Day 188- Jan 20, 2011

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

2 pounds collected 

717 pounds total

Excuse my almost unbearably artsy photo thru the fence, but I like it. 

My friend Ronni sent me a link to today's post from, The Independent. "TRASH HOTEL OPENS IN MADRID." It is aptly named the Save the Beach hotel. This trashy hotel is constructed out of twelve tons of items found littered on Europe's beaches and is designed to "raise awareness of the plight of coastlines and seas around the world."

It was designed by a German artist - HA Schult. You've got to see this place!

Would you like to spend a night in the hotel? Well, you can! Book your stay here.

Garen and I were interviewed by a KTLA reporter on Tues. Our segment aired last night. I was pretty happy with it. It was the first time that either one of us had been interviewed for a TV station. If you would like to check it out, here is the link.

Harry, of the Flotsam Diaries in Northern Maine found a Toy Story Balloon. I found one recently on Day 181, which was on Dec. 27th. He has his posted for Jan. 19th, just less than a month after my west coast find. 

He makes a very good point in his most recent post. 

"All large pieces of plastic are trying to break up into countless small pieces of plastic. Given time, they'll succeed. Every balloon, bottle,measuring cup, shovel, glove, recycling bin, buoy, chunk of foam, or broken boat hull (!) that ends up in the ocean... it isn't really just one piece of flotsam. It's 100 or 1,000 or 10,000 pieces of flotsam, just biding their time."

I knew this, in fact I think about it a lot. I talked about it in our interview with KTLA that we can't go clean it up because these bits are too small to drag out. You'd take everything with it. 

SO then I realized that the popular myth that there is a "floating island of trash" out there somewhere was what I would rather have. We could search for it, find it, break it apart, and haul it in. Afterwards, we'd wipe our hands from a hard job done well. The truth is far more insidious, and deadly. 

The solution? We try to phase out as much single-use plastic products, and packaging as possible. It's a process, but one we are committed to. I have to. I see the detritus of our convenience culture underneath every beautiful pacific sunset on my beach. You may be thinking that these efforts are futile because the whole world isn't going to do this. Well, what if no one tried at all? What would the world look like then? And what if eventually, we all did? What would the world look like then?

My friend Siel, aka green LA girl, posted an interesting link to Freakonomics Radio: The Economics of Trash on her blog. The leading photograph in the article is of approx. 25 bags of bulging, black hefty plastic bags lining a NYC sidewalk on presumably, collection day. Underneath this image it says, "Trash: we rarely think about it - until we have to." In the post, you can find a podcast titled Trashed: How economics - and emotion - have turned garbage into such a mess." I haven't listened to it since we have a small-ish place and Garen, who got only 3 hours of sleep last night, is trying to get some shut eye as I type. But you can bet that this podcast is getting listened to tomorrow. 

Garen took his Winter Session Marine Bio Class from SMC to Palos Verdes for a field trip yesterday. It is the dirtiest beach I have seen around Southern California. It also has the best tide pooling. Those little creatures must be tough! Most of the trash is pushed up onto the rocks and dumped there as the water recedes from high tide. The students couldn't believe how many straws there were! I'm not a fan of straws myself. I try to remember to say, "hold the straw." I often add something to the effect of, "I know it sounds funny, but please, no straw." The thing that really gets to me about finding them on the beach, is that they wash back up basically in pristine condition. 

On Tues., Jan. 25th the Santa Monica City Council Members will pass, here's hoping, the Single-Use Carryout Bag Ordinance. You can see it happen live. Come to the City Hall on Main St. in Santa Monica at 5:30. I believe that there will be time for public comments. I should go back through all 188 days and count how many days I found a plastic bag on the same stretch of Santa Monica Beach in only 20 minutes of looking. Hmmm...I think I will. Stay tuned. 

I know that I take a hell of a lot of shots of the sunset on the same little section of sand. And often, these shots will include a sea gull. What can I say? I'm just mad about these little guys. They seem to me to be under appreciated, and viewed as pests on the picnic blanket. But I always feel like when I am out on the sand, that I am in their house. 

