Day 204 - March 7, 2011

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

2 pounds

764.5 pounds total

COMMUNITY COUNT DAY 115 - JENN & DENISE

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes twice! Once by themselves while they waited for me, and once with me!

2.5 pounds, 2 pounds = 4.5 pounds

707.5 pounds total 

THE DAILY OCEAN COMBINED TOTAL - 1,472 POUNDS OF TRASH OFF THE BEACH

I'm writing this post from Chile. That's how busy I was getting out of town over the last 12 days. It is hard to believe that I haven't written a post in in that time either. I'm not 100% certain, but I think that this is the longest I've gone since March '09 when I started The Daily Ocean. 

The city of Valdivia where we are staying is surrounded on three sides by river Calle Calle. There are a lot of people who smoke and put their butts out on the ground near the water. But I have to say that overall, they take very good care of the waterfront, at least the portion that we have seen. 

I want to say thanks to Jenn and Denise for coming out with me. I had a great photo of Jenn holding up a plastic bag, but it wouldn't stay rotated properly and I didn't want you to crane your necks.

Jenn and Denise said that they would come out to the beach at tower 26 for a few 20 minute cleanups while we are away. I love that. 

Instead of "Where's Waldo?" it's "Where's the straw?"

There have been a couple of straws to throw away along the river in the last day since we've been here. I stepped over a candy wrapper after lunch so I bent down to pick it up. It was cemented to the sidewalk with chewed gum. I tugged and it wouldn't come off. Garen said that the people behind us looked perplexed at what I was doing. I don't blame them. 

I need to learn how to say no plastic bag please in Spanish. We took our Empenadas to go from lunch and they came wrapped in styrofoam and plastic. UGH. We reused the containers at the farmers market by the river for fresh blackberries and cheese, but still.....

More sunsets and more birds I know, I know......but come on, this is a great view!

Rachel Savage, an eighth grade student from Crossroads School in Santa Monica filmed me last Oct. for 10/10/10 or 350.org INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE ACTION DAY

The video is up on YouTube. She did a great job! I think she's onto something here. Her instincts for editing and story composition are well above her years. Awesome job Rachel! I'm honored you chose The Daily Ocean as a subject. THANK YOU!

Have you heard that there is a website called BAG THE BAN? That's right -- not BAN THE BAG.

They use the same ridiculous arguments that we have heard again and again...

HilixPoly says if Oregon bans plastic bags that it will:

1. HURT THE ENVIRONMENT

- CRAP! THEY DIDN'T SPECIFY WHY, BUT I IMAGINE IT IS THE SAME TIRED ARGUMENT THAT OFFERING PAPER BAGS WILL INCREASE GLOBAL WARMING. 

IT IS NOT PAPER OR PLASTIC. IT IS NEITHER AND GO REUSABLE. 

This is a point totally lost on them and not even worth putting in bold, but a girl can try.

2. TOXIC LEAD AND HARMFUL BACTERIA - CONSUMERS BEWARE!

- MORE CRAP! THE BACTERIA STUDY WAS FUNDED BY THE PLASTICS INDUSTRY AND IS A COMPLETE FARSE. I CAN SITE MY SOURCE IF YOU CONTACT ME AND REALLY WANT TO KNOW

- LEAD - IN ONLY A COUPLE OF TYPES OF BAGS AND IT WAS THE LETTERING SO DON'T EAT YOUR REUSABLE BAG! THEY WERE PRODUCED BY DISNEY AND HAVE BEEN RECALLED OR BETTER - BUY ONE THAT YOU KNOW IS GOOD LIKE PROJECT GREEN BAG OR CHICO BAG. 

3. TAX BURDEN

- TOTAL CRAP! WASHINGTON D.C. BUT A SMALL FEE OF 5 - 10 CENTS ON PLASTIC BAGS LAST YEAR AND THEIR USEAGE WENT DOWN NEARLY 90% IN NO TIME. HOW LONG DO YOU THINK PEOPLE WILL BE BUYING PAPER BAGS IF THEY ARE CHARGED? THE COST OF PLASTIC BAGS IS EMBEDDED IN YOUR GROCERY BILL ANYWAY. PLASTIC IS NOT FREE EITHER.

that was a rant...and one to the choir. apologies, just couldn't resist

We are five hours ahead of Santa Monica. When the sun is setting on this beach tonight, I will most likely be in bed at our hostel which is operated by two sweet Chilean women who speak very little English, and take great care of the place. Buenos noches!

My take on the AB 1998 press conference in Sacramento on 11/29

I got a chance to shake hands with Assemblywoman Julia Brownley who is the principle author of AB 1998 - CA statewide ban on single use plastic bags. I may have mentioned - oh just a few times - that she is from Santa Monica!
Terry Taminen of Seventh Generation Advisors introduced all the speakers at the press conference. His wife Leslie Taminen is a power house strategist, and super star who works tirelessly for legislation like AB 1998 that supports ocean health.
Sara Sikich of Heal the Bay gets to sign her name to the reprinted version of the bill. There were a lot of names on that board. I am sure that if felt good to add hers since Heal the Bay is the primary sponsor of the bill.

