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!!

East Coast -- West Coast Trash Talk

COMMUNITY COLLECTION DAY 39: JULY 25, 2010

Rob Rector of MERR - Marine Education Research and Rehabilitation - Institute in Delaware and I met because of Oceana's Ocean Hero Contest this year. We both loved being a part of it.

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster (it's not just a "spill") happened during the contest. Many people felt devastated and helpless, (still do) but if they looked at Oceana's website they were directed to look at all kinds of ocean activism, most especially this year's winner IBRRC.

The International Bird Rescue Research Center are in the gulf right now helping oiled birds survive this tragedy. Here's a direct link to what they are doing. Their efforts are tremendous.

After the Ocean Hero Award Rob and I decided to try to find ways to work together. Here's one way that we came up with. We did a joint beach cleanup for the Community Collection Count part of my blog. Want to contribute? Leave a comment and I'll catch you up on what to do. It's pretty simple. You just do a Daily Ocean style cleanup near you, or while on vacation and send me your findings. Below are the results from our:

EAST COAST -- WEST COAST TRASH TALK (Rob aptly named it)

Last Sunday night, on our respective east coast and west coast beaches, at sunset we went out for about 20 minutes to see what we could find. Below is one of the many cool videos he sent me to introduce Nate and Maya - his ridiculously cute, and smart kids -

the Ocean Heroes of the night.

"The stats- Collectors: Maya (6) and Nate (4)

Time: 8:10-8:35

Area: 2 blocks on Rehoboth Beach DE

Amount collected: 6.5 pounds

Total: 321.5

Fun had: immeasurable" - Rob Rector, MERR

The picture above could be of the beach down the street from me. An orange peel and a plastic bottle top-twisty-thingy are everyday finds in California as well.

I found a plastic water bottle, and lots of gulls too. See my collection results for the day.

Ahh..chap stick. For me it was one of those plastic disposable objects that had infiltrated my life so seamlessly until I became aware of single use disposable plastics. Now I see them...and oh so many other objects like it.

Thank you to Nate, Maya and Rob for participating in cleaning up our beaches, but just as importantly for raising awareness about the trash -- mostly plastic and single use -- that is flooding the oceans. It's like the chap stick, once you see it, you see it everywhere.

Even if you don't live by the coast, all "drains" lead to the ocean eventually. In the meantime, if you look around your neighborhood, do you see plastic water bottles, cigarette butts, and plastic bags littering your streets? If so, want to do something about it?

Biggest object: A beach chair (I did not include this with the weight, though,as I left it in the trash there. No room on my bike).

They didn't even get to finish their Cherry Coke!

Thank you Rob for all the short videos you took of Nate and Maya. It really feels like we are all right there with you. I hope that the people who are reading this post enjoy them as much as I do!

WORLD OCEAN'S DAY - JUNE 8, 2010

WORLD OCEANS DAY - JUNE 8TH, 2010

DAY 33 - SANTA MONICA, CA

11.2 POUNDS COLLECTED BY 11 PEOPLE IN 20 MIN.

COMMUNITY COLLECTION COUNT TOTAL 229.6

In honor of World Oceans Day, Ocean Hero winners from Green Chimneys Deborah and Robin, Julianna Stein from Oceana, Jon Frank from Oceana, Garen Baghdasarian, Dean Miya, Mark Armen from Gulpable, and myself met at the Santa Monica Pier to do a Daily Ocean style beach cleanup.

We collected from the pier to Shutters Hotel, which is about a 20 min. walk down the beach.

We all decided that today was the day of the cigarette. Our group picked up dozens.

Of course, we couldn't have a cleanup without a candy wrapper. Three most common types of trash that are found on the beach:

1. cigarette butts

2. candy wrappers

3. fast food wrappers

I would amend this list to put anything made from plastic right at the top.....

Shutters hotel that looks out on the beach, but sits right on top of the Pico-Kenter storm drain, which in the rainy season is a sludgy, polluted nightmare running straight into the pacific but today was neatly buried in sand...
Above is Deborah Bernstein of Green Chimneys who won the Junior Ocean Hero Award for their Shark Fanatics program. Deborah and Green Chimney teacher Robin were so much fun to meet and the award was well deserved. Read more about their program here.

Dean, Deborah and Robin at the Oceana World Oceans Day party sponsored by QG and Nautica at the Sunset Tower Hotel in Hollywood. Robin was beaming, as she should have been. Congratulations!!!!

The CEO of Oceana awarding the Ocean Hero Award to Robin

Unfortunately I didn't get a great picture of the representative from the IBRRC (International Bird Research and Rescue Center) that came up from Long Beach to accept on behalf of Jay Halcomb who is in the Gulf right now rescuing birds from the oil spill. It was a somber day of celebration as we all reflected on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill disaster now decimating the Gulf of Mexico.

Thank you IBRRC and Jay for all of your hard work. And a well deserved Ocean Hero Award. For more about what they do, read more here.

Please wtch Julliana Stein's message about World Oceans Day below

then go to: STOP THE DRILL to sign Oceana's petition

Day 125 - June 4, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

1.7 pounds /2 = .8 for the COMMUNITY COUNT COLLECTION - DEAN MIYA

492.3 pounds total

213.4 pounds for COMMUNITY COUNT COLLECTION in 31 days
Dean Miya came out with me tonight for Day 125. Dean found my blog online, read it, and realized that I collected right where he surfed most often and so he contacted me. Not only did he come out to be a part of my Community Collection Count (and you can too), but he also donated to help me get to Sacramento to lobby for AB 1998 - the proposed ban on single-use plastic bags in CA that passed the State Assembly last week!

So another big thank you to Dean for his support.

He told me about a film that he and his wife just saw in the Mountain Film Festival in Telluride Co. recently called BAG IT. (I have the trailer in a post below)

BAG IT -"What starts as a film about plastic bags, evolves into a wholesale investigation into plastic and its effect on our lives, bodies and waterways."

I just watched the full length film. Now I am sitting here on a Saturday night feeling like we can't just BAG IT. The definition of BAG IT being used here as synonymous with giving up. There is way too much at stake. What is happening to our bodies and environment is just not ok. But if you've found The Daily Ocean, you probably feel that way too. Here are some facts and thoughts swirling around my head from watching BAG IT.
In the USA we use 1 million single-use plastic bags a minute, that is 60,000 bags consumed every 5 seconds

We use 2 million plastic water bottles every 5 minutes in the USA

In 2008 - water bottle sales reached 12 billion dollars

single-use plastic bags are the #1 consumer item in the world.

countries/cities/territories that have banned single-use plastic bags:

New Delhi, Bangladesh, Bhutan China in 2008, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tansania, Rwanda, South Africa, Ireland (bag fee - since inception a 90% reduction)...and there are many more

Why do we use something for only a few minutes that is made from a material you throw away and then lasts for thousands of years in landfills or in our oceans?

(re: plastic packaging and convenience items)

The average American produces 1 ton of trash per year.

Every day NYC produces enough trash to fill YANKEE STADIUM 3X

THE RECYCLING SYMBOL IS NOT REGULATED - the chasing arrows -

ONLY 1 AND 2 ARE EASILY RECYCLED

every municipality has different guidelines for recycling except one thing is consistent - the tops of plastic bottles are not recyclable

massive human rights issues exist with recycling packaging. the plastics industry doesn't want to take back most "recyclables" so it ships them over seas to Asia where people are paid a low wage to sort through the trash from the USA and lots of it is melted down releasing lots of toxic fumes and chemicals directly into the atmosphere.

Adult Albatross bring 5 tons of plastic every year to Midway Atoll to feed their chicks. (Midway Atoll is in the middle of the pacific, further west from the most commonly known Hawaiian Islands...)

"No one is without power, everyone has the capacity to do something." - Sylvia Earle

At the end of the film, the narrator Jeb Barrier came up with a summary to explain his personal journey that inspired him, and director Suzan Beraza, to make BAG IT. Although I have just begun this blog (I am a third of the way through) I feel similarly -

I did start out writing a blog about beach cleanups because I knew there was something very wrong about the ammount of trash on our beaches and in our oceans, but like any journey it has become so much more..it led me straight to the environmental scourge of single-use plastics. I collect trash to illustrate our global, growing problem that is going to take each and every one of us to change.

You with me?

The stakes are too high to not get involved, starting wherever you are, right now at your computer, in your house, in your community. And thanks to those of you who work tirelessly on our behalf. I am proud to know a handful of people interviewed in BAG IT - check them out, what they are up to, support them and again, a huge THANK YOU

Wallace J Nichols

Beth Terry

Dr. Marcus Eriksen and Anna Cummins

Oceana

Surfrider

Day 121 - May 21, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

3 pounds

483 pounds total
I'm supposed to be packing for an overnight to Sacramento, but I had to get this done first.

I will be lobbying with the Clean Seas Coalition, and Heal the Bay to support Santa Monica Assemblywoman Brownley's Bill AB1998 - which proposes a ban on single-use plastic bags.

Read more at Heal the Bay Action Alert, write Brownley a letter of support through the link

Surfrider is also helping me get to Sacramento to represent their Rise Above Plastics Campaign. You have to see their site, the opening short animated video is amazing!

Please go to Oceana and take the Ocean Hero Pledge, then vote for one of the 2010 Ocean Hero finalists. It is a tough choice, but I hope you'll support The Daily Ocean. I'm one of the six! Voting is only open until May 26th. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD.

Also Oceana gets 1$ for every pledge. Even more of a great reason to vote!!
It started to rain while I was driving down there, but the sun peeked out at the end. It had been a few days since I'd been able to get down for a collection. I miss the beach if I am away from it for more that a day or two. I hope everyone has a place they feel like that about.

From 30,000 feet

OCEANA'S OCEAN PLEDGE PSA

I just met TED DANSON on my flight to NYC. I watched

Oceana's PSA from

my seat using the Wi-Fi connection on

American Airlines when I remembered seeing

him board the same plane! I tried

to tone down my

excitement about this cool coincidence

and calmly walked to business class to

introduce myself as one of Oceana's

"Ocean Hero finalists" for 2010.

He was very gracious, and sincere.

I have to say, that was a fun conversation to have.

I really love that he dedicates his time to helping

raise awareness for our oceans.

What a cool flight!

Pledge to be an ocean hero!

Day 116 - April 28, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min.

1.8 pounds

458.1 pounds total
So many exciting things to share with you in this post, but I wanted to first say that this will be my last post for a few days because I will be in Conn. for a family funeral this weekend.

I'll be able to collect again starting this Sunday.

Thanks for reading the Daily Ocean, and enjoy this post!

They've painted all the life guard towers groovy colors in the last few days. Looking great!

FIRST - I was named a finalist for the OCEAN HERO AWARD from OCEANA. Voting started today. Please help spread the word to vote.

I am exprememly honored and humbled to be listed with the other 5 adult finalists and 5 youth finalists. If you read all of their bios, you'll be very inspired too! It's a win for the ocean that Oceana is doing this. SO please vote - every vote Oceana gets 1$ - and that's a very good thing because they are:

"Oceana is the largest international Ocean Protection & Restoration Environmental advocacy group dedicated to protecting and restoring the world's oceans and ..."

Pledge to be an ocean hero!

It was an extremely windy day today, but like on all windy days, the only thing I find that can withstand the weather is...plastic. Lots of clear plastic wrappers get un-earthed. Plastic water bottle tops, straws and the occasional cigarette butt seem to have sticking power on even the most blustery days.

Check out this video that the Malloy Brothers did which can be found on the Plastic Pollution Coalition's site. PLASTIC GOT THERE FIRST is the title.

You can imagine what that means coming from two of the world's top professional surfers who scour the globe for pristine waves.
This week a man named Steve Mc Pherson contacted me about his project to collect, photograph, and catalog plastic found on beaches and in marine environments. You can send him your pictures to add to his efforts too.

He is an artist living in the UK that has been making art with plastic for the past 15 years!

I am asking beach combers, foragers and anyone else to send photos and location details of interesting Marine Plastic that they find beached during their wanderings of the shores of the world. The project aims to document the people, places and plastic that litters our coastlines, maybe along the way it will provide some interesting or useful data, as well as hopefully bringing a greater awareness of the plastic pollution of our oceans and seas. Here's his website: www.marineplastic.org

My friend Lindsey Jurca is a teacher at ECHS Environmental Charter High School in Lawndale CA.

They are one of 6 schools in competition to have:

OBAMA COME GIVE THE COMMENCEMENT SPEECH!

HELP THEM BY CASTING YOUR VOTE HERE!

Here's their school's video that "caught the president's eye" :D How f%^**g cool is that!

Ocean Minded has the coolest suggestion attached to their apparel:

They ask you to pick up 10 pieces of trash whenever you go to your favorite beach, or out door place. Talk about positive corporate responsibility. This whole company in San Clemente was founded on love for the ocean. I'm a fan!

Oceana's Ocean Hero Award Nomination

My friend Siel of the popular, funny, and highly informative blog - greenLAgirl - has nominated me for:

Oceana's Ocean Hero Award.

At the urging of some friends, I have decided to put a link on my blog in case you would like to nominate me too.

I am honored that Siel thought of me, and humbled by the support I have received so far.

Also - I encourage you to nominate other Ocean Heroes that you know too!

From now until April 19th - here is the nomination page.

If I get into the final 8, then it will be time to vote! I'll keep you posted.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!