International Surfing Day with Surfrider, June 20

JOIN THE DAILY OCEAN AND WLAM SURFRIDER CHAPTER ON SUN. JUNE 20

FOR A BEACH CLEANUP, RAFFLE, PRIZES, PASTRIES, MUSIC & SURFING

TO CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL SURFING DAY

WHERE: TOWER 26, OCEAN PARK SANTA MONICA (Ocean Park Blvd. meets Barnard Way)

WHAT TIME: *CLEANUP FROM 9:00 - 10:30 with prize giveaways, 11 Surfing/Paddle out begginers and all levels welcome!!

A NOTE ON THE CLEANUP- I collect for 20 min. so we are going to take inspiration from that and have you collect for 20 min. too! We will weigh everyone's collection at the end to add to the Community Count Collection of The Daily Ocean.

So come anytime btwn 9 & 10:30 to cleanup for 20 min. to enter the raffles, then hang out and enjoy the food, music, sun and surf! Raffle and prizes will be called at 10:30.

WHY: TO HAVE FUN IN THE WATER AND REMEMBER TO TAKE CARE OF OUR BEACHES AND OCEANS BY MAKING SHIFTS IN YOUR OWN LIFE LIKE:

- CUT BACK ON SINGLE-USE DISPOSABLE PACKAGING

- DON'T DRINK BOTTLED WATER, USE YR OWN REUSABLE CONTAINER AND TAP H20

- CHOOSE PRODUCTS WITH LESS PACKAGING

- NEED SOMETHING? BUY IT USED. EBAY, THRIFT STORES, LOCAL CRAIG'S LIST

- BRING YOUR OWN - MUG, BAG, TUPPERWARE, UTENSILS

- BUY LESS STUFF!

YOU'LL WANT TO DO ALL OF THIS AFTER YOU PICK UP - WITH YOUR OWN TWO HANDS - ALL THE POINTLESS TRASH - MOST OF IT PLASTIC - THAT IS ENDING UP IN OUR OCEANS.

SURFRIDER VOLUNTEERS AT A RECENT BEACH CLEANUP AT TOWER 26

ENJOY A LIVE AUCOUSTIC SET FROM THE BAND LA VIE PICTURED ABOVE

FREE RAFFLE FOR SURFBOARD AND WETSUIT RENTALS COURTESY OF LOCAL ZJ BOARDING HOUSE ON MAIN ST. IN SANTA MONICA

FREE FIREWIRE SURFBOARD DEMOS COURTESY OF ABROR IN VENICE

SO JOIN US!

YOU DON'T HAVE TO GET WET

BUT YOU MAY WIN COOL PRIZES

GET SOME FREE GRUB

LISTEN TO GOOD MUSIC

HAVE FUN

WHILE REMEMBERING THAT CHANGE STARTS ONE PERSON AT A TIME....

HOW ABOUT YOU?

GO TO: http://tinyurl.com/intlsurfingdayla TO R.S.V.P. OR JUST SHOW UP!

OR GO TO: http://www.surfriderwlam.org

Day 108 - March 26

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

1.7 pounds

429.1 pounds total
There is a huge plastic bottle manufacturing plant in Corpus Cristi Texas called Flint Hills. In that city, the birth defect rate is 84% higher than the state average. I learned this from watching TAPPED. If you want to find out more, you can now buy it on DVD by visiting their website, and watch tons of free trailers too.

The fact I mentioned above is significant because when you buy #1 PET labeled plastic drinking bottle, you are not only ingesting carcinogens from the benzene and other chemicals that leech into your beverage, but you are contributing to the noxious gas emissions from the plant that is making those bottles, and poisoning the communities that live around their factories.

I've mentioned before that styrafoam is banned as a take out container in Santa Monica. But our city is at the end of the pipe, so to speak, meaning that the Santa Monica Bay receives all the trash from the storm drains for the entire city of Los Angeles where styrafoam is not banned.

