Day 180- Dec. 22, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min.

7 pounds

704.4 pounds total

After what felt like weeks of rain, it cleared for a time yesterday so that I could get down to the beach. That is, until the thunder rolled in, but I had already collected for 20 minutes.

The rain provided a small chunk of time to withdraw from the outside world. I chose to hunker down inside with my dogs, cat, and husband (when he wasn't at SMC wrapping up the semester). I also chose to unplug from my online activities for a spell, electing only to check my email for a quick scan of essential business to be addressed. That was all. Instead, it felt wonderful to sink into the slowing down of holiday time at the end of each year. This is the first post in more than a couple of days, and it will be my last until the 26th. I'm going to live off-line. Happy holidays to all.

Makes me wonder what happened to all of the toothbrushes that I've used in my lifetime?

There is a brand that you can buy that comes in a mailer so that when you are finished with the life of the toothbrush, you pop it back in the original wrapping and mail it off (postage is covered by the company) to be recycled into another toothbrush. PRESERVE
The end of the year is a time for donations to non-profits that can be included in this year's taxes. Let me suggest one of my absolute favorites - HEAL THE BAY. I find enough of these to know that they need all the help we can give them to revive AB 1998 and get a statewide ban on single use plastic bags who have a long life after their one time service.
The beach was a mess. My 7 pound collection put me over the 700 pound mark for total Daily Ocean collections.
Today is the first full day of winter. If the weather persists, we are going to see plenty of skies that look like this for the next few months to come.
Wait, didn't I already include this photograph? No. This is another plastic bag that I found. I've included shots of two that I picked up off of the beach, but I know that I must have collected upwards of 10.

That's 1 plastic bag every 2 minutes.

Houston - we have a problem here.

A ray of sunlight broke through towards the end of my beach cleanup. OCEANA is another non-profit ocean conservation organization that shed some light on many of the diverse problems that have our oceans in peril, and they made some serious headway. Congratulations to them and my heartfelt thanks.
Yes, more sea gulls. If you have read The Daily Ocean before, you know that I have a strong appreciation for these birds.

I am going to echo the email that Blue Ocean Institute sent out about this time of year,

"May the holidays bring you inspiration, hope and renewal."

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.

Day 160 - Oct. 7, 2010

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

.5 pounds

645.3 pounds total

COMMUNITY COLLECTION DAY 58

Mark Armen - The Bait Tank & Danielle Richardet - It Starts With Me

Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

1.7 pounds

400 pounds total

Mark Armen and Danielle Richardet

On the right is my friend, and local environmental entrepreneur with a passion for sharks and saving fish, Mark Armen. If you haven't looked at his cigarette depositories that are reducing cigarette butt liter by 60% where they are currently installed in Santa Cruz and Capitola, then go check out his site. The Bait Tanks will soon be up on the Santa Monica Pier too! Yay Mark!

My friend Danielle contacted me in June after she opened an email from OCEANA about their OCEAN HERO AWARD. She felt inspired to email me, and our friendship began!

When she was out over the summer to visit an old college roommate with her family (3 amazing kids, and husband Aaron), they did a beach cleanup with me.

As I type this they are picking up cigarette butts after lunch on Wrightsville Beach N.C. near where they live in Wilmington N.C.. Danielle has started a portion of her blog called, OUR DAILY OCEAN where she picks up cigarette butts from her local beach. She just got a text that Aaron, Chase, Claire and Henry picked up 403 cigarette butts in 20 minutes.....

She has collected 6,346 cigarette butts in 12 days. Time to ban cigarette smoking from the beaches in N.C.? It won't stop all the butts from getting in the ocean, but well...how can it not help???

I'm a little off my game these days. My brain fatigue has reached an all time high from editing my brains out for hours at a time on my desktop for the past couple of weeks. I must apologize for the picture quality of the photos in this post. They come to you courtesy of my crappy cell phone camera instead of my digital camera that I left at home with my brain when I left the house.

BUT I had to include the above photo even if it is out of focus because if you read how many pounds of trash we collected today you may be thinking, "Wow, an improvement!"

It's not.

We spent 20 minutes feeling overwhelmed at the confetti of plastic peppering the tide line. Most of the trash we collected tonight was the size of a bottle cap or smaller. That's still a big problem. Ah rain in LA breaks down the trash that dumps out of the storm drains and invades the coastal water.
Bottled water giving to the Rainforest Action Network is great! But bottled water is not. All I will say is please oh please see the documentary by Stephanie Soechtig (local hero) TAPPED.

