Day 33 - July 3

Leo Carrillo State Beach, Malibu CA

trash collected by 2 people for 20 minutes

estimated trash collected today - 1.2

estimated trash collected to date - 193.4
Here is the trash collected by both of us out on this beach. Leo Carrillo is 30 min. or more north of Santa Monica Bay. I see a huge difference, don't you? Two days before we filled 5 or more bags in 20 min.. Today, just this. It was refreshing. I thought to collect here while we were on the beach for the day to see the difference, if any, of being farther from the city of Santa Monica. There is a big difference. 
The Water Bottle of the Day - even here, there are some to find. I am interested to see that this water bottle company supports an environmental non-profit. The American Forests.

It looks like a great program with a friendly interactive website. They have a carbon calculator so that you can see what your Carbon Foot Print is. 
I like this photograph. The bottom line of the can matches up with the horizon line of the water. But I would like to continue my train of thought from above. I think that corporations whose products contribute to marine debris should sponsor ocean conservation groups as well. Like the Long Beach Aquarium. It is an amazing place that we went to this week. There is a website to visit associated with them. www.thankyouocean.org

They are promoting Shark Conservation. Since 1975 and the release of Jaws, the public's attitude to sharks has taken a steep decline. This hasn't helped the cause to protect these amazing animals that keep the marine ecosystem in balance. They have been here for millions of years, but their numbers are dropping fast.
Why should you care about sharks you may ask? Maybe the only time you think about them is when you are in the water like the people above? I get it. So let me explain. 

"The Importance of Sharks in Maintaining Healthy Marine Ecosystems - 

Sharks have been swimming in the ocean for 400 million years, that's 100 million years before the dinosaurs appeared on land. They inhabit the oceans from its deep seas to its coastal wetlands and coral reefs. Sharks play a truly vital role in the maintaining the health if marine ecosystems, but today many species of sharks that are at the top of the food web, are in danger of extinction. While many people fear sharks, a greater fear should be the consequences of the loss of sharks will do to an already stressed ocean." The Long Beach Aquarium Brochure. 

If you want to feed sharks and rays, lorikeets and sea lions, and much more, please make a visit, and consider becoming a member, thanks. 

Day 32 - July 1

Life Guard Station 26, Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min. by two people

estimated trash collected today - 9.8

estimated trash collected to date - 191.2
Water Bottle of the Day - I think that will be an official title given to the photograph I plan on including in every entry of at least one of the water bottles I find. I find more than one every time. 

"One person's waste could be another persons treasure." - The Plastiki Website

David de Rothschild and the Plastiki Expedition are leaving this summer on a boat made of mostly plastic-one-time-use water bottles to explore the huge trash gyre that is in the middle of the Pacific. I've mentioned this before, but if you want to check out their website, it promises to be in 3D very soon!
The remnants of a child's pizza party. Estimated feet to next trash can - 40  
We collected the highest weight of trash today since I started. This includes the handful of times Garen has come out to help me. He had to stop collecting early because he ran out of plastic bags to fill and he physically could not hold any more. I stock at least 5 - 6 bags for collection in my kit that I carry out to the beach. We went through all of my reserves. I think this may be a sign of summer. I want to go to the beach on the 5th to see what I find. I think it may be a tough visit. 
Garen and I have been on vacation this week so I haven't collected as much as I normally do. I got discouraged today as we did some number crunching and I realized that this project will most likely take the next 2 - 3 years. I swear I hadn't considered that when I started. I will finish. I must, I couldn't forgive myself if I stopped. But damn, that is going to be a lot of plastic bottle and sunset photographs. What am I going to write? Instead of fear, I'll look at this as an adventure. Who knows what the next few years hold for any of us. And if I'm right, I predict I will have picked up approximately a ton of trash by the time it is over. That's a cool thought. Although, it would be better if there wasn't a ton of trash to pick up in the first place.

