LONELY PLANET TV SPECIAL SUNDAY JUNE 10TH

This Sunday the 10th, I'm in the Lonely Planet special, "CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE."


Tune in at 10 AM EST on BBC AMERICA, or record it on your DVR. 


Pass the info. on if you feel so inspired!

Community Count Day - 229

Susie Stephen

Day 229 - May 25, 2012

Kailua, Oahu

2.2 oz (but 81 pieces of micro-plastics painstakingly excavated from the sand!)

Community Count total - 963.3 pounds

Community Count + The Daily Ocean combined weight - 2,035.1 POUNDS

This is the latest addition to our COMMUNITY COUNT - where people like you do a Daily Ocean style cleanup (20 min., photography and weighing their findings) to add to the 963.1 pounds already taken off beaches around the world. You can also do a collection in your neighborhood, rivers, lakes... since all "drains" lead to the ocean. 
Find Susie's beach report re-posted below:


"Dear Sara

I have been inspired! So much so that on Tuesday night my husband and I went along to a talk given by a local non-profit called B.E.A.C.H. who have recently been sponsored by Wholefoods in Kailua, here on Oahu.

http://www.b-e-a-c-h.org/index.html

Last week, May 25th, I went out on my first 20min beach cleanup, along Kailua beach, on the windward side of Oahu.

It was almost frustrating since most of the plastic on the beach seemed to be microplastic (it was tiny), but I collected what I could without a sieve!

It 'only' weighs 60g/ 2.2oz but in total I collected 81 pieces of plastic/ marine debris that ranged from a toy bucket to an aquaculture post/ piece (learnt that they wash over from Asia).

Please find attached a photo of everything on a plate - note the scrap of plastic that has nutritional information...

Interestingly I only found 1 cigarette butt!

Since finding your website, and going to the BEACH talk I've realised that the ocean plastic pollution/ marine debris issue is something, if not the most important thing I can integrate into a project I'm working on, which is a sailing expedition in 2014. I've uploaded a couple of beach plastic instagrams on to the tumblr blog for the expedition - which is more of an inspiration site (specific website coming soon!):

Sail our Seas - 

http://sailourseas.tumblr.com/ 

& 

http://sailourseas.blogspot.com/

Thanks again for the inspiration!! 

Are you doing anything for World Oceans Day?

cheers

Susie

twitter: @suzerose"


Susie's SAIL OUR SEAS project looks incredible! Connect with her on her blog by following the links above, or find her on twitter. 


And to answer your question about World Oceans Day Susie, I'll probably celebrate by doing a beach cleanup!


Thanks for your inspiring addition to The Daily Ocean!

Day 288 - June 3, 2012

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min. with Tamara - an SMC student and Tahitian citizen

3.6 pounds (1.8 for the Community Count tally totaling 2,034.9 pounds!!)

1,071.8 pounds

I have a section of The Daily Ocean called the Community Count. During the early days of this blog, people started to email me wanting to get involved. I created the Community Count. 

You can do a 20 min. beach cleanup (lake, river or inland), take pictures, send me the weight and I will add your findings to a running tally. So far people around the world have written to me about cleanups that total 963+ pounds of trash off beaches, out of waterways, and collected from their local communities. Look on The Daily Ocean's right-side column for other Community Count postings.

My friend Danielle who writes the blog, It Starts With Me has taken 37.5 pounds off her North Carolina beaches since February alone! She also focuses her 20 min. Daily Ocean cleanups on cigarette butts. We've been comparing how many I find on my local beach where smoking is banned and how many she finds on hers. 

Last night I found 17 cigarette filters. On average, Danielle finds a few hundred!!

If you'd like to get involved email me thedailyocean AT yahoo.com or stop on over to Danielle's blog and learn more about her Community Count focusing on cigarette butts. We'd love you to do both!

For me, it's about community one person at a time. Every time you bend down to pick up a cigarette butt, plastic water bottle or bag, I hope it is a reminder to watch for these "disposable" items in your own life. It's a clear picture of where they really end up, (on the beach, in the ocean, along your street, in your park.) And the ultimate empowering message in this is that if we don't use these products, they can't end up there harming our environment. Demand for these plastic products creates the supply. 

But who am I to do one little thing like refuse plastic bottled water? 

You are one more person changing the tide in favor of your health, your world, and the world for future generations. You have tremendous power. 

Now what if we all remembered that? Oh but we can....and we are!

Thanks Tamara for coming tonight. This funny picture is of her quick thinking when reaching for a pair of discarded boxers in the parking lot. Flip-flops as trash tongs. Nice!

Inspiring to meet you and you're welcome anytime!