Day 180- Dec. 22, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min.

7 pounds

704.4 pounds total

After what felt like weeks of rain, it cleared for a time yesterday so that I could get down to the beach. That is, until the thunder rolled in, but I had already collected for 20 minutes.

The rain provided a small chunk of time to withdraw from the outside world. I chose to hunker down inside with my dogs, cat, and husband (when he wasn't at SMC wrapping up the semester). I also chose to unplug from my online activities for a spell, electing only to check my email for a quick scan of essential business to be addressed. That was all. Instead, it felt wonderful to sink into the slowing down of holiday time at the end of each year. This is the first post in more than a couple of days, and it will be my last until the 26th. I'm going to live off-line. Happy holidays to all.

Makes me wonder what happened to all of the toothbrushes that I've used in my lifetime?

There is a brand that you can buy that comes in a mailer so that when you are finished with the life of the toothbrush, you pop it back in the original wrapping and mail it off (postage is covered by the company) to be recycled into another toothbrush. PRESERVE
The end of the year is a time for donations to non-profits that can be included in this year's taxes. Let me suggest one of my absolute favorites - HEAL THE BAY. I find enough of these to know that they need all the help we can give them to revive AB 1998 and get a statewide ban on single use plastic bags who have a long life after their one time service.
The beach was a mess. My 7 pound collection put me over the 700 pound mark for total Daily Ocean collections.
Today is the first full day of winter. If the weather persists, we are going to see plenty of skies that look like this for the next few months to come.
Wait, didn't I already include this photograph? No. This is another plastic bag that I found. I've included shots of two that I picked up off of the beach, but I know that I must have collected upwards of 10.

That's 1 plastic bag every 2 minutes.

Houston - we have a problem here.

A ray of sunlight broke through towards the end of my beach cleanup. OCEANA is another non-profit ocean conservation organization that shed some light on many of the diverse problems that have our oceans in peril, and they made some serious headway. Congratulations to them and my heartfelt thanks.
Yes, more sea gulls. If you have read The Daily Ocean before, you know that I have a strong appreciation for these birds.

I am going to echo the email that Blue Ocean Institute sent out about this time of year,

"May the holidays bring you inspiration, hope and renewal."

Day 82 - Dec. 13

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

estimated number of pounds collected - 8.2

total number of pounds collected - 360.07
Garen helped me collect today. We got there and found a huge flock of sea gulls that I was able to get close to to photograph. I've included some of these shots at the end of this post.

Today was the first day it didn't rain in 2, 3 days. I lost count. We need the water desperately, but one thing that I find hard about Los Angeles when it rains, is the amount of crap that washes out of the city storm drains, and into the ocean. See below.
Everywhere we looked, the tide line was littered like this. It stretched down the beach in either direction. When I saw these piles of leaves, plastic trash, and other junk, I knew that it was going to be one of those days collecting that involved a lot of deep breaths.......
Recently, Surfrider included a blurb about cigarette butts, and their toxicity in the water. I had read a related article earlier this year, and had been looking for the same information elsewhere when I lost track of which magazine in our house I'd seen the fact. Well here it is, and thanks to Surfrider's ENewsletter "SOUP" for another interesting link.

"Cigarette butts are toxic to fish and should be labeled as toxic hazardous waste, U.S. researchers say. Scientists at San Diego State University say that a single cigarette butt can be enough to contaminate a liter of water and kill half of the fish swimming in it. "

here's the link to the whole article
Okay, so after 12 minutes Garen's bag was completely full. He actually had to sit down and watch me complete the last 8 on my own....

He also noticed that he wasn't as thorough as usual. He estimates that he grabbed about 80% of what he saw when usually we both grab what is there, and then move on. Not today, we were overwhelmed by the amount of trash needing to be collected, and left plenty behind for another time.
This is as far as we got from my starting point of life guard tower 26. Usually I go from this life guard tower and walk south to the next one, and then all the way back again. Today we made it about 40 yards from the first one, and as I said above, left about 20% of the trash we saw in that distance on the beach because it was too small to collect, or there was just way too much to grab in 20 minutes.

Garen and I estimated that there is about 120 yards between life guard towers, and that just measuring the 5 foot area of the tide line on the beach, there was approximately 30 pounds of trash to be collected between each set of towers today. All of this washed in from the ocean after the rain, it looked like.

There is always this much trash in the storm drain system. A good rain just concentrates it together for us to get a look at. Disturbing.
My friend Siel said that she call tell from this blog that I really like the Sea Gulls on the beach. She is right! Enjoy the pictures here and below if you like these birds too. I think they are beautiful, but most people find then a nuisance.

And here is Siel's blog, greenLAgirl, check it out if you've never seen it.

Day 71 - Oct. 29

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

estimated pounds of trash collected today - 2.4

estimated pounds of trash collected to date - 332.1
If you'll look closer, you'll see that the label says, "No Junk Promise."

Except now.......it is junk, or trash, or litter, or plastic, or a problem, or a bummer.