This is a picture of what to me looked like beak marks and bird "bites" from porbably some foraging sea gull who now has a belly full of this stuff. But they aren't the only animals eating styrafoam. Check out 5Gyres blog to see a post about how some folks out to dinner, found stryafoam bits ingested in their clams. Wow.
I met a woman by phone yesterday, Sophie, when I was with Team Marine at SAMO high from

ACE - Alliance for Climate Education

Go to their site to check out their trailer, and sign up for an assembly on climate change to come to your school!

"ACE is a national nonprofit dedicated to educating America's high school students about the science behind climate change and inspiring them to do something about it—while having fun along the way. Founded in 2008, ACE is headquartered in Oakland, California, with offices in New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Chicago, New England, Denver, Atlanta, Houston and Austin."

Day 66 - Oct. 5

life guard tower 26, Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

estimated pounds collected today - 2

estimated pounds collected to date - 320

click on the graphic below and if you live in the L.A. area join us!

Here are a bunch of Snowy Plover's and a Sea Gull. Snowy Plovers come around and we know winter is coming. They are so cute. If you like them, check out this site and click here. It has beautiful pictures of Snowy Plovers and their hatchlings.
I think this picture looks staged. But really I found these two toys just like this, in this proximity to each other. In fact, I try to take pictures of all the trash I find without disturbing it, and before I pick it up. There is one recent exception to this. Scroll down to see and you'll understand why I made the exception.
Is this a balloon, or a deflated organ? Sorry for the graphic interpretation. Maybe it's the end of the balloon that makes me think of arteries.
Ahhh, the exception mentioned above. Would it not suck to step on this beauty? Jeez, the beach is synonymous with barefoot, maybe not anymore.
Tonight was my 65th day out there and I am really excited to break the 300 barrier. Less than 300 days seems do-able. Could be kidding myself, clearly. At this point it doesn't matter, I wouldn't be able to give up on this project if I had double the amount of days left.

I like this picture don't you? I took it from the parking lot as I was getting into my car.

Day 65 - Oct. 3

life guard tower 26, Ocean Park, Santa Monica Ca

trash collected for 20 minutes

estimated pounds of trash collected today - 1.1

estimated pounds of trash collected to date - 318
My friend Judy sent me a link to this blog. The author set it up as a teaching tool for kids on such heavy topics as the Midway Atoll and Albatross Birds that are dying there by the thousands. They die from eating plastics, plastic tops just like this. Check out his blog, SOAR.
If this balloon had gotten into the water it would have been anything but a happy event. Marine animals mistake balloons as food that they then eat causing terminal blockages in their digestive system. This is a major cause of death in animals like sea turtles. There is a wonderful book that I may have mentioned called Voyage of the Turtle by Dr. Carl Safina. Click here for more details.
Wayne Sentman of the Naturefinder Blog has a very good entry on Albatross and living near the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch on the Midway Atoll near Hawaii. Please read it by clicking here.

Day 63 - Sept. 24

Beach between Lifeguard Tower 26 & 27 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes.

estimated pounds of trash collected today - 1.2 trash/ .4 recyclable total = 1.6

estimated pounds of trash collected to date - 315

* I forgot to take a picture of the Lifeguard Tower 26! It feels strange to start my post without it.
The plastic in this picture appears almost precious because of the late afternoon sunlight. It's not.
It has been awhile since I found a single use plastic water bottle. I didn't miss them. I do like days like today though, when the weight of the trash collected is so low. Silly questions roll through my head like, "I should have picked a dirtier beach!" Well, this is my local beach, literally it is at the end of the street from where I live. I like the fact that I chose this strip of beach for just that reason.
In an email from Heal The Bay, they posted the results of Coastal Cleanup Day which was last weekend.

CCD 2009 - The Most Volunteers and Trash Ever!

Thanks to your help, Coastal Cleanup Day 2009 was a record breaking year!

At 69 cleanup sites all over Los Angeles County, we had 14,038 volunteers (a new record!) remove 298,686 lbs of trash and 1,726 lbs of recyclables for a record total of 300,413 lbs!

