Day 218 - Sept. 15, 2011

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

1.8 pounds

820.8 pounds total

Globs of natural tar seeping up through the sandy bay bottom are washing up onto the beach in handfuls. I almost didn't see this petroleum based black plastic lid tucked in amongst the tar balls. 

Come out tomorrow and help Heal The Bay pick it all up for COASTAL CLEANUP DAY. 

Then join me in the afternoon for the opening of a 

Daily Ocean Photography Exhibit at the Art Studio Gallery

- 1612 Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica

refreshments from 4:30 - 7

bring a friend, grab a drink, talk to folks who care about the ocean just like you

Grrrrr...

Last night I collected less than 2 pounds. It felt more like a walk than a beach cleanup. I enjoyed the welcome change. Here's to picking up less and less and less...

Day 217 - Sept. 14, 2011

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

1.9 pounds

819 pounds total

This Sat. is COASTAL CLEANUP DAY - a day when millions of people come out along every coast and up most rivers, collecting millions of tons of trash. Last year was the biggest yet! 

Join HEAL THE BAY SAT. MORNING 

&

JOIN ME FOR A DAILY OCEAN PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT OPENING IN THE P.M.

The Art Studio Gallery

1612 Ocean Park Blvd. 

Santa Monica, CA

4:30 - 7:00 for refreshments

CHICOBAG settled their David VS. Goliath law suit. 

Turns out it's a huge waste of time for large plastics manufacturers to sue a company with a bully suit. 

Especially one that brings 25,000 signatures to the table telling them to knock it off the very first time they meet! 

Care2 Petition is the modern day slingshot.

ONE BEACH is a film produced by BAREFOOT WINE that will air on FB in Sept. 

They sent out a phenomenal press kit including a vial of sand collected by Judith Lang at Kehoe beach where her and her husband Richard have been collecting plastics that wash up there, and re-purposing them into art. 

It also included a print of one of her collages, a t-shirt to BAN THE BAG, a bracelet the Judith made &  

TAKE 3 STICKER (their motto - what if everyone took 3 pieces of trash off the beach when they left?) 

Featuring people like Surfrider's Jim Moriarty - ONE BEACH is about creativity, optimism and keeping the world's beaches clean. I'm definitely going to be watching! 

My friend Kit makes earrings out of these small clam shells. If you live in Santa Monica, go to 

TEN WOMEN GALLERY and check them out. 

I had a strange feeling we weren't alone when we went into the water this morning. By alone, I mean animals other than ones on surfboards, or wearing short fins to catch the waves. A small patch of dark gray water moved closer to me, looked like it sniffed my fin and then took off without surfacing. I called to a friend that I thought a sea lion had checked me out and then took off. I brushed the feeling off until I saw Peter Walerstein drive up in his truck to rescue a severely emaciated Sea Lion pup that had washed up onto the beach near where we'd been surfing. He is the real deal. 

He runs MARINE ANIMAL RESCUE - A PROJECT OF FRIENDS OF ANIMALS. 

If you see a marine mammal, or bird in trouble he's your guy. 24 hours a day all 365 of them. 

Day 216 - Sept. 11, 2011

I had to start with this photograph because before I even left the parking lot, before I even got out of my car, this plastic bag blew past me. I hopped out, stamped down on it and took a picture. Would this be an omen for my Sunday night collection? Read on to find out.

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

4.6 pounds collected

817.1 pounds total

Santa Monica has adopted some pretty impressive environmental initiatives over the last few years. One of which, banning single-use plastic bags, just came into effect Sept. 1. But we need to put some lids on these cans! Do you think lids would help keep the gulls scavenger beaks from spreading trash across the sand? Leave me a comment if you have an opinion. I'd like to contact the Santa Monica Office for the Environment and Sustainability soon to ask them to replace these old bins for ones with a top. 

Your comments will help. 

I have a photography exhibit opening this Sat. the 17th. I am saving my collections from the week to display along with my photographs. This trash collection now includes 2 diapers. 2! If I was worried about how the gallery was going to smell with some salty cigarette butts, now I'm really concerned...

