Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Day 116 - April 28, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA
trash collected for 20 min.
1.8 pounds
458.1 pounds total
So many exciting things to share with you in this post, but I wanted to first say that this will be my last post for a few days because I will be in Conn. for a family funeral this weekend.
I'll be able to collect again starting this Sunday.
Thanks for reading the Daily Ocean, and enjoy this post!
They've painted all the life guard towers groovy colors in the last few days. Looking great!

FIRST - I was named a finalist for the OCEAN HERO AWARD from OCEANA. Voting started today. Please help spread the word to vote.
I am exprememly honored and humbled to be listed with the other 5 adult finalists and 5 youth finalists. If you read all of their bios, you'll be very inspired too! It's a win for the ocean that Oceana is doing this. SO please vote - every vote Oceana gets 1$ - and that's a very good thing because they are:
"Oceana is the largest international Ocean Protection & Restoration Environmental advocacy group dedicated to protecting and restoring the world's oceans and ..."
It was an extremely windy day today, but like on all windy days, the only thing I find that can withstand the weather is...plastic. Lots of clear plastic wrappers get un-earthed. Plastic water bottle tops, straws and the occasional cigarette butt seem to have sticking power on even the most blustery days.

Check out this video that the Malloy Brothers did which can be found on the Plastic Pollution Coalition's site. PLASTIC GOT THERE FIRST is the title.

You can imagine what that means coming from two of the world's top professional surfers who scour the globe for pristine waves.
This week a man named Steve Mc Pherson contacted me about his project to collect, photograph, and catalog plastic found on beaches and in marine environments. You can send him your pictures to add to his efforts too.

He is an artist living in the UK that has been making art with plastic for the past 15 years!

I am asking beach combers, foragers and anyone else to send photos and location details of interesting Marine Plastic that they find beached during their wanderings of the shores of the world.

The project aims to document the people, places and plastic that litters our coastlines, maybe along the way it will provide some interesting or useful data, as well as hopefully bringing a greater awareness of the plastic pollution of our oceans and seas.
Here's his website: www.marineplastic.org
My friend Lindsey Jurca is a teacher at ECHS Environmental Charter High School in Lawndale CA.

They are one of 6 schools in competition to have:
OBAMA COME GIVE THE COMMENCEMENT SPEECH!
HELP THEM BY CASTING YOUR VOTE HERE!

Here's their school's video that "caught the president's eye" :D How f%^**g cool is that!
Ocean Minded has the coolest suggestion attached to their apparel:
They ask you to pick up 10 pieces of trash whenever you go to your favorite beach, or out door place. Talk about positive corporate responsibility. This whole company in San Clemente was founded on love for the ocean. I'm a fan!