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Beach between Lifeguard Tower 26 & 27 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA
The plastic in this picture appears almost precious because of the late afternoon sunlight. It's not. 
It has been awhile since I found a single use plastic water bottle. I didn't miss them. I do like days like today though, when the weight of the trash collected is so low. Silly questions roll through my head like, "I should have picked a dirtier beach!" Well, this is my local beach, literally it is at the end of the street from where I live. I like the fact that I chose this strip of beach for just that reason.
In an email from Heal The Bay, they posted the results of Coastal Cleanup Day which was last weekend.At 69 cleanup sites all over Los Angeles County, we had 14,038 volunteers (a new record!) remove 298,686 lbs of trash and 1,726 lbs of recyclables for a record total of 300,413 lbs!
These numbers, extraordinary as they are, can't tell the whole story. Our hope is that everyone leaves Coastal Cleanup Day with a deeper appreciation for our ocean, rivers, creeks, and parks, and a better understanding of the problems they face.
If you follow my blog you may have had enough pictures of backlit children on the beach. I can't stop taking them. I apologize, but maybe you don't mind so much. 
Siel (pictured above) of, green LA girl, came out to interview me in August and collect trash for 20 minutes. 
Lifeguard Tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA
Is it a balloon, a jelly fish, or a creature from the deep? I think you know the answer....
Sometimes I feel worse after collecting. If the sand is littered with trash that day, usually on Sunday nights, then I am depressed because sometimes I collect over five pounds in twenty minutes. Remember, the stuff I am collecting weighs ounces; cigarette butts aren’t heavy.
Here’s why I keep doing it though. This is my hope. I hope that people see what I am doing physically, or online and it inspires them to do the same. I hope that steady shifts in awareness sink in that cause people to change. And that all of this effort creates a slow and steady climax to the tipping point where people feel inspired to take action around whatever environmental issue they feel passionate about and that this passion becomes contagious.
Lifeguard Tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA
Today was a wonderful, and strange day to be out here. Santa Monica Daily Press came out to photograph me for the weekend edition of their paper. They are an online paper, so if you want to check on Sat. and see the article, click here.
I wrote an OP-ED piece for the LA Times, they didn't want to run it, but I still like it. I'll include it in this post starting below:As We Say Goodbye to Summer How Are We Leaving Our Beaches?
Who can imagine summertime without going to the beach? Even if you don’t live on the coast, just the thought of a beach probably brings to mind pictures of summer. For millions of people the time they spend at the ocean defines the season. Many of us have early memories of being a child there, discovering waves, chasing sea gulls, and building sand castles.
September 20th was the last official day of summer. Over the past weekend thousands of us probably headed out to the beach to enjoy the final moments before fall arrived. Some of us may have participated in “Coastal Cleanup Day” last Saturday sponsored in part by Heal the Bay, and The Ocean Conservation. “Coastal Cleanup Day” is a an initiative to raise awareness about issues of Ocean Conservation, like the huge problem of Marine Debris, by inviting people to participate in a nation-wide beach cleanup.
You may have noticed that we are literally trashing the beaches. Marine Debris is one of the largest problems affecting the health of the ocean. You may have also heard about the North Pacific Trash Gyre, an island of floating trash swirling in the middle of the Northern Pacific that is now twice the size of the continental United States.
How does all this trash end up in the ocean? Storm drains from urban coastal areas lead straight into the water. Without grates over most openings to catch the larger pieces of trash, all the litter that lands on the street gets swept into the sea. And that’s not all. Motor oil, dog waste, pesticides and fertilizers end up in there as well. This is a design that has always concerned me, and strikes me as particularly insane.
But storm drains aren’t the only way these items are getting to into the water. We leave a lot of the same items behind right where we were, on the sand. Recently I saw a California Gull swallow a Bic lighter whole. I was just feet away, and unable to stop it.
As we say goodbye to the end of summer I’d like to ask how are we going to leave our beaches? I am not naturally optimistic. But even though that is often how I feel I think the real question on my mind is that, if you know what is going on, and have informed yourself of even a miniscule amount of the ecological research available, how can you not do something?
