Day 98 - Feb. 16

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica, CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

2 pounds

398.9 pounds total

COMMUNITY COUNT COLLECTION: Tracy of Recycled Bride and Recycled Tyke

Day 25

.5 pounds

155.4 pounds total

Oregon is taking up the BAN THE PLASTIC BAG idea by introducing legislation to make Single Use Plastic Bags banned statewide: to read more

It is disheartening that the Plastic Bag industry is doing a great job of convincing courts, like the one in Manhattan Beach CA that just shot down 2-1 their proposed plastic bag ban, that PAPER BAGS are more harmful than plastic! There are many problems with paper too,

BUT THE OBVIOUS OBVIOUS SOLUTION TO PAPER OR PLASTIC IS NEITHER!!!!!!

GO REUSABLE!

I get so steamed thinking about their BS machine. Did you know there is a site called:

SAVE THE PLASTIC BAG? Really? I can hardly read it.

AND earth911 is fully funder/supported and written by The American Chemistry Council!

Why you may ask? Read on.....

Going to high light a few other friends of mine who are reaching out in creative, proactive ways to the world whether through their art, jewelry, blogs.

My professor for a semester at Cal State Northridge - Lynette Henderson

- incredible muralist and proponent of Art Education for all.

My friend from High School - Liza Curtis

- mom, fierce friend, ceramicist, muralist, painter, and now jeweler

My fellow blogger and friend - Kiss My Country

- got a killer interview with Roger Bayley - Design Manager of the Olympic Athletes Village in Vancouver, and guess what? It's 100% sustainable!
I know this isn't styrofoam but this came into my inbox so I have to pass it on.

TAKE ACTION TO BAN STYROFOAM IN CALIFORNIA

some disturbing facts about how you can't recycle the stuff:

Less than 1 percent of the 165,000 pounds of Styrofoam we use in California every year gets recycled.

Why so little? A couple main reasons:

1) Once you get food on Styrofoam, you can no longer recycle it.

2) It's 95 percent air, meaning it's bulky and expensive to ship and store -- and then you need to degas it.

3) Processed, recycled Styrofoam yields a low-grade substance which isn't really much good for anything.

4) Very few facilities actually have the equipment to recycle Styrofoam in California.

RECYCLING RANT CONTINUED:

"We use 6 BILLION SINGLE USE PLASTIC BAGS IN LA COUNTRY ALONE EACH YEAR!" - Mark Gold, Heal the Bay

"What we have now is: out of sight, out of mind + hope for the best = back to the mall to consume some more.

Why is it our duty to "recycle" waste at all? Who makes the decision to create all this junk? Do you choose how your printer is packaged? Do you choose how your coca cola is bottled? Some make a profit by shoving that waste into our households, to the detriment of all. And then we need to worry about "recycling", cleaning up or banning that stuff.

How come producers are not resposible for the end life of their products? That should be a part of the product design an cost analysis.

I think it is really dangerous is to go on without asking the big questions.

Another big question would be what recycling means. For me recycling is when you turn something into something similar. One bottle into another bottle, one can into another can, etc. You know that none of that happens with the "good plastics" that now get "recycled". We are calling it "recycling" when we mean "recovering" and the best that can happen to a tiny percentage of what gets recovered is that it gets turned into... different items like plastic lumber, fill, fleece.. which will end up in landfill anyway at some point.

So.... if we should ban styrofoam because it's not recycled..... How about all plastic? How about all plastic bags? How about all toothbrushes? How about bubble wrap? How about milk cartons? Etc, etc etc

Recycling of plastics is a myth, designed to perpetuate a business built around the generation of waste." - Manuel Maqueda, Plastic Pollution Coalition, The BlooSee and Manuel Maqueda.
Help fight with the Sierra Club to gain protected habitat for our endangered Beluga Whales. They only need 300 more signatures!! SIGN HERE

Tracy came to meet me for a joint cleanup on Tues.. I had a lot of fun meeting someone else who lives in Santa Monica working towards sustainability in their own way.

