Thank you ecycle

Friends forwarded other friends about last Sat. Blogger Beach Cleanup and Brenda from eCycle decided to post about The Daily Ocean on her website.

I was sent the link to the article and was really stunned that she had taken so much time to cover my project in entirety. I can't say thank you enough for passing the word.

Hopefully one of the effects The Daily Ocean will have is that people will come up with their own ways to help the environment by deciding to do something that feels manageable and fits into their daily life.

That they start where they are, commit to a simple act that doesn't feel overwhelming and build on it.

The Daily Ocean started with me one day grabbing a bag and driving down the road to my local beach to collect trash......

What can you do today? What can you start?

Read Brandy's post here.

Look at their site, eCycle is a great idea: Printer Cartridge, Cell Phone, and MP3 Player Recycling.

Know anyone who has one of those? Brilliant, thank you!!

Blogger Beach Cleanup - Oct 24

The Blogger Beach Cleanup: An event that we hosted (Siel of greenLAgirl, and myself) as part of 350.org Bill McKibben's project to inspire events on Oct. 24th, International Day of Climate Action to raise awareness about Global Warming and the climate crisis.

120 people signed in, Garen counted 140.

trash collected for 20 min.

estimated pounds of trash collected: 39

green LA girl has extensive coverage of prizes awarded and sponsors that provided us with give aways here.

I have tons of pictures to share below, thanks to my friends Emma and Sophie, that I have posted below along with links to some of the environmental organizations that came out as part of our event.

A special thank you from us to the Green Bag Lady who gave us bags to give to people who showed up for the beach cleanup. Please check out her blog and project. She has given out over 6,500 fabric bags to people who pledge to switch from paper, or plastic, and use fabric!

Fabric that she gets donated to her to create her sustainable bags.
Here is part of the Sustainable Works crew picking out cigarette butts from the sand. Check out their site and see if want to attend one of their workshops that help you get further along the green spectrum from where ever you are right now. Start where you are, smart. Thank you for coming!
My neighbors Fred and Mary. Thank you for coming out and being part of our larger community. They have already contacted me about coming out next week to collect. You can too! Follow me on twitter or look at the upper right hand side of my blog where my twitter feed is posted and you can check when I will be out there next.

I usually tweet what time I will be collecting at the beginning of the day. Join me and I'll add the tally of pounds you collect to the Community Count Challenge. See that tally at the top of my blog.
Jessica Ridenour, editor of lime.com, a big green community with feature articles, blogs, and tons of wonderful, informative, environmental information. Thank you for bringing the family out and collecting trash with us on Sat.
Evan Kopelson from Green Media News is a really well informed website with news articles and videos covering a range of topics from CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), climate change, sustainable business and personal responsibility.

He is also in a video that Eco Vegan Gal put together. View it below.

Thank you Evan for coming and shooting video yourself. And thank you Whitney for taking the time to post this video to youtube and being so cool and supportive. I hope we can all collaborate in the future.

Thank you too to the guys from Green Guys Media. Three friends who:

"The Green Guys will be the catalyst that fuels the public’s knowledge and acceptance of green technologies through outlets ranging from syndicated television programming to non-profit environmental organizations."

So many more people turned out than expected. They brought their families, friends and I think we even pulled a few people in off the bike path and beach. A sincere thank you from us to all of you who participated.
We weighed everyone's collection and then with the help of my friend's son Daniel, we made a huge 350. Daniel's father, Dan, has a really cool blog called the Climate Community. Check it out. He finds people from all over the world doing amazing things to help our environment in many creative and powerful ways.

Thanks to my husband Garen and Siobhan from Heal the Bay for weighing the trash. Siobhan went to three or four events that day, I lost count, talking to people and hauling beach cleanup supplies as she went. I really like what Heal the Bay does. If you don't know about them, check them out here. Thanks for helping us with the cleanup Siobhan!
That's Bryan Koch of Net2LA, a social media expert who started his company to help nonprofits get organized utilizing social media to help them expand their support base.

"Net2LA helps Los Angeles–based nonprofits—and those working toward nonprofit status—actively engage their base and find new supporters through community-empowering technology. We meet every month alternating between educational Support Sessions and partnership-building Happy Hours.

Follow us on Twitter @Net2LA"
Thank you Garen. That's my husband Garen, the man with the clip board. He is a Marine Biology professor at Santa Monica Community College.
As Evan help us his video camera and counted to three, we all screamed 350.org

Siel and I have already made loose plans to do another one as I get closer to completing my 365 days of cleaning my local beach.

