
On Sunday June 1 There will be a clean-up day on Koh Phangan beaches.
On this day everyone should take some time out and come and help with this important activity.
What to bring: old shoes, gloves, tools (small shovel, etc.).
List of beaches to clean
1. Nai Wok (Monte Vista Crew--this one is still being confirmed so if you want to lead a group in Nai Wok let us know!)
2. Haad Salad (Narelle and Dan-Let me know if you want their contact info)
3. Hin Kong (South of Choko villa: Phangan Animal Care Crew)
4. Sri Thanu (Melissa Churchill Leading + Crew)
6. Thong Sala Pier (Phangan.info and Koh Phangan Lady Power crew)
7. North of Thong Sala Pier (Diamond Muay Thai Crew)
8. Haad Yao (Nathan L. Leu)
9. Secret Beach (Fortunato and the Secret Beach Resort crew)
10. Charm Beach and on south (Charm Beach Crew)
11. Ban Tai (Pier:Sage Land and House Crew )
12. Ban Tai (from Beach village on north:Ringside Crew)
13. Ban Tai (Beach Village on South: The Beach Village Crew)
14. Ban Tai (from Hard Road Beach Bar on north by Merryl and the Hard Road Crew)
15.Ban Tai (Mica Arnoux and the Kite Surfing Asia crew)
16.Ban Tai (Fisherman's and The Pier Crew on the beach outside of their restaraunt)
17. Ban Tai (Between First Villas and Ku Club-Nadine Estrand and The Phangan Bootcamp and Yoga Crew)
18. Mer Ka Ba Beach (Mer ka ba Beach Club Crew--to be confirmed)
19. Haad Rin Sunset beach (Best Western Phanganburi crew)
20. Haad Rin Sunset Beach (Coast Resort Crew)
21. Haad Rin Sunset Beach (C-villas)
22. Hand Rin Sun Rise Beach (Lea Nico)
23. Chaloklum (Olga Gnitienko and crew-message me for her contact info to join this group)
24. Haad tien (sanctuary Thailand crew--they do this daily but if someone wants to do another group on the east coast let me know)
25. Koh Ma and Mae Haad (Meeting on Koh Ma, must cross the sand bar Khug Frida's crew--Apparently this area is in major need of cleaning, for Frida's contact info, message me)
26. Phangan Divers will be diving and doing Trash removal in Haad Rin again!!! Once again they are being really awesome and generous and offering to provide certified divers, who want to volunteer, with equipment and supervision if they want to help in the effort!
If you want to lead a group on another beach send a message as soon as possible.
If you want to join a group as a volunteer, send a message or just go out to the beach at 2pm on JUNE 1ST.
This project is produced by the Green Cross Conservation (GCC). Green Cross Conservation (GCC) was started up in 2004 by Charlie Solares Chungyampin. By then, American-born and raised but half-Thai, Charlie had been living on the island for a few years and decided that Phangan would become his permanent home. He started Sage Land and House Real Estate Company and became a regular beach volleyball player in Haad Rin. At that time there was no one in charge of cleaning up the mess after the Full Moon Party and the volleyball players saw the beach getting trashed month after month. Charlie and the regular players created GCC to clean Haad Rin Beach and save it from becoming a complete dump.

BEFORE <~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> AFTER


BEFORE <~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> AFTER
During the most recent clean, February 1st 2014, over 30 beaches were cleaned on the island in one day!
Most of the work that GCC does has been funded by Charlie's company, Sage, and a few of the local businesses like Phangan Buri and Tommy's Resort.
They all continue to support the Green Cross Organization because they love the island and want it to have a clean, sustainable future.
Anyone who loves this island or takes something from it can do their part and give back to it. Whether they operate a business here and can support GCC financially or just want to join a beach clean as a volunteer, it is an important cause to support..

Some of the plans GCC has to make Koh Phangan a "greener" island include:
- To erect signage around the island (starting with the piers) with the slogan, "The Locals Care, Keep Our Island Clean" and other messages to that effect;
- Install garbage bins where they are desperately needed;
- Rally and petition to reduce the amount of unnecessary waste created by a certain prominent chain of convenience stores on the island;
- Make the island a more environmentally friendly place for everyone.



Yana Maslova works as a project manager for Sage and one of her side responsibilities is to manage GCC operations. " I organize the quarterly clean-ups, get the word out mostly through social media, recruit volunteers and leaders, and do pretty much everything Green Cross related when it comes up, in addition to my day to day responsibilities in the office".

"I have been here since the beginning of January 2014 and will continue to be here into the foreseeable future. I love Koh Phangan because it is a magical island. "
Yana traveled a lot and lived in many places around the world -- " I traveled in Russia (I am 100% Russian. I was born in Kursk, Russia), the USA (I grew up in Seattle, WA and lived there for almost 20 years), South America (lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina for two years), Indonesia (lived in Bali for 6 months) -- and I can easily say that this place has something special that no other place on earth has. People come here planning to stay a few days and then end up staying for months or more. When they do get around to leaving all they spend their time doing is wishing they hadn't left".
"I'm one of those people. I love the freedom, the creativity, and the energy that this island is teeming with. That is a reason that helping out with Green Cross is important to me as well. If nobody steps foreword and takes care of it then pretty soon this paradise would become uninhabitable. Sure, the tourists will just move on to the next island, but this place is home to many people who should do what they can to not let it come to that point."










Yana believes that all resident Farangs have to participate in the cleaning project. "Together we can easily keep our beautiful island......a clean "green" paradise. ".
The 'clean your own beach' day is held every 4 months so the next big event will be on June 1st!
Invite all of your Koh Phangan friends to this event!