I chose to start a one-person beach cleanup as a way to begin. I head to my local beach and for twenty minutes at a time, pick up trash off the sand. It started as a way to protect my own mental health, and has developed into a blog called The Daily Ocean as a tool to raise awareness.
If the same trash appears daily why do I return? Am I really stopping the trash from getting in the water or littering the beach? No, probably not. Let me explain, the trash I take away will only be back the next day. Basically the same stuff will return, and when I say the same stuff, I mean exactly the same stuff. Cigarette butts, plastic water bottles, band-aids, straws, food wrappers, tampons, sanitary napkins, condoms, bottle tops, and the occasional discarded flip flop are the most frequent items I find. And I find them day after day.........
(continued on Day 61 results post)
Teresa of Green Bag Lady, has contacted me and will be sending me bags to use for cleaning the beach, one for my neighbor who gives me single use plastic bags to collect in now, and a bunch for an event I am co-hosting with green LA girl ( http://greenlagirl.com/bbc/ ) more about the event in the next post. 
She lives in Tenn. and has started a project/blog that gives reusable, beautiful, sown fabric bags away to people if they promise to use them instead of paper or plastic. 
So far she has given away 6484 bags to people around the world. So cool!!
Lifeguard Tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA
Ruby Slippers! There's no place like home. Garen and I spent over an hour in the water today at the beach in front of Tower 26. I had never swam there before, but we checked the Heal the Bay Beach Report card and saw that it was an A even though it is near beaches that have received an F rating. 
There was a festival on the pier today sponsored by the Roots and Shoots Foundation that was started by Jane Goodall. The students of Team Marine at SAMOHI (Santa Monica High School) brought their RETHINK sign to prop up in front of the stage. Their sign, which I have mentioned in this blog in an earlier post, is made from 37, 427 plastic bottle tops, that is 37,427 plastic bottle tops that have not made it in the ocean. Neither did this one. 
An old boogie board, soggy, broken and left behind. 
On the pier today I met a group of 4th graders and their parents who have formed an organization called PEACE TROOP. They used to be involved in Girl Scouts but have started to do their own thing, and today they worked for Surfrider. I was very excited to meet them. They are invited to participate in The Daily Ocean by coming out for a beach cleanup with me. And Team Marine will look into partnering with their elementary school in West Los Angeles. Today was a great day to be a part of things going on here in Santa Monica, and the greater Los Angeles area. 
Hope you enjoyed today, it was the last day of summer. September can be an unbearably hot month here, but this weekend was just right. It is bittersweet to say goodbye to this season and enter into fall, but this is my favorite time of year. It feels full of possibilities, and full of forward moving energy to greet those possibilities as they develop. 
THE STUDENTS FROM THE HEAL THE BAY/SURFRIDER CLUB AT SANTA MONICA HIGH SCHOOL STAGED A BAN THE PLASTIC BAG MARCH THROUGH SANTA MONICA TODAY. FIRST STOP WAS CITY HALL. CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS-sept18-day58.jpg)
Lifeguard Tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica, CA
Tomorrow is COASTAL CLEANUP DAY. Thousands of people will clean beaches and urban riverways leading to the ocean on both coasts and Hawaii. Will you join us? I am looking forward to seeing what it feels like to be with hundreds of people on my local city beaches between 9 - 12 on Sat. Sept. 19th sponsored by Heal the Bay.
I was recently contacted by Beverly, a reader of The Daily Ocean. This project has inspired her to do her own version when she goes on vacation to Rhode Island in a few weeks. 
Our beach as ashtray. Ugh.
