Thursday, September 9, 2010

Day 150 - Sept. 9, 2010

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA
trash collected for 20 minutes
2.3 pounds
617.4 pounds total
This weekend is Nautica's Triathlon and Oceana will be there. I"ll be there 12 - 4 up in Malibu to help gather signatures for Oceana's petition to stop Offshore Oil Drilling. You can visit their website to sign the petition if you are otherwise occupied, or do not live in the area.
Next Thurs. night I will have the great opportunity to show photographs from The Daily Ocean at the 3rd Annual Sustainable Works fundraiser. Prices are very reasonable, especially if you buy before the day, and it goes to a great local organization making direct, practical impact to businesses and individuals.

I'm also saving all the trash I collect off the beach for a week to pile onto a table so people can see just how much one person can collect off their local beach by spending 20 minutes a day. The baby doll above was a real find for the pile. One word - creepy.
Sept. 25th

Heal the Bay needs volunteers for Sept. 25th. Coastal Cleanup Day which happens all over the country, and locally in 60 Southland sites.
You can help remove trash off the beach or along the many waterways that feed into the ocean.

Tens of thousands of Southland residents will participate between 9 a.m. to noon at more than 60 sites, from Compton to Malibu.

Coastal Cleanup Day volunteers have collected more than 1 million pounds of trash in Los Angeles County since the 1990's = the weight of a fully loaded Boeing 747 jumbo jet
(should those things be in the air?!?)
But wait there's more!

Coastal Cleanup Day sponsor Subaru will be hosting special test drive and sweepstakes events throughout the county to benefit Heal the Bay and raise awareness about the cleanup. Among other unique community building activities planned:

Give Back to the Beach - a food truck festival, the LA Craft Beer Crawl curated by food critic Jonathan Gold, as well as a sunrise yoga session and three electronic waste drop-off/recycling collections. For event times and locations, information can be found at http://www.healthebay.org/ccd/whatsnew


"A single day of concerted action and education can make a world of difference." - Eveline Bravo, Heal the Bay

I think I like that quote.

Day 149 - Sept. 8, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA
trash collected for 20 minutes
2.3 pounds
615.1 pounds total
I did something today that I had never done before. I stopped a couple on the beach that were smoking cigarettes and asked them to take their cigarette butts with them. I explained that it was illegal to smoke on the beach here in Santa Monica and that if the lifeguard caught them they would receive a 50$ fine (diverting responsibility because of my own insecurity..)

Their response: "I saw cigarette butts on the beach so I thought it was OK," they said with a thick eastern European accent. They clearly felt bad, and so I back peddled a little more explaining how toxic cigarettes were when they got in the water.
They thanked me profusely.
I walked away with a red face.
But I did this today because when I saw them smoking I couldn't help but think about my friend Danielle in North Carolina that has collected 1over 2,000 cigarette butts off her local beach in under 10 days.

I told the couple about this.
They looked stunned.
Before I walked away I added, "Imagine what this beach would look like if it were legal to smoke on it."
Oceana is coming to town this weekend for the Nautica Marathon in Malibu. I'll be there on Sat. at their table gathering signatures to stop Offshore Oil Drilling. Come on by if you are in the area. You can also sign Ocean's petition online. They need 500K signatures - let's help them out!
A dirty diaper on the beach is not so great to look at....but Adrian Grenier is, check out his Oceana PSA to help Bluefin Tuna below.

Adrian Grenier Wants To Stop Bluefin Tuna From Going Too Fast from Oceana on Vimeo.


I got in touch with an old friend who now lives in Brazil. He is going to do some sort of Community Collection for The Daily Ocean there and spread this beach cleanup revolution to South America.
Where do you live? Want to help me?
Leave me a comment or email me at thedailyocean@yahoo.com and thanks!