Hope you had fun, or if you missed the chance to come, you'll join us for another one.

And lastly, Siel of greenLAgirl really pulled together a community of people that supported the Blogger Beach Cleanup and made it all possible. Thanks Siel!

Peace Troop Cleans the Beach - Oct 25

If Saturday's Blogger Beach Cleanup wasn't enough, Sunday the girls from Peace Troop came out to the beach to do another cleanup.

I have more pictures and reflections to share in a longer post that will be up by tomorrow, but I wanted to put up a quick picture and say thank you so much for showing how much you care! Peace Troop Rocks!

They collected 9 pounds in 20 minutes.

Blogger Beach Cleanup Success! Oct 24

Thank you to everyone who came to the Blogger Beach Cleanup. I will have a longer post with pictures and details up by tomorrow. This weekend was non-stop and has spilled over to Monday. Sorry if you have checked my blog and not found more info. on our cleanup, but please come back Tuesday for lots of pictures, etc.! We collected about 39 pounds of trash, good work!

Blogger Beach Cleanup Today

Come join us this afternoon at the beach in Santa Monica and be a part of events for 350.org.4 pm at the end of Ocean Park Blvd. Signs will be posted to follow.

And it is my birthday, what a cool present for me to be part of Day for International Climate Action. I love the coincidence.

Thanks again to Siel of green LA girl for co-hosting with me!

Day 69 - Oct. 22

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

estimated pounds collected today - 3.6

estimated pounds collected to date - 326.11

There was a delay in the decision of the Blue Ribbon Task Force to recommend a map for the Marine Protected Area's. Yesterday was supposed to be the day, but they "blinked" as Mark Gold says, director of Heal The Bay in Santa Monica. Read what he had to say about this on his blog, Spouting Off
Sylvia Earle also weighed in on the MPA decision by writing an Op-Ed piece for the LA times. Read it here.

"People who are against protecting crucial areas of the ocean say that doing so will lead to economic disaster. In fact, the disaster is already here: There aren't enough fish left. Protected zones in the Channel Islands, the rest of the California coast and the other 50 countries in the world that use them haven't caused the sort of economic upheaval predicted by opponents. It's interesting to note that the most extreme opposition to MPAs occurs in places that don't have them yet." - Sylvia Earle
The beach was covered in a soft, thick fog last night when I went down there at sunset. I was enjoying the change in atmosphere from the usual Southern California sky. Don't get me wrong, watching the sun set over the pacific is one of the highlights of my life, but the ocean/beaches shifting faces all have a beauty of their own.

If you live in the area, please join us tomorrow at 4pm for the Blogger Beach Cleanup! I can't thank Siel of green LA girl enough for her organizational powers and hard work in putting together this event.

Beverly's Beach Cleanup, Day 4

As I have posted about earlier, a reader of The Daily Ocean Blog, Beverly, took me up on my invitation to collect trash at a beach near her and contribute to my Community Collection Count.

The Community Collection Count works like this.

- find a beach near you

- take a walk for 20 min. and collect trash

- take pictures, weigh your trash and send my your info.

- I'll post your findings here on The Daily Ocean.

Beverly spent many days during her last vacation doing this, here is Day four of her beach cleanup adventures. Again, thank you Beverly!

Goosewing Beach (Little Compton) October 5: 1 lbs. 4 oz. collected

I have a little trouble getting to Goosewing Beach, which is a preserve adjacent to South Shore Beach, separated by a stream that’s not passable at high tide. From the map it looks like there’s a road in to the beach but that turns out to be private property. An electronic gate confirms that.

So, I drive on to Padanarum Village and return to Goosewing Beach at low tide when it’s easy to walk across to the beach.

Goosewing Beach is extremely clean – I see the plus side of limited access to a beach. Few gulls, and very little trash. I find a few things – plastic pieces, fishing line, half a fishing rod. I enjoy walking for a few minutes, actually straining to find trash. The sun feels great and the water is beautiful – just rocks and seaweed on the wet sand. In the end I’ve got only 1 lbs. 4 oz. gathered from my 20 minute walk.

South Shore Beach (Little Compton) October 5: 3 lbs. collected

On Monday I head out to Little Compton – out from Newport, through Middletown and Portsmouth, over the bridge, through Tiverton and on to Little Compton. South Shore Beach is the Town Beach for Little Compton, houses and and fishing cottages clustered near the beach. It’s high tide and the waves break hard on this soft sandy beach. The sky is clear and you can see Westport, Massachusetts in the distance.