COASTAL CLEANUP DAY - SAT. SEPT. 17TH - SIGN UP WITH HEAL THE BAY

Full moon fever over Santa Monica last night. 

PLEASE COME TO MY OPENING ON SAT. CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR DETAILS.

Day 215 - Sept. 10, 2011

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

2.8 pounds

812.5 pounds total

NEXT SAT. THE 17TH, I AM HAVING AN OPENING FOR A DAILY OCEAN PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT. PLEASE COME FOR REFRESHMENTS AFTER CLEANING THE BEACH EARLIER IN THE DAY. THE 17TH IS ALSO COASTAL CLEANUP DAY. SUPPORT HEAL THE BAY, GO TO A CLEANUP SIGHT AND THEN COME BY LATER ON TO MEET MORE LIKE-MINDED OCEAN LOVERS AND SEE WHAT I'VE FOUND ON THE BEACH...THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE "TRASHY"

CLICK ON THE IMAGE ABOVE FOR MORE DETAILS 

AND PLEASE

SPREAD THE WORD!

I came home from our research expedition last May with two issues weighing heavily on my mind: climate change, and over fishing. Here's an article that shows these two issues are the basis for the mass extinction of marine life:

"(Reuters) - Life in the oceans is at imminent risk of the worst spate of extinctions in millions of years due to threats such as climate change and over-fishing..."

Today was about catching up with my online communications. Most of which I enjoyed doing. It felt good to uncover emails that had gotten shoved to the bottom of my inbox, but it also meant reading many articles that I had saved for later. 

And these articles, like the one mentioned above, were about marine eco-systems in trouble. With all of this information, what are we to do? Well...for a small start you can go to PEW Charitable Trusts website, hook into activism right from your computer. You may want to read an article, take an action, alternating so that you leave your desk, or the coffee shop with some small sense of hope. 

PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE SECRET LIFE OF HAWAIIAN GREEN SEA TURTLES: STUNNING

Day 214 - Sept. 8, 2011

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

trash collected for 20 minutes

1.7 pounds collected

809.7 pounds total

COMMUNITY COUNT DAY 168

Lisa and friend

trash collected for 20 min. 

1.7 pounds

839.8 pounds total 

DAILY OCEAN TOTAL = 1,649.5 POUNDS COMBINED 

(more than twice the world's heaviest Sumo Wrestler)

This six pack ring was a re-tread from the deep. The plastic was brittle, and yellowed with age. I have a hunch that it washed back up onto the sand after some severe surf pounded the coast last week. Hard to believe we haven't found a better way to package our cans. A way that doesn't strangle wildlife. 

California is considering a ban on Styrofoam take-out containers. Here' a recent article from MSNBC to update yourself if you are interested in learning more. I remember days and days in the winter, spending 20 minutes collecting teeny-tiny bits of the stuff from the sand. Toxic confetti for our fish to feast on.

I want to thank Lisa for getting in touch with me and for her interest in The Daily Ocean. We connected through a mutual friend, our Yoga teacher Tara Judelle, who I miss terribly since she moved to Bali. 

Tara told a class Lisa was in about a time when we were on retreat in Tulum, Mexico together after a hurricane had demolished the coast. I broke into tears during one of our classes on yogic philosophy and the idea that everything is OK just as it is. Looking at the coastline, and all the crap that was strewn along the picturesque white sand beach behind us, I couldn't reconcile things being OK with what I saw. 

I still can't. But I suppose in some way it is alright. And in a very real way, enlightenment is not on this life's "TO DO" list for me. For today anyway. In my limited understanding, it is very human to care and none of us escape here with being anything less than that. From that trip, a seed was planted in me to do something about what upset me. A year and a half later, The Daily Ocean was born. 

Swimming in the ocean feels as close as I'll get to flying on my own.

Day 213 - Sept. 6, 2011

Day 213 - Santa Monica, CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

4.9 pounds collected

808 pounds collected

Barefoot Wine (a huge supporter of Surfrider) has a new film coming out: ONE BEACH

Can creativity save our beaches?

Here's the trailer

OK - Can you say GREEN WASHING?!?!

