Day 164 - Oct. 20, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

2.1 pounds

661.5 pounds total

Community Count - Day 68

Dean Miya - Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

2.4 pounds

535.4 pounds total

*Please excuse the excessive amount of sunset pictures in this post. We've had a lot of rain.*

Go Inspire Go - Is this fantastic website -- "using social networking for social change" -- created by Toan Lam.

"Discover and Use Your Power to Help Others" is their motto.

You can follow them on FB, Twitter, YouTube and the Huff Post.

Here's a quote from the story high-lighted on their homepage: "People talk about change. Some dream about it. Others take action and ARE the change..." now GO check out this cool site!
Oceana's Chile victory: Here's some good news. Oceana teamed up with National Geographic and the Waitt Foundation to propose a no-take marine reserve to Chile's President Pinera. The Fisheries Committee of Chile's Senate supported the recommendation unanimously and has established the reserve around Sala y Gomez Island, which is home to abundant populations of vulnerable species not found in the waters around neighboring Easter Island.

This is a huge step in the right direction. The marine park increased Chile's protected area more than 100 times! Oceana and National Geographic are going back to survey other sea mounts in the area to propose more protection. Good luck to them and congratulations on a huge victory for the oceans.
Disney Oceans is out on DVD and BluRay - Rent it if you don't predict that you will watch it repeatedly, (like will happen in our house.) If you go to their site and order the DVD, BluRay or Movie Download before Oct. 25th they will make a contribution in your honor to Save Our Coral Reefs. Sweet deal! Too bad I already have mine sitting next to me on my desk here. But that doesn't mean I can't donate on my own.
Our collection was of made up of mostly small fragments of plastic wrappers like the one above. And they were all found next to the water - not on the tide line - just up from the waves.

So 4.5 pounds of trash, (our combined total) was actually a lot of rubbish. For comparison -

1 Werther's Original candy wrapper weighs - .o2 ounces

1 plastic bag - .25 ounces

Dean Miya holding an eroded Mickey Mouse Mylar Balloon

One of the amazing outcomes from starting The Daily Ocean is that I get to meet incredible people. People like my friend Dean Miya who are working to help the oceans in a very low-key and direct way. He doesn't have a website to check, or a twitter account to follow his adventures on (although I know he has FB), he just helps when he is moved to. I got to hear about the trip he took to the Gulf with The Sea Shepard's that was only supposed to last for ten days and turned into 3 weeks!

Dean's trip to the Gulf

- He got to tag Whale Sharks to see if they are dying and fleeing the area b/c of the oil

- He took water samples that were sent to Canada for independent testing

- He spoke to local shrimpers who said that they wouldn't shrimp because their catch was not healthy even though the US government had given the ok (by sniffing the shrimp - now that's extensive testing)

- He got to see a crab fisherman crack open a - well a crab - to explain that the oil is inside the animals by getting Dean to feel the "oily" insides of the little critter. (Dean's disclaimer is that he doesn't know what crab insides feel under normal conditions - not too many of us do I imagine!)

- He learned a disturbing term that has sprung up from money being passed out to fisherman, "SPILLIONARES." BP has handed out money to these folks as a retainer for them to essentially do nothing...since they dispersed all the oil with their toxic dispersant.

- He got to DO something because he felt like he couldn't just watch the tragedy unfold without helping.

My hat is off to you Dean. You walk the walk you talk. Thank you for all that you do.

Yes, another one. That's a comment for anyone who saw Day 163

Oil moratorium lifted after 6 months! Yup - the only news that I could think of to put under this lovely photograph is the disappointing news that Obama has lifted the Deepwater Oil Drilling moratorium with out really changing anything. Ugh. Here's the NY Times piece on it.

Another terribly cool person I've got to talk to is Joel Harper. He is a musician, poet, author, dad, activist and all around amazing guy who wrote, "All the Way to the Ocean." When no one would help him get his vision published - he taught himself how navigate the self publishing world with deft skill, and success. Check out his truthful, and inspiring book that teaches all of us just what is ending up in our oceans....
Join Barbara Boxer for a rally on Sat. Oct. 23 - doors open at 10 AM - at Perry's Beach Cafe 930 Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Monica CA (free parking in Lot 7 North, PCH)

"A call to action against offshore drilling"

RSVP here is you plan on attending

Another great person I got to connect with is Mary, Dean's neighbor who happened to be out on the beach last night taking pictures of the sunset. She has a studio down the street from me on Ocean Park Blvd.. Here is her website where you can view the amazing art that she creates.

What are these things? I find them too often to let it remain a mystery. Someone please help.

I know fall has arrived when I see the new varieties of sea birds join the local gulls. The smallest birds with the legs that move faster than the naked eye can see are my favorites.