We covered many topics on our walk as we bent to collect the usual plastics, STRAWS, and odds and ends (mostly plastic).

One part of our conversation sticks out to me that I want to share. We discussed how if you want to reach people with awareness about environmental issues that need to be addressed that it is counterproductive to approach them with any thing but kindness. People all have their own journey, so it is important to reach out to them wherever they are on the "green" continuum in a way that doesn't make them feel shame, or become defensive of their life style.

Like minds unite! Thanks Tracy - Looking forward to next time.

Venice Del Play Camp - Feb. 15th, President's Day

COMMUNITY COUNT COLLECTION - DAY 24

Venice Del Play Campers

1.5 pounds collected in 7 minutes (their lunch arrived. pizza, yum!)

154.9 pounds total
Although as you can see from the picture above that finding trash on the beach is not fun, it was such a pleasure for me to go out to my local beach, right where I collect trash at sunset, and find 27 sandy, wonderful kids waiting there to do a beach cleanup with me. Thanks to Tiff for setting up the event. I hope to come back for many more.
What did we find? Well, the usual suspects. Small bits of plastics, to go utensils, cigarette butts, plastic bottle tops, and....straws.
Here is an example of a small plastic bit that this camper wanted me to pay special attention to.
They worked in teams of two, using Tiff's plastic sandwich bags from a previous tie-dying project, (great example of REUSING something), and spanned the beach between tower 26 and 27. After a few minutes it became apparent to me that my usual 20 min. beach scour would be way too much for these guys, especially with their impending pizza lunch soon to arrive.
So after about 7 minutes of enthusiastic beach cleaning, we showed each other our findings, I passed out hand wipes, pizza was served, and my husband and I weighed their trash.

Connor (not pictured above) and his friend whose name I didn't catch, so sorry, won for most trash collected. Carmen was ready with two gold pirate coins as prizes to save the day!
Yes, in the middle of February my town looks like this. 66 degrees and sunny. There are pros and cons to all cities, but it is hard to remember the cons on a day like today.
We wrapped it up at lunchtime while they were busy munching pizza.

Here's what we discussed:

1. please use reusable water bottles to avoid the plastic waste of store bought bottled water.

2. avoid/refuse using plastic items like plastic grocery bags, go reusable!

3. plastic never bio-degrades so we need to be very careful with how much of it we are consuming.

4. many marine animals eat plastic trash if it makes its way into the oceans. this causes them to get sick and sometimes die.

5. storm drains from all over the city are connected, and when it rains the water pushes everything thru, (even from far away like downtown LA) into the ocean.

6. stay out of the water for 3 days in LA if it has rained because things you can't see wash into the ocean too with the rain and can get you sick.

7. But you can help by making sure that you pick up your doggies poop so it doesn't get into the ocean because it is one of the biggest contributors of the bacteria that gets humans ill.

Like I said above, I really enjoyed myself and I hope to be back for more!

Day 97 - Feb. 13

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

1.3 pounds

396.9 pounds
The sun was well into setting when I arrived tonight. I had been at Santa Monica High School with Team Marine who have been very busy lately. If you would like to learn more about these eco-minded high school superheroes please visit their blog.

We recently went to local Middle Schools to present their 10R curriculum and lead the students through experiential lab projects, (also designed by Team Marine) to illustrate the various environmental problems facing our planet like global warming and ocean acidification.

They constantly amaze me.
You can join Team Marine's efforts by signing their petition to ban single use plastic bags in Santa Monica. Here is the link.

Day 96 - Feb. 12

life guard tower 26- Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

2.2 pounds

395.6 total pounds

As you scroll through this post you may start to ask yourself, "What's up with all these mediocre pictures of straws?" Well, I'll tell you. I FOUND 32 STRAWS IN 20 MINUTES!