Turning plastic back into crude is being toted by such environmental groups as Surfrider and GOOD magazine as a solution to our oil dependence. I am highly suspicious. Can you imagine the energy intensive process to get solid plastics back to crude oil? What are the carbon emissions of such a procedure? And that's just for starters....What about other toxic emissions?

READ FOR YOURSELF AND THEN READ THIS COMPANIES CIRCUITOUS WEBSITE

Join the international alliance of STAND UP PADDLE BOARDERS working for the WATER

STAND UP FOR WATER

We're understanding more and more how intelligent some of our fellow earthling creatures are. 

And just in time too. 

Here's a very interesting article on dolphins in Shark's Bay Australia who have been documented using shells as tools to catch fish. 

From this article, you can read more about breakthroughs in understanding on how similar their language and communication capabilities are to us, and watch a video on Bottlenose dolphins hydroplaning onto the beach to catch fish. How smart are they? The answer seems obvious to me. Very.

A NOTE TO DAILY OCEAN BLOG READERS

I have been under-the-weather for almost two weeks now. Without going into too many uncomfortable details, I will just say that by evening after I have succumbed to hunger, and eaten something, I have to stay close to home. I thought it was a "stomach bug" but that would have passed by now. I go to NYC tomorrow for my dad's wedding, arriving home late Monday night. Please excuse the long delay between collections. Trust me, I would much rather be fully functioning than home taking Tums...among some stronger medicines. I hope to be back soon!

Day 212- Aug. 18, 2011

life guard tower 26 - Santa Monica, CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

3.3. pounds collected

803.1 pounds total

This post will be short and sweet. For almost a week now, a summer cold and a stomach flu bug have ganged up on me. Needless to say, they are winning. 

It feels like years since I have been in the water or at the beach to collect. 

But I do have one great link to share - DESTINATION GLOBAL GOOD - My friend Jess Cramp is taking the Cook Islands by storm. Here is her most recent blog update with tons of pictures! 

Go to CARE 2 PETITION'S CHICO BAG page and help them get the upper hand on the lawsuit that two prominent plastics manufacturers are trying to silence them with. 

Day 211- Aug. 16, 2011

life guard tower 26 - Santa Monica, CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

3.6 pounds collected

799.8 pounds total

Advertising is powerful. I remember when these packages, seemingly revolutionary back then, hit the market. Oh the fun of poking that straw through that plastic bulls-eye! It's almost thirty years later, and I still remember my early encounter with Capri Sun.

My friend is taking the power of graphic design, advertising, the campaign poster and rolling them into one big push to get the word out about GLOBAL WARMING. A word for Texas Gov. Perry...IT'S HAPPENING WHETHER YOU "BELIEVE" IT IS OR NOT. Science is not contingent on personal belief....I digress. 

Let's help Susannah spread the word, shall we? There's no dissent among scientists that the earth's temp. is rising because of human actions. But clearly everyone hasn't gotten the memo. Time to change that. 

Here's her kickstarter campaign and a word from the masterminds behind Creative Migration:

"How do you make a film as "green" as possible?  That is the challenge for Project Green, a sustainable film making initiative launched by NOMAD Films and Global Action Plan Sweden.  

The only American participants are Creative Migration, a not-for-profit organization that produces documentary films promoting socially engaged art projects.  

Their short film is on GREEN PATRIOT POSTERS, a project that brings together the strongest contemporary graphic design promoting sustainability and the fight against climate change.  

This campaign uses dynamic posters to encourage citizen participation in building a sustainable economy. " 

I have two tales to re-tell. 

One: Researchers in South African were chumming the waters, watching four sharks in the area for their work when one of them breached (jumped) out of the water and landed on their boat! 

They poured water over the shark's gills and radioed for help. This is a real account of compassion shown to an animal that clearly made a mistake when she launched herself out of the water and landed in their boat. Here's the whole story.

A dear family friend emailed me a link to this video of a family helping a young humpback whale off the coast of Mexico untangle itself from gill nets. Grab some tissue before watching this one. The kid's comment at the end makes you appreciate the folk term, "Out of the mouths of babes." 

                                           

And lastly, (I guess I had three tales to tell), a perfectly healthy sea lion came ashore on Venice Beach in early Aug. bleeding from three gunshot wounds. Beach goers were scared. They chased her back in the water. She washed up later on that afternoon dead. 


