A spectacle for both passers-by and participants, a drinking event dubbed “Floatopia” has received much coverage in both positive and negative light. More than 5,000 people, mostly young college students, gathered at Mission Bay on Saturday, March 20 to bypass San Diego’s beach alcohol ban. The event was organized mostly through Facebook by those wishing to make a statement against the law.

Floatopia and its participants were looking to set a respectable example of how to challenge a law, but they failed. A large group of drunkards and litterbugs does not make a positive and mature statement to lawmakers. If participants had limited the consumption of alcoholic beverages and had responsibly cleaned up afterwards, Floatopia would have made the declaration they were looking for.

Instead two tons of cans, bottles, cigarette butts and other litter were left all over the shoreline. An already suffering Mission Bay and ocean does not need the extra pollution.

To prove that those old enough to drink can do so without damaging a natural habitat, Floatopia organizers’ number one priority should have been to declare, and follow through on a clean, safe, and laid back attitude for the mass float event.

Floatopia started in Santa Barbara in 2004 and has happened annually ever since, each time bringing a larger crowd and an even larger amount of trash left behind.

Floatopians tarnish beach drinker’s reputations by consuming unreasonable amounts of alcohol in short periods of time, showcasing foolish drunken behavior, which usually results in injury, and completely disregarding the world around them by tossing trash everywhere.

If they had any wits about them, they would take a step back and say, “Hey, maybe we should do this responsibly to support our cause, so that maybe we’ll receive some positive press and support for once.” If Floatopians could show responsibility and respectability, alcohol bans may have a chance at being rewritten.