Day 31 - June26

Life Guard Station 26, Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min.

estimated trash collected today - 2.7

estimated trash collected to date - 181.4
My first trash of the day.
All this says is, "Get Quenched." It does not say, "and then ditch your cup."
Recreational Water Illness happens frequently in the ocean at the coastal beaches. Many surfers in Southern California get sick from eye, ear, throat, and other infections from swimming in contaminated water. What contaminates the water? One of the things that does is raw sewage. So when I saw the sign posted on the restroom at Life Guard Station 26, I had to hope that the backup wasn't backing into the ocean. 

If you would like to know more about how to prevent R.W.I.'s click here. 
Did you know that cows stand in the same direction in a field unless under a major power line? Click here to read an article about this. Gulls, I have noticed, flock together on the beach at sunset to enjoy the view in a group. I like to think that they are watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. Wouldn't you if you lived on the beach? Instead of a magnetic sense, like the cows, it seems like common sense.

I used three bags to hold all of the trash I collected today. Sigh. Most of it was fast food drink containers, and plastic sand toys. 
I do love sand castles. If you would like to see pictures of the World Sand Castle Championships, click here.

Day 30 - June 24

Life Guard Station 26, Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min.

estimated pounds collected today - 3.9

estimated pounds collected to date - 178.7
My daily plastic water bottle...

Here is a link to the Rise Above Plastics Blog hosted by Surfrider.

By the way, the West Los Angeles/Malibu Chapter meeting is next Tues., June 30, at the Santa Monica Youth Hostel, at 7:00. 

Santa Monica Youth Hostel is located at 1436 Second St., Santa Monica 90401
Do The Dew! Isn't that the slogan put forth by this brand? How about Recycle the Dew Damnit!

Does it have the same ring? Maybe not........

Here is another link for a site called The Action Recycling Center 

There you can find out fun facts like:

United States in two weeks produces enough cans, if stacked end on end, would be high enough to reach the moon.
I've mentioned Dr. Carl Safina before of the Blue Ocean Institute, which can be found in my links section of this blog. As I was uploading my pictures I went to my bookshelf to find his book, Voyage of the Turtle, which is missing. Rats!

But I found Song for the Blue Ocean, also a great book by Dr. Safina.

"For each pound of shrimp kept, two to eight pounds of sea creatures are killed and dumped. In the western Pacific, the region with the highest by-kill, an inconceivable-but measurable-nine million metric tons of marine life are killed and discarded annually." - Song for the Blue Ocean.

What does a plastic sand toy turtle have to do with shrimp you may ask? Well, a lot. Until the 90's shrimp nets had no exit for turtles to get out of their nets that drag across the ocean floor. Turtles graze on sea grasses and other things there, and so were often caught in the nets. They died. Now there is something called Turtle Escape Devices, or T.E.D. for short, that are put into the back of the net. It works like a trap door to let the turtles out. This was a 20 year battle that Dr. Safina expands on in Voyage of the Turtle, a book mostly about the Leatherback Turtle. He also says that, "Shrimp fishing is like going deer hunting, and cutting down the forest to find the deer." 

I choose not to eat shrimp. I also don't mention it when I am with friends at a sushi restaurant, but maybe I should. I try to just be an example, and if it comes up, tell them why I don't eat shrimp. I don't want to be a "preachy tree-hugger", but perhaps I should mention it more. Many people do not know why shrimp fishing is so destructive. 

"I've learned that you can't please everyone, and that it is best not to try to. My feeling is: Know yourself, and allow yourself to be known, and you will have lived." - Dr. Safina

I guess I'm mentioning the shrimp....

Day 29 - June 21

Life Guard Station 26, Ocean Park, Santa Monica, CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