There is a 5,000K reward for anyone who has info. on who could have shot her. Fishermen sometimes do this to sea lions that they feel are a risk to their.....fish? 


I've been in the water a lot lately. I saw two sea lions in the surf yesterday morning and another last week. They are not my favorite to encounter in the water, I'll take a dolphin any day. But I had to wonder if the one who got shot recently shared a wave with me and my friends.  Santa Monica Beach (pictured above) is a "shell's throw" from Venice. Not far for a healthy sea lion to swim up from...

Day 210 - Aug. 13, 2011

life guard tower 26 - Santa Monica, CA 

trash collected for 20 minutes

5 pounds collected

796.2 pounds total

A couple of Sundays ago, CBS Nightly News aired a piece on The Daily Ocean. Since then I have been contacted by a few people to let me know that they felt inspired after watching it. A couple of them have taken it upon themselves to start their own efforts. 

Here is one man's blog - JUST TEN MINUTES A DAY - a call to action for dog walkers to bring an extra bag for the liter you see on your trail. Please support his efforts by visiting the blog, leaving a comment, and remembering your own bag whether you let us know or not. Thank you.

Another woman from Oregon (an artist married to a marine biologist) emailed me that although her and her husband are not directly involved in the pollution of plastics and other debris in the ocean, they have started a non-profit in the Bahamas to educate people about the depletion of important fisheries. 

COMMUNITY CONCH 

After returning from our research expedition this past May, I feel very strongly about the depletion of fisheries and what we can do to stop the decline. Please take a minute to go over to their site, and pass it on. Thanks.

PEW Charitable Trust has an interaction shark conservation map with a campaign called 

THE TRUTH ABOUT SHARKS - 

"Sharks are once again mesmerizing millions of viewers as part of Shark Week. But in reality, the tables are turned, and it's sharks that are struggling to survive."

(Shark week was the beginning of August but the site is still up)

Sharks are fascinating animals that have been around since well before the dinosaurs but humans are killing them by the millions each year. Can we keep these pre-historic creatures from going extinct before it is too late and the rest of the marine eco-system sustains catastrophic consequences because of their disappearance? Go read PEW's website to find out how. 

Day 209 - Aug. 10, 2011

life guard tower 26 - Santa Monica, CA

trash collected for 20 min.

6 pounds collected

791.2 pounds total

A little red bucket

got left in the sand

 cause' someone said f(*#-et

WHY DO WE LOVE TO STARE AT THE SEA? - Wallace J Nichols gives us his take. 

"Earlier this summer I gathered a group of leading neuroscientists, ocean explorers, advocates, communicators and creative people together in a room at the California Academy of Sciences to begin to answer this question, and many others. We called the amalgamation of thinkers BLUEMIND and set out to explore the science behind the relationship between the human brain and the ocean." - HOW COOL IS THAT!!!!!!!!!

This past week, I spent four days in an intensive conference on writing for young people hosted by SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators -- and yes they know it's a hell of a moniker.)

I signed up for round table critiques, one-on-one slice-and-dice-em critiques with a seasoned editor who gave me hope in the form of two books to read before sending me on my way to revise, and listened to keynotes by authors I admire for more reasons than I have space to share here, or that would keep your attention as I geeked on about books. 

Amongst all of the inspiration was the repeating message not to give up, that publishing is hard, that writing is even harder, and that rejection is "par for the course."

How does my pursuit of writing novels for middle school students relate to The Daily Ocean? I've wanted to give up on both. I've wanted to hide how long it has taken me to "polish" that manuscript, to get my butt out to the beach for cleanups, and I've wanted to tip-toe away slowly. I ask myself, "Would anyone really notice?"

And I realized after reading this piece on Yahoo! yesterday that I would! The author of "The Help" was rejected 60 times. 60 times! But she asks the question, "What if I had given up?"

So here I am, at my desk, ready to write some really bad pages, feeling like I am taking way to long to finish this freakin' project, and "embracing the suck!" as YA author-goddess LIBBA BRAY said just the other day. 

Who knows what will happen from here?