The next day I counted the straws I was collecting as I went and found that I got 10, (10 too many), but 10 none the less. NOT 32!
OK - Why am I so despondent about finding straws on the beach. For one, they don't belong there which is obvious, but for two they were everywhere! Day of the straw had struck this unsuspecting Santa Monica beach.
Seriously though, I find it increasingly hard to see single use plastic items that are made from material, (plastic), that is meant to last forever, (plastic only photodegrades - meaning breaking into smaller particles but never goes away) and we use it for only minutes.
Doesn't this seem a bit crazy to you? Well my friends Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen have one solution to these straws. They will build a boat out of woven straws and sail it across the English Chanel and down the Siene River in France to raise awareness about Plastic Marine Pollution that is plaguing our oceans.

Hard to believe? Read more here at their 5 Gyres site. Oh yeah, they are already sailing across the North Atlantic Gyre trolling for plastic and appearing in Good Morning America via Skype. See that here. Keep up the good work!!
And of course there is the Plastic Pollution Coalition's stance on straws.

"Straws are for suckers!" - I love that.
I say all of this not to make you feel guilty if you like a good straw at the movies like the rest of us. But hey, why not buy a stainless steel reusable straw? Or just skip it.
Our power, and a large part of the needed solution to this problem of Plastic Marine Pollution lies in the daily choices we make as a consumer. One person refusing a straw may not be enough. But what if your actions caught on? What if everyone started to rethink their plastic convenience items, or stopped using them altogether? The results, one person at a time, adds up to huge amounts of change.

And next year at the NBA All Stars game at the Staples Center, lets get our Los Angeles Lakers to come do a beach cleanup and environmental education about Plastic Marine Pollution. Any NBA players out there that want to help me take the lead on this? :)

Beverly's Palm Beach Cleanup - Part 2

My friend Beverly spent days of her vacation in Palm Beach, Florida doing Daily Ocean style beach cleanups and sending me her findings. I have already posted Part 1, here is Part 2 which spans three days.

Being from the N.E. United States, I am sure that when she looks at her pictures today this sunny, beach world will feel far away as she wades through a few feet of snow to work.

I look forward to her next contribution to the Community Count Collection invitation that I have put out there for those of you who read this blog. So far each of Beverly's cleanups make me smile, and inspire me to continue on with the work I have started here. I think maybe because at the heart of the Daily Ocean is my desire to pull people together to protect our oceans, and remind them just how magnificent our only planet is. Thanks Beverly! Stay warm!

Thanks again to Surfrider of Palm Beach Co. for your friendly assistance to Beverly as she combed your beaches.

Community Collection Count - Beverly

Palm Beach Florida

Day 21, 22 & 23

9.9 pounds

153.4 total pounds

The Daily Ocean – Florida Week 2 – Jupiter, Delray Beach and Ocean Reef Park

1/27/10

Jupiter – Unnamed Beach North of Jupiter Inlet – 2 lbs. 15 oz. Collected

Jupiter Beach Park is south of Jupiter Inlet, but I ended up north of Jupiter Inlet on a beach that’s accessible but not marked. I was driving along, parked by the side of the road and walked in to investigate. This was a quiet, peaceful, deserted beach except for several gulls and a lone fisherman. ‘What’s this beach called?’ I asked him. ‘No name; I call it North of Jupiter Inlet Beach, or Rocks Beach.’ There is a rock formation off one end of the beach and gulls were flocking around it, the sun behind them. As I walked along the shore, I saw some small sea urchins that had washed up on the beach, and very little trash. This is a fairly isolated spot. Close to sunset toward the end of the day, it was quiet perfection.

1/27/10

Jupiter – Unnamed Beach North of Jupiter Inlet – 2 lbs. 15 oz. Collected

Jupiter Beach Park is south of Jupiter Inlet, but I ended up north of Jupiter Inlet on a beach that’s accessible but not marked. I was driving along, parked by the side of the road and walked in to investigate. This was a quiet, peaceful, deserted beach except for several gulls and a lone fisherman. ‘What’s this beach called?’ I asked him. ‘No name; I call it North of Jupiter Inlet Beach, or Rocks Beach.’ There is a rock formation off one end of the beach and gulls were flocking around it, the sun behind them. As I walked along the shore, I saw some small sea urchins that had washed up on the beach, and very little trash. This is a fairly isolated spot. Close to sunset toward the end of the day, it was quiet perfection.