estimated pounds of trash collected today - 2

estimated pounds of trash collected to date - 174.8
A plastic drinking bottle top. Today I collected one disposable plastic water bottle. I collect at least one every time I am out there. 
A plastic To-Go lid.
I found a pair of flower wreaths on the beach. They looked beautiful washed up on the sand. A Midsummer's Night at the ocean. 
There are going to me pictures of trash, waves, sea birds, and beach landscapes in this blog. I get nervous thinking ahead to how I am going to make all of them appear interesting given the inevitable repetition I am facing with my subject matter. There is one picture that I will never grow tired of taking, or worry if it is going to be too repetitive, and that is the light at sunset on the water. The golden color that reflects off the surface of the water is striking every time I see it. 
But there is something that I wish I never had to see again. That is the image of this sea gull swallowing a large piece of plastic sideways down its throat as I watched. I was only steps away from getting it to drop the plastic. (I was hoping to anyway.) I set my bag of trash I had collected on the sand to take pictures of the water. I turned back and saw it pick at the bag. I chased the gull away only to see it land a few feet from me and grab a large, flat piece of plastic that I had not seen to collect. Before I could do anything the bird swallowed it sideways. It really upset me. I know that I sound dramatic, but I felt awful that I was so close to the bird and couldn't prevent it from swallowing something that may kill it. It did not choke, but over time, if it continues to swallow plastics that cannot pass through its digestive track, it will die. This was the last thing I saw as I left the beach. It motivated me to come back tomorrow. Garen says that the bird may be able to regurgitate it. I hope so.  

There is a picture that I was thinking about that I saw in a book on the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument in Hawaii. It is embedded in this blog in an article entitled, "Our Oceans Are Turning Into Plastic. Are We?"  The picture is of a dead sea gull that died from digesting plastic. The above link to the monument will only lead you to an inspiring marine sanctuary. Please explore that site, Papahanaumokuekea is unbelievable. 

Day 28 - June 17

Life Guard Station 26, Ocean Park, Santa Monica, CA

trash collected for 20 min.

estimated pounds collected today - 2.5

estimated pounds collected to date - 172.8

It was about as funny to find this pair of men's under-ware, as the cute phrase printed on them.
"A picture says a thousand words," I think that's how the saying goes.......
Glad the yellow stuff that glows was still inside. 

The chemicals used to create this reaction in glow sticks are usually hydrogenperoxide and a mixture of phenyl oxalate ester and the fluorescent dye that gives the glow stick its color. 

Dangers

Glow sticks contain hydrogen peroxide, and phenol is produced as a by-product. Therefore, it is advisable to keep the mixture away from skin, and to prevent accidental ingestion, if the glow stick case splits or breaks. If spilled on skin, the chemicals could cause slight skin irritation, and swelling or, in extreme circumstances, cause vomiting and nausea. However, many ravers will cut or break open a glow stick and apply the glowing solution directly to bare skin in order to make their bodies glow. It has been said that glow stick chemicals cause cancer,^[10] although no research has suggested that they might. Also it is wise to avoid all contact with thin membranes such as the eye or nasal area. Despite reports to the contrary, it is not safe to smoke or ingest glowing phenol, and it will not produce any drug-like effects. The fluid contained in glow sticks can also dissolve some types of plastic.

- wikipedia. yummy.

I keep thinking about corporate responsibility in regards to beach trash, and perhaps litter in general. Is it enough to put something "green" on your label? I would like to see them promoting clean-ups, education and pioneering support for alternative packaging that is not going to be around forever. That's right, plastic is here for good. All of the plastic that has, or will be produced, since the 1950's is never going to biodegrade. Nope, it just breaks down into smaller and smaller particles. 
Garen made the point that as least this is biodegradable. True, but the beach isn't a produce isle. I thought it was funny actually. Whoever left their watermelon must have done so intentionally. After the towels have been shaken out, and the bags packed to go back to the car, how do you miss this?
Beach reflection in Garen's glasses. Thanks Garen for coming out with me today. 

Day 27 - June 16

Life Guard Station 26, Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min.

estimated pounds collected today - 3

estimated pounds collected to date - 170.3
There is no smoking on the beach. After I parked in front of this sign and snapped the picture, I got out of my car and saw two people smoking within 50 feet of the sign.
Then I walked to the boardwalk out to the beach and within a 3 foot area of sand, I picked up 16 cigarette butts before I left the sidewalk.
Ironic. Let me take this opportunity to talk about toothed whales. Shamu is a toothed whale, and so are dolphins. There are two main classes of whales, baleen whales and toothed whales. 

Some examples of toothed whales are dolphins, Killer whales, Sperm whales, and Beluga whales.

Some examples of baleen whales are Humpback whales, and Blue whales. 

The Blue Whale is the largest animal to live on the earth ever! Larger than any dinosaur. They eat krill, small shrimp-like crustaceans which are one of the smallest animals in the ocean. They eat 40 million krill in one day! WOW!

The largest Blue Whales have been clocked in at 200 TONS! Their tongues are as heavy as an elephant. Their heart is as large as a VW Beattle Bug Car. And you could crawl through their Aorta Heart valve. Insane!
Another brand for my collection of candy wrappers.
This muscle shell had a beautiful orange pearl-shell.
Garen, my husband, works for Santa Monica College. Yesterday was graduation day. We went to a luncheon that honored an alumni named Dr. Richard Grigg, or Ricky Grigg as he is known in the surfing world. He is a big wave surfer who after graduating from Stanford, and Scripps, has lived in Hawaii. He taught oceanography for 30 years at UH, Manoa. He specializes in corals, and coral reefs. He is an amazing guy. He relayed a poem to us. I want to share it here:

I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me. - Issac Newton

Here I am in Rowayton, Ct. on Long Island Sound. This picture was taken the day after my second birthday. I have been thinking about when, and how my relationship to the ocean began. I have been asking myself, "Why do I care so much?" I think this picture speaks for itself. 

Ricky Griggs also shared this quote:

May your joys be as deep as the ocean and your troubles as light as the foam. - Unknown

 

Day 26 - June 11

Life Guard Station 26, Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min.

estimated pounds of trash collected today - 1.2

estimated pounds of trash collected to date - 167.3

Candy Wrappers - are one of the top four kinds of trash found polluting the ocean. As I have mentioned before, there is a mass of plastics, and other kinds of trash swirling in the pacific, it is called the Pacific Trash Gyre. Larger than the size of the continental United States, many people have said that cleaning it up would be a hopeless endeavor. But not the people who started Project Kaisei . This is very good news!!!

Project Kaisei consists of a team of innovators, ocean lovers, sailors, scientists, sports enthusiasts and environmentalists who have come together with a common purpose. To study how to capture plastic waste in the ocean and how to capture, detoxify and recycle it into diesel fuel.

Ok, I'm only guessing, but I find so many of these plastic filters on the beach that I think this is the end of a cigar you can buy, and re-roll into a joint. I say this because when I was in High School, we used to buy "Philly Blunts" and I vaguely remember the filter being plastic. I could be wrong. I feel so dated and out of touch. I just find it hard to believe that day after day people come to the beach and rip off the end of their cigar and leave this plastic treasure behind. I think it more likely that people come to the beach to smoke a joint and leave this part behind in their stoned state. I could be completely wrong, and what does this have to do with my blog? I'm on a tangent, but if you smoke pot, and use a store bought cigar with a plastic filter, please pick it up when you go. Thanks.
Nothing fancy, and I can't think of a good link, just more plastic from plastic beverage bottles. Hurray. 
It is difficult, if not impossible, to capture the expansiveness of the sky at the beach on a clear day. I tried. This picture, and the next, are my attempts at relaying that view.

Our friend's dogs in Hawaii. They are living the life! Judy, one of our friends, works at the Hawaiian Institute of Marine Biology. They have many fascinating projects there. 

The Shark Lab is one of them. 

Here are some facts about sharks that I would like to share here. Garen read this article to me out of July/August 2009 Alert Diver Magazine:

1. 10 - The average number of humans killed by sharks each year.

2. 20 - 100 MILLION - the number of sharks killed by humans each year.

3. 2 months - how long a great white shark can go without feeding. 

4. 400 million - how many years sharks have been in existence. They were on the planet even before the dinosaurs. 

It seems in our best interest, and the best interest of the planet, to figure out how to stop killing sharks. One reason we kill them is to put their fins into soup. I think that through education, we can stop this from happening. 

If you would like to sign the petition circling to end shark finning, click here.

The link is to the Ocean Conservancy Website. Please visit there to learn a lot more about most of the important issues in marine conservation.