ARROWHEAD - I've been reading an article about FIJI water in the October issue of Mother Jones. A reader pointed it out to me and I have to say reading that, and watching the documentary FLOW has brought the issues of who is controlling the world's fresh water and the dangers coming from that to my attention. A main contributor to the dangers are bottled water companies and the environmental damage they cause by adding to the plastic garbage floating in our oceans after people throw their plastic water bottles away, the petroleum they use in making the bottles creating more carbon emissions that cause global warming and the human suffering caused by the companies diverting local water sources away from its people as it pumps their water out from under them causing drought and disease. 
Lifeguard Tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA
I watched this You Tube video last night about the Pacific Garbage Patch, or Trash Gyre. This is a topic that makes me loose sleep, seriously. Charles Moore of Algalita in Long Beach CA gave a TED talk about his findings and the solutions, or lack of, to this man made disaster. I have not figured out how to neatly include a You Tube screen into my blog, (would appreciate a "how to" from anyone who knows in the comments section)
Snow White trapped in the sea weed! Oh no! Don't worry, she got out. 
What do you think I should do with all the sand toys that I find, and there are many?
Lifeguard Tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA
Today was all about the plastic bottle tops. I found half a dozen in 20 minutes. Team Marine of Santa Monica High took roughly 34,727 of these plastic bottle tops and constructed a GIANT sign saying, "RETHINK" which they put up in the super busy area of Santa Monica, the 3rd St. Promenade. SO COOL!!
Do you know what MPA stands for? Marine Protected Areas. Marine Protected Areas have been scientifically proven to protect and enhance degraded ecosystems, including kelp forests and fish communities. They are basically areas of the ocean set aside as safehavens from fishing to protect and conserve marine life and habitat.
The information above was taken from Heal the Bays website, click here for the link.
MPA's continued: Surfrider is also spreading the word. In fact at our next local chapter meeting on Sept. 29th the focus will be all about MPA's When: September 29, 7:00 pm Where: Santa Monica Public Library Ocean Park Branch This meeting is dedicated to everything you ever wanted to know about the Marine Life Protection Act and what it means. Before the Fish and Game Commission 'gets the maps', we are holding community forums to inform you. Stefanie Sekich from Surfrider Global Headquarters will be presenting. Please plan to attend this informative event! |
And finally, I got an email from Charlotte Stevenson, Staff Scientist of Heal the Bay this morning with great news!Great news! The year-long stakeholder MPA design process is complete.
The three subgroups (one conservation-oriented, one fishing-oriented, and one cross-interest) each successfully generated a map…so now we are down to the final three maps! Best of all, the key habitats in Santa Monica Bay, including parts of east Point Dume and northwestern Palos Verdes, were represented on two out of three maps!
These proposals will now undergo their final scientific review, and be presented to the Blue Ribbon Task Force meeting in Long Beach, where the BRTF will choose a preferred map. This is an exciting time for the Southern California coast!
So, PLEASE mark your calendars and tell your friends and family to attend the October 20-22 meeting, as we’ll need to fill the room with BLUE.
please leave me a comment or send me an email if you want me to inform you of events and
progress relating to MPA, you can also sign up for updates at Heal the Bay.
Lifeguard Tower 26, Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA
Lifeguard Station 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA
The water bottle for Day 54. I was talking to someone in the parking lot tonight who asked me what I was weighing. I explained, trash, and we got to talking. He is a surfer from Nepal who moved here 14 years ago. He was telling me that he grew up without a lot of material things because he is from a poor country. Therefor there was hardly any waste. For example, to get another soda you took your glass bottle in to be refilled. Two great ideas, glass bottles, and refilling them. But they weren't trying to be green, this is conservation out of necessity. I have a feeling I am collecting trash that stems from privilege. 
I thought it was a shame that someone left this tiny, stylish shoe. I should have put my foot next to it for purposes of scale. Well let me just tell you, it's for a two year old. Which brings up something I think about a lot. 
Many people talked to me today on the beach. Rubin offered me gloves, a few others said thank you. Which reminds me, Siel of Green LA Girl and I are doing a joint beach cleanup on Oct. 25th. Come join us! There will be drinks, snacks, like minded folks, bloggers and readers and ocean lovers. We're joining forces for a night, come along. 
