environmental impact in their local inland communities.
After the initial setup and excitement, Michael shared that after a while it became difficult to maintain and schedule cleanups regularly. That is when he connected with the Dharma Bum Temple. Connecting with the Temple reignited his passion for making a difference. Joining up with the DBT now held them accountable in finding ways to stay consistent in scheduling cleanups. This partnership increased the effort in planning events as well as increased awareness. Now even more people are aware of cleanups and trying to help the cause. Nov 23, 2025, was the first collaborative cleanup with the Temple. On that day nine volunteers showed up picking up fifty-eight pounds of trash. Now the Temple has collaborated in five different cleanups, with a cumulative total of forty-one volunteers who picked up trash tirelessly, ultimately saving 216.5 pounds of trash from reaching the storm drains and oceans. When I asked Michael how he felt about the Temple involvement he said, “That’s what’s amazing with the DBT, everyone who is there is intentionally there to just make the world a better place”. It is wonderful to see so many people show up and do their part in achieving a cleaner community. For Michael, he says his part “is to just give people the opportunity to help, and then they will show up”.
There is a lot more to do but Michael sees the future as being bright and is always finding and looking for new ways to evolve and grow. Not only has his small one-man operation turned into a momentous grassroots project cleaning and impacting neighborhoods, even the tools used for picking up trash have been upgraded. Now the trash bins, grabbers, and gloves are easier and more efficient to use. Having nice tools for the volunteers is important, Michael says, “We try to create the best experience while picking up trash”. The website is also continually growing and now there is even a blog where you can find a lot of information on what they are doing and exactly how trash is affecting our environment. He emphasized that it all “starts with education and awareness” ultimately hoping that one day an organization such as Local Cleanup doesn’t even need to exist.
Until that day comes, we can continue doing our best showing up and standing up for our neighborhoods, our neighbors, our shared spaces, and our environment locally and globally. If you have taken a walk or a run in your neighborhood, most likely you’ve seen the amount of trash littering our streets. We have become accustomed to this way of life. We accept and tolerate it for being what it is. Let us change that and join Michael in his passion project to do what we can to unite a strong community towards making change. If you would like to do more and become a part of this movement, the next cleanup event with the Temple is Sunday the 19th at Grant Hill Park. Let us kick off Earth week with a bang and come together as a sangha. Meet at the tent at 10am where we will sign in, get an awesome grabber and trash bin, and don a safety vest that makes everything that much more legit. Meeting at the tent at 10am will allow anyone coming alone to be paired up with a trash partner in crime!
*Disclaimer…Dharma Bum Temple and Local Cleanup cannot be held responsible for any feelings of happiness or contentment that may follow after cleaning up a park and socializing with your sangha. Michael did warn however that “it’s starting to become contagious, for lack of a better word, in the best way possible”.
“At this point I begin to ask myself, is this selfish of me? Because I feel so good cleaning up the environment. Is this for me or is this for the environment?” -- Michael Local Cleanup
Special Thanks to Lora Daynes for the beautiful article!