Please oh please oh please watch this. I don't like to beg...

Day 158 - Sept. 27, 2010

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

2.4 pounds

639.4 pounds total

COMMUNITY COUNT - DAY 57

Mark Armen - The Bait Tank

Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

2.5 pounds

398.3 pounds total

THANK YOU TO MY FRIEND MARK FOR COMING OUT ON A DAY WHEN DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES BROKE ITS RECORD FOR THE HOTTEST DAY ON RECORD.

GO TO HIS Bait Tank WEBSITE AND SEE WHAT HE IS DOING TO SAVE OUR OCEANS.

I'm going camping today, and I'm not going to buy bottled water. I'm feeling a little fanatical this morning as I amass all of our jars and OCEANA water bottles to fill with tap water before I head out.

I WILL BE AWAY UNTIL FRIDAY - TOTALLY UNPLUGGING FROM THE WORLD - NO INTERNET, NO POSTING, NADA.

I've just finished a draft of a YA book I've been working on for almost 4 years. I am stepping away so that when I come back I can take one more look at it before - here's where you knock on wood for me - I send it in to an agent. YAY!

Thank you for all of the emails that I got from people around the country after reading the article that ran in the LA Times last Sat.. I will be highlighting some of the lists, and accounts you sent me of the trash washing up/or being left behind on your beach.

I love to hear from people who read this blog, find it inspiring, or have a story to share about what they are doing. I would like to thank you so much for being in touch. Please don't hesitate to send an email, or leave a comment. I write The Daily Ocean to engage with people about how we are trashing the oceans, and what we can do in our own lives to change that. Let me know what you think!
It was the night of the water bottle. Mark and I found half a dozen in 20 minutes on a stretch of beach about the size of a football field.

CONGRATULATIONS TO HEAL THE BAY AND THE OCEAN CONSERVANCY FOR A RECORD BREAKING COASTAL CLEANUP DAY. OVER 14,000 PEOPLE TURNED OUT IN LA COUNTY ALONE!
People were in the water until after sunset. Like I said, downtown LA was the hottest day on record. I think the summer we didn't have this year tried to come in one day.

I'll be out Friday for another collection. Off to camp with my dog, and to sit on the beach myself.

Day 156 - Sept. 22, 2010

Santa Monica Sport Fishing Pier (just south) - Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

2.5 pounds

634 pounds total

Community Count Collection

Thank you to Arleen for coming out tonight! Find her on twitter at: ecogossip

Day 56

Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

2.6 pounds

395.8 pounds total

Hey wait a minute? Didn't I take a picture of this plastic cup on Day 155? Oh wait - I did.

Are you an athlete that loves the ocean and wants to race for a good cause?

Then look for the annual Nautica Triathlon that is held in Malibu every Sept. and sign up next year. Oceana was there this month and they raised over 6,000 dollars to support the work they do protecting Sea Turtles, and getting Offshore Drilling stopped to name just a couple of their vital campaigns. They are the largest non-profit dedicated solely to ocean conservation.

I was proud to be a 2010 Ocean Heroes Finalist this year.

Please sign Oceana's STOP THE DRILL petition here.

I've talked about the BaitTank before. My friend, and sometimes fellow beach cleaner, Mark Armen has invented a cigarette depository that will soon be up in the cities of Capitola and Santa Cruz. Want to help promote shark conservation, save fish and dispose of the "#1 form of marine debris found littering our local beaches and coastlines: cigarette butts?" Then check out the post about Mark's BaitTank on the SAVE OUR SHORES BLOG - INTO THE BLUE.
I found a blog recently that chronicles an artist Anke, living on the Baltic Coast of Germany as she collects plastic and other trash from her local beach to make outrageously beautiful art pieces with it. Her blog is called BEACHED ART, you've got to see her work.
Another person I have talked about a lot on here - and who has her own column to the left on my blog chronicling her cigarette butt collections called Our Daily Ocean - is my friend Danielle who lives near Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina.

Her actions got the attention of a local non-profit dedicated to sea turtles. They have a blog called the Lumina News. In their most recent post, they talk about the liter that they picked up from their beach this summer. 569.74 bags of trash! That is a lot of trash.

It is likely that each bag weighs roughly 10 pounds - so their total would be - 5,697.4 pounds OVER 2 TONS!

Check out LUMINA NEWS here.

Ginger from the Sea Turtle Project recently collected 1.7 pounds of trash in a 20 minute cleanup because she was inspired by Danielle, who was inspired by The Daily Ocean.