The gulls are loud as I pick up trash. These beaches are very quiet in off season but today some families are there, children run in the sun and couples drive by to take a walk on the beach. Beach lovers enjoying Monday morning in October. Life is pretty good when you can start the week with a walk on the beach.

I’m finding the usual plastic, a plastic sandal, a plastic (empty) bottle of Johnny Walker Red. In the end I’ve collected 3 lbs. No garbage cans here – but the port-a-potty does have hand sanitizer (thank you , Little Compton). I throw my bag of trash in the back of my car and drive away.

Oct. 21 - MPA Hearings Long Beach

Devany speaking with Team Marine in front of the Blue Ribbon Task Force

I went to Long Beach last night with about 80 Santa Monica High School Students. We took two buses and braved rush hour traffic on the 405 freeway. There were other students there, but no one had the same turn out that we did. Heal the Bay bought pizza for all the students and rented the buses.
We filled half the room with blue shirts to show support for Map 3 of the Marine Protected Area proposals.

On the way down I talked to the students about how there may be people there who were upset, would taught them, yell at them, make fun of them, and/or boo them. Even as I said this, I wanted to believe that no one would be so insensitive as to yell things at teenagers. But I was wrong.

The commercial fishing community showed out in strong numbers and a few of the men had no problem yelling at our students, or yelling at me. One man while riding down the escalator past us on our way up to register to speak during the public comment portion of the hearing, slapped the ass of one of one of the members of Team Marine. I wish I had been there and able to share with this gentleman just what I thought of his behavior. On second thought it is a good thing I wasn't there.
All in all, it was a great evening. I was proud of everyone for being bigger than the taunting and angry words thrown our way. I did keep reminding them that these men were scared because their financial security was being threatened and therefor they were not able to see our point of view, and were most likely acting in ways they normally might not. Although after seeing their behavior first hand, and witnessing one 40+ year old man repeatedly call a 17 yr. old young man stupid, out loud several times, the state may want to rethink his license to drive a boat.

Trash in Paradise- Tulum, Mexico

click on the square above and come to the blogger beach cleanup in santa monica this saturday. you'll be glad you did!

Join us after for free appetizers and good wine at Pourtal Wine Bar in Santa Monica

My friends Ronni Kappos and Tara Judelle went for a 20 minute walk down the beach when we were in Tulum Mexico last week for a yoga retreat. They came back with a huge bag of trash. I estimate it was about 20 pounds worth. This is a reminder for me to realize that we have trashed even the places that look serene and pristine like the Yuccatan Peninsula in Mexico.

So what do we do?

- change behavior

- raise awareness

- clean it up

- provide economical substitutes to plastics

- tie ecology with economy
Do you have ideas? I would love to hear them. Big problems like this means we need to think of big solutions that we can implement one tiny step at a time.

Day 68 - Oct. 20

Please join us this Sat. at the Beach in Ocean Park, life guard tower 26.

We have a ton of free stuff to give away, and prizes to win. Plus a happy hour afterwards at Pourtal Wine Bar in Santa Monica.

life guard tower 26, Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min.

estimated trash collected today - 2.2 pounds

estimated trash collected to date - 323.5
Happy Halloween. Sometimes I find some strange stuff on the beach.
If you are coming to the Blogger Beach Cleanup this sat. a few things you need to know.

1. you don't need to be a blogger to join us.

2. when you pick up trash, the small stuff is just as important to pick up as the big. like this bottle top, you can stop a seagull for mistaking it as a tasty snack if you take it off the beach.

3. bring a friend! the more the better, we have a lot of giveaways to say thank you and a lots of cool like minded people for you to meet too.
It rained last week in Los Angeles. I heard about it when I got home last weekend from Mexico. There is something called first flush here which refers to the contents of the storm drains getting flushed out with the first rain of the rainy season.

The students of Santa Monica High School took pictures of the first flush as it happened and posted it on their blog. Please look here to see them. You really need to see it to believe it.
The hearing to decide which map to adopt in southern California that will determine the Marine Protected Areas is tomorrow in Long Beach California. Heal the Bay has two buses leaving from Santa Monica at 11:45 and 4:45. I'll be on the bus with the SAMOHI students that leaves from their High School at 5:00. Come along and show your public support to make sure a good decision is reached. HTB is advocating for Map 3.