But speaking of food, just got an email from The Blue Ocean Institute founded by Dr. Carl Safina, who is a Marine Scientist and Ocean Conservationist on the east coast.

He does a lot of speaking and political lobbying to help save the Atlantic Blue Fin Tuna that is nearly extinct. He's also the author of some amazing books like, "Song for the Blue Ocean."

OK, anyway you can tell I like this guy.

Here's the new program:

Green Chefs, Blue Ocean (GCBO)is a joint project of Chefs Collaborativeand Blue Ocean Institute.

GCBO is the first comprehensive, interactive online sustainable seafood training program developed jointly by culinary professionals and marine conservationists.

www.oceanfriendlychefs.org

I may be dating myself, but who doesn't associate Reece's Pieces with E.T.!

This also brings to mind Halloween.

I don't know what to do this year about trick or treaters, and the treats.

Let me explain.

Candy wrappers are the third most common type of trash polluting the oceans.

This year we moved to a neighborhood that may be swelling with little tricksters tomorrow night, and while I could just not answer the doorbell, (seems like a poor option), I don't want to hand out small candy bars with all those wrappers!

So then what, apples? No, couldn't stand being the "healthy" treat lady, gross.

Suggestions?
This is a Willet (Willett?) bird. They remind me of a small Egret.

I talk about Surfrider a lot. And let me say it again, I am not a surfer, but I am a member because I love how they work towards protecting our beaches, and coastal waters with their various programs.

One I have been looking into recently is the Ocean Friendly Gardens program.

If you live in a coastal area, and have a yard or garden, there are certain plants to plant that:

- take less water.

- grab more soil, therefor protecting the ground from eroding away when it rains and making it into the ocean.

The soil contributes to what is called Urban Runoff. Los Angeles is 90% concrete and therefor 90% impermeable.

When it rains here, (as infrequent as that is), the water rushes to the ocean picking up everything along the way, that's Urban Runoff.

If you plant an Ocean Friendly Garden, you contribute a lot less to the problem. Less stuff heading for the ocean, less pollution, and all you have to do is get some plants that usually don't need more than a very small amount of water.

Surfrider's Ocean Friendly Garden's program has a whole lot of workshops for free coming up in the LA area. Why not go to one?
I love to see the Sea Gulls on the beach at sunset gather together on the sand and face west to watch the show.

They do this by the hundreds, like a herd of cows that naturally orient themselves north, these birds stand together looking at the sun until it drops below the horizon.

Not a bad way to end the day, and by doing this it makes me think that they know how lucky they are to be able to witness a Pacific Coast sunset on a daily basis.

There may be a more scientific, zoologic explanation....but I like to believe they gather together like this simply because they want to.

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!

Day 51 - Sept. 1

Life Guard Station 26, Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min.

estimated lbs. today - 2.6 - 2.3 bag of trash/ .3 bag of recyclables

estimated lbs. to date - 276.1
That dark cloud in the upper right hand corner is the smoke from the "Station Fire" in Los Angeles spanning over 40 miles to get to us at the beach. Long, smokey tendrils filled the air and reached across the sun as I stepped onto the sand tonight.
A fantastic book about Leather Back Sea Turtles is called the Voyage of the Turtle by Dr. Carl Safina of The Blue Ocean Institute who also fights for the Blue Fin Tuna. They are facing near extinction and he has been their advocate for many years. Also a great book by him is Song For A Blue Ocean.
I had a great experience out on the beach today. A 9 year old girl drying off with a beach towel that was printed to be a replica of the US flag came over to me and thanked me for collecting trash. I said thank you, of course, and left to finish my 20 minutes with a smile.

At Bob's market in my neighborhood while I was standing in line, she found me again. We chatted for a minute and I thanked her for stopping me to say hello. If a kid feels the urge to come over and talk to you, not once but twice, you know you're doing something right that day.
This is not about Marine Debris or Ocean Conservation, but I have to mention again here that the experience of being in Los Angeles during this insane wild fire is surreal to say the least. The clouds of smoke are 4 miles high and we could see them from Malibu. The area burned is larger than Seattle and while hundreds of houses have been saved by the efforts of over a thousand fire fighters, 62 have been lost. My heart goes out to all of you who have been evacuated, or suffered property loss, and god forbid loss of life in your circle of friends, family and animals. It truly feels like our city is burning down.
On a positive note, I saved a Sea Gull from eating a green elastic hair band. I chased him off in time when he dropped it to reposition his grip. I wonder what I looked like as I ran after him in the sand? Children playing at the beach, and I don't like this, often chase Sea Gulls away into the sky or over the water. This behavior is barely noticed, but I'm 32, hmm...oh well, I'm glad it is my impulse to run first and get self conscience later.

Day 42 - August 9, 2009

Life Guard Station 26, Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

estimated pounds of trash collected today - 6.4

estimated pounds of trash collected to date - 239.4

THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE SUPPORTING THIS PROJECT BY SIGNING UP TO FOLLOW MY BLOG. YOU CAN TOO IF YOU SCROLL DOWN AND LOOK AT THE RIGHT HAND COLUMN. I AM THRILLED TO HAVE YOU ALONG.

THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST.
I have spent the last three days attending the SCBWI (Society for Children's Book Writer's and Illustrators) conference here in Los Angeles. I probably don't need to mention that I am full of inspiration, and completely brain fried. When I collected last night, I went a little wild with the photos and writing. This post will be longer than usual.
The beach is something you can interact with. It has a personality the way other environments may not. Sure mountains have snow, breezes blowing through tall trees, and other ways to interact with them. Sand moves in the desert, but the ocean has an immediate interaction with you when you step up to the waves and let them lap over your feet. That edge between sand and water is an unexpected world that can send you reeling back, knee deep in water that you thought would only be toe high. Enter further and it's a doorway to a new world. You are no longer a land creature, trading your sure feet for floating uncertainty.
This foot print happened as I was taking the photo of just the bag for my, "How many plastic bags can I photograph in 20 minutes?" game. Let me explain. I am aware that this blog is and will be repetitive, maybe even redundant. I think this sometime in the first five minutes of every collection. My thought process goes something like this, "How am I going to keep this interesting? If I see one more straw...People will be bored with this whole thing, I am, oh joy, another cigarette butt." Then I had an AH-HA moment. What if I tried to make a game out of seeing how many pieces of a certain kind of trash I could collect at one time. I know, it sounds like a demented game, but stay with me a moment longer. Maybe one day it would be straws. See how many I can collect, and take a picture of every one of them. Sure, those reading would scroll through ten pictures of nearly identical straws, but isn't that the point? The repetitiveness, the ridiculous nature of drenching our beaches in candy wrappers and plastic bottles over and over again?
Not a diaper and a bottle that our children need. Diapers, like band-aids, come off in the water. Why do we leave them on while taking our toddlers into the ocean?
Birds at the beach do what we do. They stand and play at that line of wave and sand. They fly up, like we step back, run away to keep from getting soaked. Except they also eat there, like we do not. We wouldn't like to sit at our table with a diaper, let's not leave one on theirs.
List of good things I saw at the beach today -

- A little girl planting her feet in the sand to see how deep they'll sink as a wave recedes.

- A boy of about 10 lying belly down in the sand pretending to be a sea turtle.

- A mother taking pictures of her children which will someday become their baby pictures at the beach.
If I had a wish for today it would be to remember what you felt like when you were a kid at the beach, (that is if you liked the beach then, or maybe you're still a kid, but I'm assuming if you've read this far, you like the beach). The wonderment and play that takes place there. Remember that and more so that we can work towards saving this place for future generations to experience the same amazing afternoons there that we had. Sand Dollars are more fun to discover than tampons, seriously.

Day 41 - August 5, 2009

Life Guard Station 26, Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

estimated pounds of trash collected today - 5

estimated pounds of trash collected to date - 233

The Daily Water Bottle. Yesterday I came across a site that someone who is following my blog also follows. It is called 365 Days of Trash, "One man's attempt to throw nothing away for a year....and beyond." He has an article posted called, "Isn't it time to give up on plastic water bottles?" If you are interested, click on the article name above and read a thoughtful, concise, argument against single use water bottles.
This did not go into the water, but you get the point. In fact, Garen and I saved about 10 band-aids from entering the ocean today. I picked one up completely bare handed by accident, yuck! I am not sure why people enter the ocean with band-aids on, they do not stick! We labeled today, "Big Band-aid Wednesday", a reference to the beloved surfing move, "Big Wednesday".
We were up at Zuma today and saw dolphins twice, then again down here in Ocean Park at about 6:00 pm. Three dolphin sightings in one day made me very happy. I made a list in a recent post of all the trash items I collected in a day. To counter that with a positive list, here are all of the animals we saw today:

- 3 flocks of Pelicans in V formation 12 - 16 approx. in each group!

- Sea Gulls, at least three different varieties.

- Crows on the beach, (my favorite!)

- Dolphins - hard to know how many, you can see the same ones again and again.

- Humans - too many to count!! Many of them having a very good time.

What is this you may ask? It is a picture of the blue sky I saw above us at the end of our collection time. If only house paint COULD capture colors from nature. There is a brand that I can recommend, Fresh Aire House Paint. We have painted most of our house with it, and I am very happy with the colors. Exclusively at Home Depot, these paints to not contain V.O.C.'s, (Volatile Organic Compounds....toxins that get into the water when flushed, or washed down the sink). You can barely smell them, even with the windows and doors closed, and the AC on. I speak from experience.
Occasionally Garen, (my husband), comes out to help me on a collection. Other people, (friends and people who have found me online), have offered to help collect trash from the beach too.

The plan is: If you want to join in!

- collect trash for 20 minutes.

- take a few pictures (trash, something inspiring, where you're standing...)

- email the pictures to me along with the name of the beach, how many pounds you collected, and a little something about you.

- my email: sara_bayles@yahoo.com

I will start a Community Collection Count, people doing what I do, from anywhere in the world, connecting to this project via the internet, and spreading the word. Let's Do It!!!