Day 200 - Feb. 21, 2011

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

1.7 pounds 

757.3 pounds total

COMMUNITY COLLECTION DAY - 113

JEN & DENISE - thank you! (follow her on twitter, check out her nutrition knowledge)

trash collected for 20 minutes

3.4 pounds 

699.2 pounds total

DISCLAIMER - Garen got a RX filled from his doctor for a new seasickness medication that is supposed to make you sleepy. We were told to take one before our trip to make sure that we can function well while taking it. Today is my day and well...my post may be less energetic than usual. It made Garen sleepy-ish...It is making me VERY sleepy. 

Can you tell the difference between the photo on the right, and the photo on the left? (insert Jeopardy music here while I give you a moment)

The arm on the left is Denise picking up a black single-use plastic bag minutes before Jen, on the right, found her own. 

Same beach. 

Same day. 

Two people. 

Same destructive trash.

Oh look, another one! No, Jen did not drop hers on the sand and then step next to it. Nope. This picture was taken of a DIFFERENT black plastic bag only seconds later, which was lying next to a freshly made footprint that I saw being made.

Jen and Denise found this Flying Disc on our way off of the beach. We joked that it was their consolation prize from the ocean. 

This is a joint effort. To illustrate that point, I got contacted be a woman named Kanna who is involved in Sea Pulse films, and has a troop of Plastic Zombies. Yup, you read that right. Here is a link to the post she wrote for Valentine's Day, where she included a photograph of a balloon that I'd taken last year. 

Her project is extremely cool - Dance 4 Oceans

"Have you realize that so much plastic trash is ending up in the ocean instead of recycle centers or landfills? The last several years, I have had opportunities to help rescue marine animals along the coasts of Los Angeles. There are lots of animals are suffering from the entanglements and ingestion of plastic trash. I just couldn't stop thinking there must be a way to raise awareness of this problem. What if I walk like a zombie that was killed by plastic trash....? Yes. That's how the whole thing started!"

My friend Siel of green LA girl, who also writes for Mother Nature Network among many other blogs, wrote about a 20 Minutes a Day Challenge that was proposed by Michael Nobbs of Sustainably Creative.

I think he might be on to something...

"If you read my blog regularly, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of doing things in small chunks of time. It constantly amazes me how much it’s possible to get done working in this way and recently I’ve been looking back at some of the things I’ve achieved in regular small steps."

What would you do with 20 minutes? My 20 minutes has gotten 755+ pounds of trash off of the beach. Who knew?

Be part of Ocean Voices, a collaborative project between Wallace J Nichols and sound artist Halsey Burgund who along with the voices of 1239 voices and counting have creative a visionary project for the oceans. People from around the world have recounted their personal experiences with the ocean, and have then been set to music. You can add your voice!

And check out this video put out by NPR/PBS from July of 2010 at the Museum of Science in Boston that let's us hear one of their enchanting performances. 

This was the last item of trash we found when we were back in the parking lot. So this is the last picture in my post.