These numbers, extraordinary as they are, can't tell the whole story. Our hope is that everyone leaves Coastal Cleanup Day with a deeper appreciation for our ocean, rivers, creeks, and parks, and a better understanding of the problems they face.

If you follow my blog you may have had enough pictures of backlit children on the beach. I can't stop taking them. I apologize, but maybe you don't mind so much.

It is friday and we are headed to the beach to body surf before collecting Day 63's trash.

Day 62 - Sept. 23

Lifeguard Tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min.

estimated pounds of trash collected today - 1.5

estimated pounds of trash collected to date - 313.4
Is it a balloon, a jelly fish, or a creature from the deep? I think you know the answer....

My local paper is amazing, they run stories about beach closures on the front page.

From the Santa Monica Daily Press today : (they are running a story on The Daily Ocean in their weekend edition. Check their website to read it, they are an online paper too!)

BEACH CLOSURE
WILL ROGERS STATE BEACH Foul smell causes closure The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has posted warning signs advising swimmers and surfers to avoid the ocean for a half-mile north and a half-mile south of the storm drain located at Will Rogers State Beach, near Pacific Palisades....more

essay continued from Day 60 post:

But I do this for a few reasons. I feel better when I collect the trash, making it unavailable for marine life to get sick from. I find it enormously satisfying when I chase a gull away from eating a plastic bottle cap.
Sometimes I feel worse after collecting. If the sand is littered with trash that day, usually on Sunday nights, then I am depressed because sometimes I collect over five pounds in twenty minutes. Remember, the stuff I am collecting weighs ounces; cigarette butts aren’t heavy.

Here’s why I keep doing it though. This is my hope. I hope that people see what I am doing physically, or online and it inspires them to do the same. I hope that steady shifts in awareness sink in that cause people to change. And that all of this effort creates a slow and steady climax to the tipping point where people feel inspired to take action around whatever environmental issue they feel passionate about and that this passion becomes contagious.

Day 60 - Sept 20

Lifeguard Tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

estimated pounds of trash collected today - 5.8

estimated pounds of trash collected to date - 309.9
Ruby Slippers! There's no place like home. Garen and I spent over an hour in the water today at the beach in front of Tower 26. I had never swam there before, but we checked the Heal the Bay Beach Report card and saw that it was an A even though it is near beaches that have received an F rating.

And besides, I have collected some trash off that beach that I would rather not swim with. I couldn't resist the perfect body surfing waves that roll in there any longer, and it made more sense to me why surfers will risk dirty beaches if there is a nice wave there. Now I also understand why so many people go there.

The water in the bay is warm, especially in September here in Southern California. And the sandy bottom, where perfect surfing and body surfing waves roll in, makes it a really great place to play in the water. After having such a good time there today, I am even more determined to carry on with this project.
There was a festival on the pier today sponsored by the Roots and Shoots Foundation that was started by Jane Goodall. The students of Team Marine at SAMOHI (Santa Monica High School) brought their RETHINK sign to prop up in front of the stage. Their sign, which I have mentioned in this blog in an earlier post, is made from 37, 427 plastic bottle tops, that is 37,427 plastic bottle tops that have not made it in the ocean. Neither did this one.
An old boogie board, soggy, broken and left behind.
On the pier today I met a group of 4th graders and their parents who have formed an organization called PEACE TROOP. They used to be involved in Girl Scouts but have started to do their own thing, and today they worked for Surfrider. I was very excited to meet them. They are invited to participate in The Daily Ocean by coming out for a beach cleanup with me. And Team Marine will look into partnering with their elementary school in West Los Angeles. Today was a great day to be a part of things going on here in Santa Monica, and the greater Los Angeles area.
Hope you enjoyed today, it was the last day of summer. September can be an unbearably hot month here, but this weekend was just right. It is bittersweet to say goodbye to this season and enter into fall, but this is my favorite time of year. It feels full of possibilities, and full of forward moving energy to greet those possibilities as they develop.