For more information go to www.MPAsWORK.org

Beverly's Beach Cleanup, Day 2 & 3

Beverly's Beach Cleanup Vacation - Day 2 & 3, Oct. 3 & 4th Newport, Rhode Island.

In an earlier post, I covered the beach cleanup efforts of a follower of The Daily Ocean. She spent many days of her vacation from Washington D.C. where she lives, to Newport, Rhode Island collecting trash from the local beaches.

She contacted the local D.C. and Rhode Island Surfrider chapters for support and a list of beach recommendations. Then she made a list, got a scale, brought her camera and sent me her thoughts and images to share with you here. What an inspiration!

Want to join her in becoming part of my Community Collection Count?

- Clean a beach near you for 20 minutes

- weigh the trash

-takes some pictures and send me your thoughts and images.

- I'll post your findings here too.

Read on for more of Beverly's Beach Cleanup Adventures.

Sandy Point Beach (Portsmouth) October 3: 11 lbs. 14 ozs. collected (Rusty Pipe: approximately 7 lbs.)

Dave Prescott of SurfRider Rhode Island suggested that I put Sandy Point Beach on my list, and as I drove down the long winding road to this beach on the Sakonnet River I thought I would have never known about this beach except for Dave. It had been raining all day and the sky started to clear just as I pulled up at the beach.

A solitary gull looked at me carefully and then moved along. I walked on the rocky beach, looking for trash and taking awhile to find some. A very clean beach, I thought, but finally I found some glass, some plastic, a few other items – and a rusty pipe.

A man walking his dog thanked me for cleaning the beach. I have to admit the thank yous are unexpected but feel great. I comment this beach is very clean, and the man says they try to keep it that way.

It starts to rain and I quickly weigh my trash – 4 lbs. 14 oz. and estimate the pipe is about 7 lbs. My scale only goes to 5 lbs.

Second Beach (Middletown) October 4: 3 lbs. 9 oz. collected

I drive to Second Beach early Sunday morning – around 7:30am. I love this beach in early morning; it’s magic. This is a surfer’s beach and at 7:30am it’s already filled with surfers in the water, in the parking lot getting into wet suits, waxing their boards. Motion, activity, all intent on getting in the water.

I’m a stranger; this is a set crowd. I get a few glances but no smiles and no thank yous. That’s alright, I think. I focus on trash. This beach is about the water, not the sand. There is little trash here. Mostly cigarette butts – lots of cigarette butts. A few small plastic toys, plastic bags and cans. I weigh my trash and it’s 3 lbs. 9 oz.

I’ve walked on half the beach – Second Beach is divided by a rock formation and I walk to see the other side. Couples walking dogs, lots of dogs on this beach. I recall this area has a waste water problem. Lots of dogs.

As I drive away the parking lot is full. It’s 8am on Sunday morning. Trucks, vans, surfboards in the back, surfers hopping out. Others come later, but in the morning it’s surfers in charge of Second Beach.

Marine Protected Areas Video from Heal The Bay

Please take a minute and watch this public service announcement produced by Heal the Bay about the Marine Protected Areas being mapped out and finalized in Southern California and why they are important.

www.MPAsWORK.org

Beverly's Vacation Beach Cleanup Day 1 - 10/2/09

This is the first post of Beverly's Vacation to Rhode Island where she decided to collect trash for 20 minutes at several different beaches. She found The Daily Ocean through Siel's green LA girl blog when she interviewed me a little over a month ago and posted it on her site.

Beverly and I have been emailing back and forth for awhile as she prepared for her trip and during her time in Rhode Island. I am excited to share with you what she found, saw, and thought as she took up my invitation to be part of...

The Daily Ocean's Community Count - If you can't join me in Santa Monica, you are invited to take 20 minutes on any beach near you to collect trash, weigh it, take pictures of what you see and find, send them to me with your feedback and I will post it here just like I am about to do with Beverly's trip.

She is the first person to take me up on this and I am very grateful. Want to join her?

Newport County Beaches – Beach Cleanup Project - October 2-6, 2009

Vacation Beach Clean Up – The Start of an Idea
It’s fun when an idea takes root and grows. For this idea, I read Siel’s (LA Green Girl) blog about Sara and The Daily Ocean, and got in touch with Sara. After she invited me to join her in Santa Monica for beach clean up – and I had to say I was actually in Washington, DC – I realized I could do a beach cleanup project while on vacation in Newport, Rhode Island. So, the idea grew. I looked up some beaches, ran them by SurfRider Rhode Island, and got started as soon as my vacation began. Sara was encouraging and helpful with advice, and shared my plans on her blog. I was ready to start.

