Day 120 - May 10, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

3.3 pounds

480 pounds total

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!! -

To everyone who sent out a message through twitter, posted to Facebook, or made a donation to get me to Sacramento to lobby on May 19th for Assembly Bill 1998 - CA Ban the Plastic Bag law that is in crucial need of support right now.

As I write this, my request for help has only been live on my site for about four days, and I have only 25$ to go before my trip is covered!! (I am an as-of-now unpublished YA author who quit my job in Sept. to hash out final drafts of my book-in-the-works of three plus years, "Calliope and the Heart of the Sea.) So as you can imagine, our family budget does not include impromptu political trips to the state capitol. Once again, a HUGE thank you!

My first find out on the beach today was a plastic bag, which only confirmed my need to go.

I saw the movie Oceans last Sunday night. For those of you who, like me, were disappointed by Disney's Earth, please have faith and go see this movie!

If, you are also like me, and have seen all of the Blue Planet, Planet Earth, and now the Life series, you will see new footage in Earth that will blow your mind. Yes, I am that much of a nature geek, and you know what? I also love Star Wars 4 - 6, Lord of the Rings the books AND the movies, and Star Trek. It is my personal view that people who are drawn to these complex stories are not "geeks" - they just have great taste!

Drinking straws, oh drinking straws, how I find you by the dozens, oh drinking straws.....

Mark Armen of Gulpable's message on plastic straws

Three cool things happened today out on the beach while picking up...mostly plastic trash from the sand.

1. As soon as I got there, 2 dolphins leaped out of the water close to shore while playing. Is there anything better than seeing that at the beach? I see dolphins there, but I've never seen them leap out of the water before at lgt 26.

2. I got a chance to talk to a woman briefly about The Daily Ocean and agree with her that one of the only things that brings us hope that we will stop the plastic pollution entering the oceans, is when we know that other people care and are doing something about it.

3. Mark Armen of Gulpable was running on the beach when he stopped me to introduce himself. Our mutual friend Lindsey Jurca of ECHS, and Surfrider had introduced us in an email. He is a fellow Santa Monica resident kicking some butt to find solutions to "micro litter entering the ocean." Find him on twitter, and at his website. And watch him above in the quick video we shot about straws.

Send Sara to Sacramento to Ban Plastic Bags

Heal the Bay's Day Without A Bag in downtown LA last year

Make no mistake, plastic bags are scary!

We use 6 BILLION in Los Angeles County alone.

Most of them end up in the Pacific.

That's why I want to go to Sacramento with Seventh Generation Advisors and the Clean Sea Coalition to lobby for the BAN THE PLASTIC BAG BILL now stuck on the Assembly floor.

They've sent out a call for, "All hands on deck..." to attend.

Team Marine and other students from Santa Monica High School, fall 2009

We marched from Santa Monica High School to our city hall building, and then down the most populated shopping area, the 3rd Street Promenade chanting, "BAN THE PLASTIC BAG & BOTTLES."

The march happened at the beginning of this school year when I met Team Marine through Surfrider's Teach and Test program. They have all been a major inspiration for me. I'm so proud to know them.

I didn't anticipate that I would be going back to the state capitol so soon. To get there though, I need help. I feel very strange asking, but last fall I quit my job to finish my YA book, "Calliope and the Heart of the Sea." Although I am happy with the progress I have made on it, working from home as an unpublished author has left little wiggle room in our family budget.

Here's my Sacramento budget:

Southwest round trip ticket - 285$

Best Western 1 night - 125$

ground transportation - 70$

If you can donate 10, 15, 20 dollars, whatever you can, every bit counts, through the donate button found on the right hand side of The Daily Ocean, that would be wonderful.

It is a secure link that goes straight to PAY PAL.

If you can't give monetary help, which I totally respect, maybe you could pass a link to this post on to people who could help in that way.

Plastic bags do not make me smile. Californians Against Waste estimate that the U.S.A. uses 84 billion plastic bags annually."

I'm sure that most of the people reading this would like to go to Sacramento themselves, but can't break away from their busy lives. Send me instead! I'll go and represent all of us.

Watch Team Marine's incredible documentary, "The 10 R's" if you would like more information on the harmful impacts that single use plastics, of all kinds, have on the environment and thank you!

Day 119 - May 7, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

6.1 pounds

476.7 pounds total

SEND ME TO SACRAMENTO TO LOBBY TO BAN PLASTIC BAGS IN CA

WHY? :

"You cannot solve this problem by voluntary measures. We use 6 billion plastic bags per year within LA County alone. So even if you had the best recycling program in the world, which is a 2/3 recycling rate, you're still going to end up with 2 billion bags left over."

- Mark Gold, Heal the Bay from Team Marine's 10R's Documentary. WATCH IT BELOW!!

Even if only half of 2 billion bags ended up in the ocean, that would be a billion bags per year entering the Pacific JUST FROM LA COUNTY!

I would like to join the Clean Seas Coalition and Seventh Generation Advisers in the State Capitol to help them lobby for the bill that will ban Single Use Plastic Bags in California!

If you would like to donate 5, 10, 15, 20$ to help me get there, please see the donate button on the right hand side of my blog, and pay securely through PAYPAL. thank you!!

The 10 R's by Team Marine from Green Planet on Vimeo.

Countries that have implemented legislation to charge a fee for the use of plastic bags, or have banned them outright are: (find out more at reusable bags dot com)

AUSTRALIA, BANGLADESH, BELGIUM, CANADA, CHINA DENMARK, HONG KONG, IRELAND, ITALY, NEW ZEALAND, SCOTLAND, SWITZERLAND, THE UK, USA...the list is growing..

As you can see, this is not the only thing littering our beaches and polluting the ocean. Wonder why Gov. Schwarzenegger decided to veto the Senate Bill 4 which met no opposition in the California House or Senate, that would ban smoking from California State Beaches and Parks?

Anyone who lives here knows how scary fire wild fire season is....

but read his decision for yourself and see if you come to the same conclusion I did..

(insert loud cough here and say B*&%SH*&^T)

Adventures in Video Blogging - Day 118

For the few of you who read Day 118 listed below, I apologize for the repetition.

I am just so excited that I finally figured out how to upload video to YouTube,

and then to my blog.

I know, I know...a fifth grader could do that in half an hour,

well let me tell you that before I thought of The Daily Ocean, I never would

have thought I'd become a blogger. I still don't have Face book, etc. What's the saying, "Necessity is the mother of invention." I feel that way about navigating the world of social media. So to me, this is a feat!

Come on a Daily Ocean Cleanup with me.

The three videos that follow are the beginning, middle and end of Day 118, May 4th 2010.

Day 118 - May 4, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

8 pounds

470.6 pounds total

There is a blog that I just found called, "The Plastic Ocean," that is doing what I thought to do when Sunchips came out with their "100% Compostable Bag", compost it. Here's the link in case you want to follow their progress. Should we place some bets??

This artist is looking for pictures of "beached marine plastic objects." He's raising awareness about the severity of our plastic pollution crisis in the oceans by ammasing a world wide catalogue of images. I think I'll send him this one. Here's the site if you want to check out his project, and/or send in a few of your own images.

I need your help - Video Blogging. Is it me or is it a giant pain in the a**. I spent WAY too long trying to upload video using Quicktime onto my Blogger blog. Any blogspot bloggers out there who have the technique down and wouldn't mind sharing their trade secrets?

thank you, thank you in advance!

Sara

Plastic Cups with Environmental Messages for KIDS???

Below are two pictures from a concerned parent, and reader of The Daily Ocean,

Wendy Chambers AKA goldensgreengirl.

She contacted me a little while back with these thoughts:

I thought you might be interested in this story:

A couple of weeks back I was visiting a family member in BC, Canada... at a restaurant named Kelseys.

I asked for a orange juice drink for my daughter and they gave me this cup.

I was totally astounded, this cup is made of polypropylene and has a depiction of abundant marine life on it !!! endorsed by Discovery Kids

- my first thought was this is a total contradiction and then this turned to anger...... I need help or advice in finding out how these marketing companies can get it sooooo wrong and get away with this producing this plastic cup with this image on?

The "funny" thing was that on the very next day while walking on the beach with a friend in Santa Monica, I found the cup pictured below.

It says on it - "BE GOOD TO THE EARTH - IT'S OUR HOME" - sponsor unknown

A group of woodland creatures has gathered around this red-headed boy, and brown haired girl to plant a tree. Other characters that have joined are two recycling bins with big smiley faces (creepy), and windmills in the background. WOW.

So I will ask you the same question. How do we influence corporations to stop "getting it so wrong" when it comes to environmental advertising geared towards the youth, and well polluting the environment at the same time?

Sarah Nan - from Florida Community Collection Count

My friend Debbie put me in touch with her friend Sarah Nan in Florida. Above is a picture of what her local ocean view is.

She has emailed me pictures, and an account from a recent river cleanup that she did. Reading is believing. I've attached her email to me below in parts.

"I just did a clean up in March at McCoy's Creek in Jacksonville, Florida for the 15th Annual St. Johns River Celebration.

This creek flows into the St. Johns River and then flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

We pulled out 24 tires, a mattress, box spring, two shopping carts, and 23 large bags of litter (six of those bags were nothing but plastic bottles), a very large tv, a bike, and a semi- truck hood out of the creek . This all came from one tiny area (about 900 feet).

I am also doing a cigarette scan tomorrow around a local hospital that has banned smoking on campus, and have a very bad cigarette litter issue that needs to be addressed. The last scan at the hospital, we had picked up 10,000 butts from a small area, right next to the river. - (really? wow that is just totally absurd!!)

Sarah didn't weigh her findings, but I am adding this post to the Community Collection Count anyway. Thank you Sarah for your hard work, and enormous effort. I hope to post more from your Florida cleanups in the future!

Day 117 - May 2

life guard tower26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min.

4.5 pounds

462.6 pounds total

This potato chip bag was taken out of the trash can by a sea gull as I watched.

Solution? Trash cans with lids for the 10 - 15 of them that line the beach between life guard towers....I know Santa Monica is working on it, but until then, see above.

Today I played with my new Kodak hand held video camera. I had captured the gull ripping at a plastic bag inside the trash can, (don't worry, he didn't get it out, or eat it, I stopped him), and I was all ready to play with video blogging when I pressed a formatting button on my camera this morning sitting here at my desk, and presto, promptly erased everything I shot from last night's cleanup.

Note to self - when reading manual PAY ATTENTION to what the buttons are for instead of randomly pressing them WITH the manual open. Rats.

A top to...something made of plastic and it looked like it had washed in from the bay.

Like so many people around the world, I'm focused on the BP Gulf oil spill that happened recently. My inbox has been flooded with different environmental organizations weighing in with emails to drum up volunteers, or raise funds to help them battle this disasturous spill.

Global Green is an organization based in Santa Monica that opened their New Orleans office in response to Hurricane Katrina. They have set up a way to volunteer through their website, here's the link. And also - as you can imagine - had a thing or two to say that I pass on here.

"We mourn first for the 11 immediate victims who lost their lives when BP Oil's deep drill rig exploded last week. These hard working Americans, just like the 29 coal miners recently killed in West Virginia, lost their lives to provide us with the energy we need to maintain our modern lives by working in one of the world's most dangerous industries - carbon intensive energy production.

We are just now starting to consider the second wave of victims as millions of gallons of oil begins its march - without apparent end - onto Louisiana's shores, as well as our Gulf coast neighbors. The impact will likely include:

• The destruction of the livelihood of thousands of families who depend upon the fishing, shrimping, oyster harvesting, shipping, and tourism industries.
• More than 400 different species poisoned, potentially killing hundreds of thousands of animals, including countless migratory birds, fish, dolphins, and whales.
• The contamination of fragile coastal wetlands that protect hundreds of thousands of Louisianans, including New Orleans, as well as our nation's critical oil and gas and shipping infrastructure, and the most productive estuary in the nation."

And may I add, there was a safety shut off system for the oil well that was not installed because it was deemed too expensive......now we face a diaster possibly much worse than the Exxon Valdez spill....expensive in so many more heartbreaking ways than I can wrap my head around.

I find so, so, SO many plastic bottle caps on the beach.

Learn more about the CA Assembly Bill 925 to leash the lid to the bottle. There's been some progress to get this thru the legislature, but we'll need your support. I'll have updates on this bill as it goes through the process into, hopefully, becoming a law...at least in California.

read more here - "Since 1989, the start of data collection for Coastal Cleanup Day, 1,044,414 bottle caps have been collected from the state’s shorelines and waterways..."
The water line was littered with clear plastic wrappers, straws, food packaging, and plastic bottle tops tonight.

I collect from the same strip of beach every time.

I go to the beach at the end of Ocean Park Blvd. in Santa Monica and walk straight out to life guard tower 26, then turn left and head south to tower 28.

On a "good" day, I walk there and back in 20 min..

On a bad day, like today, I walk 100 feet down from tower 26.

The distance between tower 26 and 28 is at least 2 football fields in length....

Two things to end this post.

1. Carl Safina's blog entry on the oil spill. Like I said thru TWITTER, he is one of my ocean heroes.

2. Food and Water Watch's Seafood Guide. It gives you alternatives to some of your favorite fish that are no longer a safe choice for you, or the environment. Check it out.

From 30,000 feet

OCEANA'S OCEAN PLEDGE PSA

I just met TED DANSON on my flight to NYC. I watched

Oceana's PSA from

my seat using the Wi-Fi connection on

American Airlines when I remembered seeing

him board the same plane! I tried

to tone down my

excitement about this cool coincidence

and calmly walked to business class to

introduce myself as one of Oceana's

"Ocean Hero finalists" for 2010.

He was very gracious, and sincere.

I have to say, that was a fun conversation to have.

I really love that he dedicates his time to helping

raise awareness for our oceans.

What a cool flight!

Pledge to be an ocean hero!

Day 116 - April 28, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min.

1.8 pounds

458.1 pounds total
So many exciting things to share with you in this post, but I wanted to first say that this will be my last post for a few days because I will be in Conn. for a family funeral this weekend.

I'll be able to collect again starting this Sunday.

Thanks for reading the Daily Ocean, and enjoy this post!

They've painted all the life guard towers groovy colors in the last few days. Looking great!

FIRST - I was named a finalist for the OCEAN HERO AWARD from OCEANA. Voting started today. Please help spread the word to vote.

I am exprememly honored and humbled to be listed with the other 5 adult finalists and 5 youth finalists. If you read all of their bios, you'll be very inspired too! It's a win for the ocean that Oceana is doing this. SO please vote - every vote Oceana gets 1$ - and that's a very good thing because they are:

"Oceana is the largest international Ocean Protection & Restoration Environmental advocacy group dedicated to protecting and restoring the world's oceans and ..."

Pledge to be an ocean hero!

It was an extremely windy day today, but like on all windy days, the only thing I find that can withstand the weather is...plastic. Lots of clear plastic wrappers get un-earthed. Plastic water bottle tops, straws and the occasional cigarette butt seem to have sticking power on even the most blustery days.

Check out this video that the Malloy Brothers did which can be found on the Plastic Pollution Coalition's site. PLASTIC GOT THERE FIRST is the title.

You can imagine what that means coming from two of the world's top professional surfers who scour the globe for pristine waves.
This week a man named Steve Mc Pherson contacted me about his project to collect, photograph, and catalog plastic found on beaches and in marine environments. You can send him your pictures to add to his efforts too.

He is an artist living in the UK that has been making art with plastic for the past 15 years!

I am asking beach combers, foragers and anyone else to send photos and location details of interesting Marine Plastic that they find beached during their wanderings of the shores of the world. The project aims to document the people, places and plastic that litters our coastlines, maybe along the way it will provide some interesting or useful data, as well as hopefully bringing a greater awareness of the plastic pollution of our oceans and seas. Here's his website: www.marineplastic.org

My friend Lindsey Jurca is a teacher at ECHS Environmental Charter High School in Lawndale CA.

They are one of 6 schools in competition to have:

OBAMA COME GIVE THE COMMENCEMENT SPEECH!

HELP THEM BY CASTING YOUR VOTE HERE!

Here's their school's video that "caught the president's eye" :D How f%^**g cool is that!

Ocean Minded has the coolest suggestion attached to their apparel:

They ask you to pick up 10 pieces of trash whenever you go to your favorite beach, or out door place. Talk about positive corporate responsibility. This whole company in San Clemente was founded on love for the ocean. I'm a fan!

Day 115 - April 24, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min.

2.4 pounds

456.3 pounds total
Today I am happy to say, I was totally wrong about how much trash I was about to find when I walked out onto the beach.

It was a clear, beautiful Saturday. Usually, there is a lot of evidence that people have enjoyed themselves at the beach, but today I didn't find one cigarette butt, or plastic water bottle. I'm shocked, happy, and feeling pretty good about finding under three pounds of trash, including this Baja Fresh wrapper.
Here's an excerpt from a Kiss My Country post that I found really interesting:

"Recently, technology has played a huge part in contributing to the solutions of tough global and social issues. Through social media, people can connect and rally around a cause and give it global recognition. In the past year, on Twitter alone, we’ve seen huge numbers of people give support to the earthquake victims of Haiti, people going green for the Iran Elections, and going red for World AIDS Day. Garnering this much support raises awareness of the issues, encourages discussion, and gets us that much closer to a solution."

Earth Day - April 22, 2010 with the Peace Troop

This is the Peace Troop. I had the good fortune to meet them last September at the Santa Monica Pier during the Day of Peace organized by Jane Goodall's Roots and Shoots organization.

They are pictured above in October when they came out to life guard tower 26 to do a beach cleanup with me.

A little background on them - