Day 123 - May 25, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

1.5 pounds

488.1 pounds total

In the short video above I called the Pacific, "my ocean." I quickly corrected myself realizing that it is not "my" ocean. Now as I sit here to write up last night's collection I want to take that back. It is "my" ocean, and "your" ocean. Although I do not live on the Gulf of Mexico, it is "my gulf" too. I think Wallace J Nichols put it well in his Huffington Post article,

"Gut feeling, We're all ocean activists now."

This wrapper was completely intact with no candy inside. I thought a hollow, perfectly wrapped wrapper was rather strange. Say that 10x fast...

Even cute crabs are pollution when they end up in the ocean and are made of plastic.

You've got to see what these guys are up to. Surfer's Healing and their online store

Here is a link to my post that I did about them a few days ago. They are totally inspiring.



Almost a straw a minute tonight. W-O-W...

From "Oceans - The Threats to Our Seas and What You Can Do to Turn the Tide"

"The United States burns more than 20 million barrels of oil a day, about the same as the industrial behemoths Japan, Russia, Germany, China, and India COMBINED."

- Caught in the Same Net - Carl Safina

Day 122 - May 21, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park Santa Monica, CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

3.6 pounds

486.6 pounds total
I bought the book, "Oceans - The Threats to Our Seas and What You Can Do to Turn the Tide," in the Sacramento Airport bookstore last Wed.. It is the companion text to the film, "Oceans" produced by Participant Media and edited by John Bowermaster.

A quick aside - GO SEE OCEANS!

From Carl Safina's new book, "The View from Lazy Point"

"People are using the world's fishes, forests, soils, freshwater, and other resources about 25 percent faster than the world can replace them. It means, basically, that the world would be broke if it we weren't borrowing so heavily from the future."

NOW FOR SOME HOPE: THE SURFER'S HEALING PROJECT!

"Ahuwale ka po'okela i kau hana ia ha'i"

translation: It is through the way you serve others that your greatness will be felt.

Surfer's healing contacted me thru twitter and sent me these photographs from their project to make 1,000s of Leis with kids.

Read on and PLEASE CHECK THEM OUT AND SUPPORT WHAT THEY DO!!!!!

"In Hawaii, a lei is given as a celebration of one person's affection for another. The lei above was hand-made by children in Hawaii with autism along with their family and friends."

"Hawaii Behavioral Health, an agency that provides services to students with autism in school, home and community settings coordinated the lei project so all participants could receive a special lei."
"The materials used for the leis was provided by Kini Beach, a company that collects discarded beach mats, floats and body boards from beaches and resorts around Oahu. These items are recycled into raw materials for a variety of hand-made items. This lei is not only a gift of love, it reminds us to be good stewards of our natural resources.

Wear it with Aloha!

"A'ohe hana nui ka alu'ia"

(No task is too big when done together.")

Day 120 - May 10, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

3.3 pounds

480 pounds total

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!! -

To everyone who sent out a message through twitter, posted to Facebook, or made a donation to get me to Sacramento to lobby on May 19th for Assembly Bill 1998 - CA Ban the Plastic Bag law that is in crucial need of support right now.

As I write this, my request for help has only been live on my site for about four days, and I have only 25$ to go before my trip is covered!! (I am an as-of-now unpublished YA author who quit my job in Sept. to hash out final drafts of my book-in-the-works of three plus years, "Calliope and the Heart of the Sea.) So as you can imagine, our family budget does not include impromptu political trips to the state capitol. Once again, a HUGE thank you!

My first find out on the beach today was a plastic bag, which only confirmed my need to go.

I saw the movie Oceans last Sunday night. For those of you who, like me, were disappointed by Disney's Earth, please have faith and go see this movie!

If, you are also like me, and have seen all of the Blue Planet, Planet Earth, and now the Life series, you will see new footage in Earth that will blow your mind. Yes, I am that much of a nature geek, and you know what? I also love Star Wars 4 - 6, Lord of the Rings the books AND the movies, and Star Trek. It is my personal view that people who are drawn to these complex stories are not "geeks" - they just have great taste!

Drinking straws, oh drinking straws, how I find you by the dozens, oh drinking straws.....

Mark Armen of Gulpable's message on plastic straws

Three cool things happened today out on the beach while picking up...mostly plastic trash from the sand.

1. As soon as I got there, 2 dolphins leaped out of the water close to shore while playing. Is there anything better than seeing that at the beach? I see dolphins there, but I've never seen them leap out of the water before at lgt 26.

2. I got a chance to talk to a woman briefly about The Daily Ocean and agree with her that one of the only things that brings us hope that we will stop the plastic pollution entering the oceans, is when we know that other people care and are doing something about it.

3. Mark Armen of Gulpable was running on the beach when he stopped me to introduce himself. Our mutual friend Lindsey Jurca of ECHS, and Surfrider had introduced us in an email. He is a fellow Santa Monica resident kicking some butt to find solutions to "micro litter entering the ocean." Find him on twitter, and at his website. And watch him above in the quick video we shot about straws.