Newport County Beaches

Atlantic Beach (Middletown)/Easton’s Beach (Newport) October 2: 8 lbs. 13 ozs. collected

My first beach for clean up. Atlantic and Easton’s Beaches are side by side in a long crescent. Cliff Walk and Newport mansions rise up on one side and smaller houses dot the hill on the other. It’s sunny, and there are lots of birds and clamshells and small crabs everywhere I look. It’s low tide. No trash at first, but then I see some plastic which I pick up. I relax, and then laugh at myself. How bad is it to be glad to see trash at a beach?

Gooseberry Beach (Newport) October 2: 4 lbs.collected

I walk and pick up pieces of glass, golf balls – and more and more plastic. Twenty minutes go by and I’m not even to Atlantic Beach yet. So, I pick up trash for 40 minutes while the gulls look on as they poke at the shells. They’re having lunch. Their cries sound human.

I weigh my trash. It’s the first time using the scale and after a few tries I get 8 pounds, 13 ounces. That’s more than Sara usually gets, I think. I have to make sure to say I collected trash for 40 minutes, not 20.

Gooseberry Beach (Newport) October 2: 4 lbs.collected

I added Gooseberry Beach to my list as an afterthought. Gooseberry Beach is on Ocean Drive near the mansions on Bellevue Avenue. As I park I meet a surfer who’s just leaving the beach. He tells me in off season I can ignore the towing signs, and thanks me when I tell him about the beach cleanup project.

Gooseberry Beach is a tiny jewel of a beach. In just 10 minutes I’ve been up and down the entire beach and collected 4 lbs. of trash – a child’s dress, bottles and more pieces of plastic. It’s a beautiful view looking out. The water, rocks and some stunning houses in the distance. I’m glad I can share this view amongst some of the priciest real estate around.

Away on an Anusara Yoga retreat 10/10-10/17

I am on a yoga retreat in Tulum, Mexico which is on the "Mayan Riviera."

We are staying at the Maya Tulum Retreat Center for the third year in a row.

My teacher, Tara Judelle, pictured above,

is a certified Anusara Yoga Teacher

Click here to find out more about Anusara yoga, started by John Friend.

Anusara - a word that loosely means, "to flow with grace." Other ways to think about it are:

- to follow your heart

- flowing with nature

Sleeping to the sound of waves and feeling the breeze that blows softly across this property makes it a lot easier to get in touch with the principles of this Hatha Yoga based practice.

I love coming here with Tara. She performed our wedding ceremony last

December. She is an unbelievably talented, funny, intelligent, and inspirational teacher who walks the walk, while she talks the talk.

Check her out here.
I will be away from 10/9 - 10/17 check back here this week for entries of Beverly's Beach Cleanup Vacation to Rhode Island. I am so excited to share her experience here with you. Her efforts are very much appreciated!

And remember, come to The Blogger Beach Cleanup on Oct. 24th

go to green LA girl for constant updates on gift giveaways, who will be there and more.

Siel of green LA girl is really making this happen and I am so inspired and impressed by her efforts. Please join us, you'll have a blast, save the lives of Marine Animals by cleaning the beach, and meet a really cool group of people too!

Day 67 - Oct 7

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

estimated pounds collected today - 1.3 (WOO_HOO!! could be lowest day yet)

estimated pounds collected to date -321.3

That is what you think it is. Don't know why this is underlined, sorry.

Beverly, a reader of Siel's blog and mine, went on vacation to Rhode Island recently. She was inspired by The Daily Ocean to clean some beaches while she was away since she lives in Washington D.C. and doesn't usually have access to some.

I will chronicle her trip in several posts over the next few days. I am stunned and grateful that she took the time and care she did to clean up some beaches. Thank you Beverly!
Sylvia Earle - Oceanographer, Marine Scientist/Biologist, Environmental and Ocean Conservationist/Activist, Deep Sea Explorer, Author, Lecturer who began her work in the 50's was awarded the TED prize this year. Please scroll down in my blog to the next post and watch her talk.

As the winner, she gets to state one wish, (and 100,000 to help it happen).

Can you guess what it could be?

“I wish you would use all means at your disposal — films! expeditions! the web! more! — to ignite public support for a global network of marine protected areas, hope spots large enough to save and restore the ocean, the blue heart of the planet.” - Sylvia Earle

Please watch her talk. If you are reading this, she may be speaking to the choir, but even so it will inspire you even further.

Slyvia Earle's TED talk