Got 20 minutes?

Harry in Maine writes The Flotsam Diaries. Sadly, he broke all of his collection records during his last beach cleanup.

He diligently records his findings on his blog - "A chronicle of human debris. Washed up, blown in, left behind."

The Daily Ocean asks people to write in with their findings on their own 20 minute beach cleanup no matter where they live in the world. Whether you live in the NE, SE, or on the West Coast - the findings are the same - plastics and other liter clogging the oceans.

So far with the help of people participating in the Community Count Collections and my own Daily Ocean cleanups we are over 1/2 A TON OF TRASH and counting.

But not only that - we are connecting an ocean community, spreading the word, taking action and making a difference.

So I ask you - if we are finding the same thing everywhere, then maybe we need everyone to make a difference?

Join us. To start - it only takes 20 minutes.

Day 154 - Sept. 15, 2010

lifeguard tower just north of the Santa Monica Pier - Santa Monica, CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

1.6 pounds

625.4 pounds total

Mark Armen on left

COMMUNITY COUNT COLLECTION

Thank you to - Mark Armen of Gulpable and The Bait Tank & Jon Frank from Oceana

Day 52

Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

3.2 pounds

372.2 pounds total

Jon Frank & Heather who volunteered at the Oceana table for the Nautica Triathlon

Mark and Jon competed in the triathlon in Malibu this past weekend hosted by Nautica. They joined me last night for a sunset stroll on the beach just north of the Santa Monica Pier to see what we could collect from the sand.

Mark said as we were collecting, "It's all cigarette butts, and plastic bottle tops."

We did find plenty of them. I've been weighing items of trash that I find most frequently to provide some perspective of just how many cigarette butts, and plastic bottle tops equal 4.8 pounds (last night's combined total).

Read on to see the conversions.

An empty plastic water bottle weighs approx. = .51 ounces

A cigarette butt = .01 ounces

A plastic bottle top = .08 ounces

4 lbs. = 126 plastic bottles OR 6,400 cigarette butts OR 800 plastic bottle tops....

Mark is saving fish, and Sharks while cleaning up the streets and beaches with his super cool Bait Tank cigarette depository. Soon you will be able to see them along the Santa Monica pier, and next the world! Sounds funny, but the entire world does seem to have a cigarette butt liter problem that could use Mark's Bait Tanks.

Check them out! Got somewhere you want to see them? Contact him for more information.

I will never forget watching a local sea gull gulp down a cigarette lighter in front of me. I tried to scare it off to take it away, but instead I succeeded in only making it swallow it down faster so that it wouldn't loose its catch. It was such a bummer.

Day 152 - Sept. 12, 2010

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

3.1 pounds

622.6 pounds total
I got the chance to hang out at the Oceana table yesterday up in Malibu for the Nautica triathlon. They had a handout on offshore oil drilling. I realize this has nothing to do with Toy Story 3, but I want to highlight a few of their myths vs facts that they so eloquently listed.
Myth: Expanding offshore oil drilling will drastically cut foreign oil imports.

Fact: By completely developing our oceans for oil extraction, the Department of Energy estimates that oil imports would be reduced by a mere 2.5% in 2030 at which point we will have begun exhausting out offshore potential.

Myth: Expanding offshore drilling will significantly lower gas prices.

Fact: The Department of Energy estimates that opening all of our oceans to oil drilling would have no effect on gas prices by 2020 (10 YEARS AWAY!)...

Myth: Offshore oil drilling is environmentally safe.

Fact: The Deepwater Drilling Disaster is an extreme example of a relatively common occurrence. There have been at least eight other spills of 50,000 gallons or more since 2005. In addition, offshore drilling rigs can dump tons of oily drilling fluid, toxic metal cuttings and carcinogens into the ocean simply from normal operations.

OK - that is worth repeating: offshore drilling rigs can dump tons of oily drilling fluid, toxic metal cuttings and carcinogens into the ocean simply from normal operations.

Myth: Renewable energy sources cannot replace oil and gas.

Fact: Renewable energy resources are already replacing oil and gas. Currently, renewable resources generate more than 10% of the United States' electricity and provide the equivalent of more than 5 billion gallons of gasoline for transportation annually.

Want to meet a guy doing all he can to change the way we see using oil to power our cars?

Meet Paul Scott.

He lives here in Santa Monica, has a wicked sense of humor, and you may have seen him in "Who Killed the Electric Car." GO TO: PLUG IN AMERICA to learn more.