Residents of Havana have begun to gather along the Cuban capital's Malecón, an eight-kilometer esplanade and roadway, to clean up the garbage left by pedestrians. “Our effort will directly affect the people who enjoy the Malecón, and serve as a better example than the thousand TV announcements or signs that say 'Don't Throw Garbage Here',” Isabel Díaz, coordinator of the environmental project El Guardabosques, said to Tierramérica.

Thousands of people head to the Malecón every summer to flee the heat, sitting on the sea wall along Havana's northern coast.

El Guardabosques convened a clean-up day for Aug. 13, repeating the effort a few weeks earlier of students and professors from the University of Havana.

“We want to repeat that action for one of our city's most beautiful locations,” said Díaz.