Day 207 - July 30, 2011

life guard tower 26 - Santa Monica, CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

6.4 pounds collected

782.2 pounds total

As I start up my beach collections after the long hiatus because of our research trip, I am struck by the fact that I have taken all of these pictures before. The Daily Ocean continues to reveal itself to me as the unintentional, layered title that it is. At this point, I have hundreds of photographs from this beach that I have taken of a bottle exactly like this, on exactly the same stretch of sand. 

I'm anxiously awaiting the 6 o'clock hour tonight as I type this post. CBS Nightly News will feature The Daily Ocean in a segment they call, "American Stories." 

I paraphrase, "...ordinary Americans doing something for their communities." I wouldn't have fit myself under that umbrella on my own, but I'm honored that it is a fit. And that Whitney from CBS took the time to do a piece on the beach. My family have already seen in on the East Coast. One reader of this blog after watching the segment left me a kind comment with a reminder in it to carry a glove. 

I do! Trust me. I have a tan, gardening glove that comes with me every time. That's why I take my photographs one handed. Hopefully, you can't tell.

My friend Kitt Doucette from part two of our expedition, wrote a piece in Rolling Stone called, "THE PLASTIC BAG WARS." From the little that I know about this growing issue, he sums it up nicely. Here's a link if you feel like checking it out. 

Sharks are on my mind. Maybe a way I can incorporate the topics ocean related, but not beach trash related that grabbed my attention while we were away, will be to focus on one of those issues at the end of every post.


And so sharks have hit the top of that list. My friend Danielle, who writes the amazing blog about her cigarette and beach litter cleanup in North Carolina called It Starts With Me, reports that there have been a lot of coastal bites off her shores this summer. She says that the bait fish are in close, and so that brings the sharks even closer. Shark bites are often a case of mistaken identity. And when they hit the news, fueling the sensationalized-shark-flames, it saddens me. 


But let's end on a high note here. Whale Sharks will not bite you. They will let you tag along as they gracefully amble through their blue, watery space, opening wide for a meal. 

Here's a profile of them in pictures from a recent YAHOO! article. Enjoy.