Thank you Heal the Bay for all of your hard work, and to Kirsten James of Heal the Bay who has lobbied for AB 1998 in Sacramento more times than she can remember, but could not come up that day.
The four star students from the South Orange County Surfrider Chapter who are leaders in their own high schools as part of the Surfrider Clubs that have sprung up in the last year are seen above joining forces with Environment California canvassers who came up in support of AB 1998.

A big thank you to Denise Erkeneff for mentoring the 9 high schools, and one middle school into adopting Surfrider Clubs at their schools deep in the O.C..

The students with Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi from the city of San Francisco who was:

First-in-the-Nation to write a ban on plastic bags in chain grocery stores and drug stores, which sparked similar legislation around the world from Oakland to Canada to Paris to Beijing.

Andy Keller - creator and owner of Chico Bags who gave a great speech about the benefits to CA's economy by fostering more green jobs. You can watch his speech in this post.
Ahhh - this next photograph is of a major lobbyist for the ACC who had so many of his facts wrong that it would take me all day to list them, but here are some of the highlights from his interview. Notice that he had some people in the background that were trying to get his attention.

HE SAID: "Bill would have succeeded in putting people out of work in CA."

HE LEFT OUT: That the largest bag manufacturer of single use bags is in South Carolina.

HE SAID: AB 1998 would "Raise grocery costs for families"

HE LEFT OUT: That if you remember your bag you don’t have to buy a paper bag for 5 cents. And the price of the already available paper and plastic "free" bags are already in your grocery bill right now. SO using a reusable bag saves you money.

HE SAID: "There’s a better way to deal with it (plastic bags) and that is through enhanced recycling and public education."

HE LEFT OUT: For years they have been “improving” recycling efforts and are up to less than 5%. That is only 950 million out of the 19 billion bags that CA uses in only one year! That leaves 18.05 billion bags in our oceans, rivers, landfills and streets…

HE SAID: "These bags are fully recyclable and people reuse them in their homes so to suggest that people use them once and dispose of them is factually incorrect."

HE LEFT OUT: Um..what about the CADMIUM in the red lettering on the bags that ends up in peoples homes that is a known carcinogen?

And one final message to State Senator Mimi Walters from the students in her district:

(Who also took $3,600 in donations from the ACC and voted against AB 1998)

"I feel like our senator Mimi Walters does not represent us. She does not represent what the future needs, just what the ACC wants. If she were here today I would ask her to please re-look at her wants and what other people have influenced her to do like the ACC and really look at what the people need and what the people want."

Senator Walters might want to rethink the price of listening to her constituents.

Sacramento AB 1998 Press Conference - videos

My trip up to Sacramento was a quick one, but chock full of great inspirational speeches and information. I will do two posts on the Nov. 29 press conference hosted by Green Cities California and organized by the Clean Seas Coalition and Seventh Generation Advisers.

Part 1 - speeches from policy makers and business owners in support of AB 1998

The creator and owner of Chico Bags, Andy Keller gave a speech on the economic benefit of green jobs in CA and how passing AB 1998 - the CA statewide ban on single use plastic bags - would ensure economic growth.

Things that I learned from Andy's articulate speech:

1. Chico Bags is 1 of 20 reusable bag companies in CA

2. CA is home to more reusable bag companies than any other state in the country

"Groups like the ACC (American Chemistry Council) are spending millions to stop this movement. I think they would be elates if we were all running around as bag monsters....Make no mistake, when they (the ACC) talk about jobs they are not talking about green jobs, they are talking about a handful of bag manufacturers in CA...What they are not telling us is that for most of them, single use carry out bags are just a small section of their product line. And that many of these plastic bag manufacturers already make reusable bags."

I have two more speeches to add to this post, but I will do so later. We got our Christmas Tree tonight so I am sure you understand if I sign off after many frustrating minutes uploading YouTube videos to "deck the halls" with my husband, two dogs and cat. More soon!!

Day 139 - August 13, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

1.5 pounds

562.5 total

COMMUNITY COLLECTION COUNT

Day 43

Anna C. - Thank you Anna!

2 pounds

336.8 pounds total
I hadn't noticed that the front of our life guard towers said, "Proudly presented by: deepwaterhorizonresponse.com - Help the Gulf Coast" - made me smile to see this written.

One organization helping the birds affected by the BP oil disaster is the International Bird Rescue Research Center that is now in the Gulf on location, but their home base is "down the beach" in Longbeach CA.

Their founder and director Jay Halcomb won Oceana's Ocean Hero Award this year, and rightly so. On tuesday they released "62 clean, healthy Gulf oil spill birds..." into Atchafalaya State Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is far enough away from the heart of the spill, but will serve as a suitible habitat for the birds. Job well done everyone at the IBRRC!
Meanwhile -- at a press conference for AB 1998 today - Andy Keller of Chico Bag had this to say:

"Have you kicked your bag habit?" - Andy Keller, founder Chico Bag

A person in a lifetime will use 45,000 single use plastic bags. The average American uses 100 a year.....BAG MONSTER BLOG
"Plastic bags are not free. When you go to the store, the cost of the "free" plastic bag is embedded in your grocceries." - Lisa Boyle, Plastic Pollution Coalition

We use 19 billion single use plastic bags in California in one year! Holy S&^%T!!