Day 56 - Sept. 13, 2009

Lifeguard Tower 26, Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min. - 3.6 trash/ .6 recyclables

estimated pounds collected today - 4.2

estimated pounds collected to date - 297

I forgot my camera today so I found this picture from a past collection day and posted it above because the sunset looked similar tonight.

This has been an off week for me in terms of days out collecting and I can feel it. I had commitments on Wed. and Thurs. night around sunset. Then I got the flu and today was the first day back to the beach.

I gave my plastic water bottles that you can redeem for money to a man on the beach who was collecting them to recycle and make a little extra, and I'm sure necessary, cash. After he asked me if I worked for the city and I said no, he told me I was a good citizen for picking up the trash. I told him it helped me feel less depressed. I'm not sure her understood me.

Yesterday a scary report about staff germs being in the water in Washington State came out. Here is one source from USA TODAY and the other from Yahoo.

"The germ causes nasty skin infections as well as pneumonia and other life-threatening problems. It spreads mostly through human contact. Little is known about environmental sources that also may harbor the germ."

It was found in 7 beach sand samples found around Puget Sound.

But like Garen said earlier today after watching the documentary FLOW, "It is all about solutions." To which I'll add, or what is the f@#$^& point.

Day 55 - Sept 8

Lifeguard Station 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

estimated trash collected today - 3 bags- 1.8/2.4 of trash .6 recyclables = 4.8

estimated trash collected to date - 292.8

The water bottle for Day 54. I was talking to someone in the parking lot tonight who asked me what I was weighing. I explained, trash, and we got to talking. He is a surfer from Nepal who moved here 14 years ago. He was telling me that he grew up without a lot of material things because he is from a poor country. Therefor there was hardly any waste. For example, to get another soda you took your glass bottle in to be refilled. Two great ideas, glass bottles, and refilling them. But they weren't trying to be green, this is conservation out of necessity. I have a feeling I am collecting trash that stems from privilege.
I thought it was a shame that someone left this tiny, stylish shoe. I should have put my foot next to it for purposes of scale. Well let me just tell you, it's for a two year old. Which brings up something I think about a lot.

Why do people leave trash or their belongings behind on the beach?

I have four reasons and one X factor.

1. People are lazy. They think someone else will do it for them.

2. People really do not think about it. For whatever reason, environmental education has not reached, or made an impact on them. They are lacking in awareness to the point that it rarely, if ever, occurs to them that there is a connection between their daily choices and the rest of the world.

3. People have reached a state I refer to as beach bliss. Beach Bliss is the sense that you are in another world on the beach, one that makes you happy and forgetful. Therefor you act in ways here you wouldn't in your own life because you are essentially having such a great time at the beach. Example, they're probably not leaving empty bottles all over their front lawn as they come into the house from work, but they're not in that mindset here. So as they float away at the end of the day, they forget to act responsibly. A stretch at best, but more optimistic.

4. Beach Fatigue. Similar to the reason above, except you have stayed too long and the sun and waves have zapped you energy until it is all you can do to make it back to your car with most of your stuff. my friend Brigid came up with this after hearing my Beach Bliss theory.

X factor - sea gulls. They tear things away from blankets while their unsuspecting owners are away in the water, or dive for "snacks" in the open trash cans.

Open trash cans--something to tackle in a future post. Hint, open trash cans and open storm drains have something in common.

Rubin, the Lifeguard at station 26 tonight, (who is also responsible for coming up with the above X factor) believes that it is mostly reason 1 & 2. And the grossest thing, in his opinion, is when he sees dirty diapers on the beach. Yuck.

Many people talked to me today on the beach. Rubin offered me gloves, a few others said thank you. Which reminds me, Siel of Green LA Girl and I are doing a joint beach cleanup on Oct. 25th. Come join us! There will be drinks, snacks, like minded folks, bloggers and readers and ocean lovers. We're joining forces for a night, come along.

SO MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND SAVE THE DATE OCT. 25TH BEACH CLEANUP WITH ME AND SIEL! WOO-HOO!