1/29/10

Ocean Reef Park (Riviera Shores) – 2 lbs. 9.3 oz Collected

Just got back from a walk up the beach to Ocean Reef Park – it’s my last day in Florida for this trip. It’s a pretty beach, guarded, and there are the same variety of gulls on the beach as at Palm Beach Municipal Beach. Shark activity today means no swimming, and as I walk along the beach, I see a fish leap out of the water, swirl in a playful corkscrew and dive back in. The shape is long and black with a white stomach and a pronounced tail – I decide it’s a shark even though I don’t know if sharks can leap. I keep watching but no more leaps out of the water. I pick up more bottle caps, plastic bags, and straws. It’s a sunny morning, light wind and lots of activity – birds, beachgoers and fishing boats nearby.

Day 95 - Feb. 6, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

2.5 pounds collected

393.4 total pounds
Santa Monica has banned styrofoam. I have mentioned this before. Yet all the time I find the stuff, especially after it has rained. Why? Because we are the end of the pipe here in S.M. meaning that our adjacent city, Los Angeles, has not banned styrofoam so therefor when it rains all of their polystyrene washes into the bay, some of it making its way back onto our beach.

I think the Santa Monica Office of Sustainability and the Environment does a great job, but we need action from all the local communities in our watershed that feed into the Santa Monica Bay.

My view of the beach after our two days of torrential rain.

"Marine Debris", taking this term to task, like the Plastic Pollution Coalition calls for, I'd like to ask you a few questions.

A - Do you think of plastic, styrofoam, tampon applicators and used condoms as debris?

OR

B - Do you think of leaves, bits of bark, floating twigs and other natural detritus as debris?

I thought you would say B.

So, why do we call it "Marine Debris" when over 80 percent of the stuff floating in the ocean is plastic?????

It doesn't sound so bad when you say debris, does it? Which is a huge disservice to the monumental plague of plastic pollution entering our oceans.

But, like the folks at 5 Gyres say - Plastic Marine Pollution gets a whole lot closer.

I love these ice cream bars! The over sugared-strawberry-insides with all those nuts. Yum. But I don't love seeing the wrapper here.

Plastic Orange Bottle Cap - "debris"?

I want to get a campaign going to make Starbucks recycle their damn beverage packaging. Well, here's the thing. Recycling is an option, but not a very strong one. I couldn't have put it better than Manuel Maqueda, Co-founder of the Plastic Pollution Coalition and The BlooSee:

"How come producers are not resposible for the end life of their products?

Also, do we recycle? Or do we put things in bins?

Do you know what happens to your recyclables? Who can you ask? Who is accountable?

What we have now is: out of sight, out of mind + hope for the best = back to the mall to consume some more. A matrix.

Without producer responsibility, transparency and accountability, the current "recycling system" is a greenwashing machine designed to generate more and more waste."

The following is a quotation from a native of Kenya, who was involved in his country’s efforts to save the native wildlife from extinction:

• You only save what you love

• You only love what you understand

• You only understand what you are taught

Aquarium of the Pacific - Feb. 6, 2010

The Aquarium of the Pacific, or Long Beach Aquarium as many locals call it, is a fascinating place to visit. I drove down with my husband Garen on a rainy Sat. morning to meet his Marine Biology Class from Santa Monica College for their last field trip of Winter Session.

At 9:45 almost the entire class was assembled and ready to enter. I have to say that getting there early on a Sat. is a great idea. You have the place relatively to yourself before the families with strollers storm the exhibits. Although, I absolutely loved seeing the hundreds of people who brought their children out to explore the underwater worlds waiting for them. Building awareness and appreciation for these fascinating animals from a young age is a major solution to environmental protection.

