Monday, March 12, 2012

Day 266 - March 11, 2012



lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA
trash collected for 20 min. 
3 pounds
977.2 pounds total 

13 cigarette butts 
23 cigarette butts in 2 cleanups






I mentioned in Day 265 that my friend Danielle who writes, It Starts With Me, and I are teaming up. She has already added a hefty 240 pounds of liter by weight to the Daily Ocean's Community Count. Her focus amongst all the liter she collects from her Wrightsville Beach Community in N.C. is cigarette butts. The local government shot down an ordinance to ban smoking from the beaches last Thurs. even though Danielle has collected over 40,000 butts from their sand! 

SO we're doing a little compare and contrast test. For my last 100 Daily Ocean cleanups, I will keep a tally of how many cigarette butts I find from a beach where smoking is banned. 
Cleanup number two and already the evidence is overwhelming. 
13 cigarette butts in 20 min. 
23 butts in 2 cleanups.

Danielle's gone out once since we made this pact and she collected over 400! 
Her average is 17 a minute! 

The numbers speak for themselves.




This organization suggests three concrete ways to help the ocean right on their website, 
1. EAT SEAFOOD SUSTAINABLY
2. REDUCE PLASTIC POLLUTION
3. INCREASE OCEAN PROTECTED AREAS (MARINE PROTECTED AREAS)

I can do all of their suggestions, even number three. Heal the Bay, a local non-profit, works tirelessly to enact, and support California's Marine Protected Areas. I support Heal the Bay, I support these sanctuaries that allow the marine life to rebound. If I do all three with real persistence, I feel better about the state of affairs in our marine world. Join me?





G2 Gallery in Venice had a show including his work. 
I grabbed a postcard and looked him up online. 
If you like photography, the outdoors, animals, 
and the natural world please check this man out. His work is astounding.