A Scorpion Fish

A Ray - look at its mouth! Unbelievably cute.

A Leafy Sea Dragon - much like a Sea Horse except that they look more exotic with their "leafy" camouflage.

A Lorikeet - found in the Southern Pacific.

Aren't their colors beautiful?

Above is a picture of a diver for the aquarium that came in to feed the fish and rays. He offered leafy looking lettuce to the rays who eagerly munched it down. I think that zoos and aquariums, when managed properly, serve several important functions in the community and for the animals. But this is the first time that I briefly thought the marine life that lived there are lucky not to be digesting plastic trash, and pollution when looking for food. My thought surprised me.
A Saw-toothed Shark and a Leopard Shark maybe saying good morning as they passed one another in the shark tank.

One thing that I really like about the Aquarium of the Pacific is that they go to great lengths to educate the public properly about sharks. They emphasize how ancient they are and now how endangered they've become due to irresponsible fishing practices and Shark Finning.

If you didn't know, Shark Finning is when a shark is caught, their fins cut off, and their body dumped back into the water to sink and slowly drown. Sharks need water washing over their gills from constant movement for them to breath. Left with no fins for them to swim with, they literally sink to the bottom and drown. One of the first exhibits you see upon entering the aquarium is a huge poster explaining Shark Finning to the public. Hopefully, with awareness and activism, Shark Finning will become a thing of the past and not a part of people's soup.

Yao Ming's, (NBA star Center for the Houston Rockets), PSA against Shark Fin Soup! Yay Yao!!!

Day 94 - Feb. 4, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica, CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

pounds collected - 2: 1.4 pounds by me and .6 by Tiffany from Venice Del Play Camp

total pounds collected - 390.9

Community Count Collection

Day 20 - Tiffany

pounds collected - .6

total pounds collected - 143.5

Thank you Tiffany for coming out! Can't wait until Feb. 15th to lead a beach cleanup with your campers!
Wend Magazine is teaming up with Anna Cummins and Dr. Marcus Eriksen of 5 Gyres and Algalita as they battle stormy weather, get visited by dolphins, and find out just how much junk and plastic pollution is plaguing not one (Northern Pacific Gyre), but the evidence they have collected on their Atlantic Sail shows that there is no escaping our "human stain" even in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, half way to the Azores from Bermuda.

WEND: Adventure, Inspiration, Travel, Activism
Found "OCEARCH" on Twitter, (Ocean Research). They advocate for Marine Life, raise awareness about Marine Debris, (which is really not debris, debris is natural), and other amazing Ocean Activism Activities. Check them out!
Ocean Voices lets you send a message of hope, urgency for protection, and personal experience with the oceans for all to hear compiled on their interactive website. Join the "Ocean Revolution", check out OCEAN VOICES

"the ocean surrounds us and sustains us. We can only preserve life in the ocean by working together as a global community. Ocean Voices brings together voices from around the world for everyone to hear. Open your mouth; open your ears; join the Ocean Revolution."

People can walk by the darn-dest things. I too have overlooked many a piece of trash to be sure, but really? Are we that used to used Tampon applicators washing up on our beaches that we pass them by? I guess what is the option? Pick it up? You'll probably take a pass if you're just out for a walk. Lucky me that I had a paper towel to pick up this plastic jewel.

Here's one thing that bothers me about disposable plastic items. This TAMPON applicator will last for thousands of years, and as a girl I know, it was only used for 10 seconds max. Never mind the fact that most tampons that come in these plastic casings cause a whole blight of issues for women. Ok - off topic, sorry.
At least this bottle is made of glass. But like most glass and cardboard beverage packaging, the top is plastic. I'd like to see metal and glass used exclusively. So much easier to recycle, (last sustainable option by the way).
I still feel privileged every time I get to walk along a Pacific Beach in the winter and witness a sky like this as the sun sets.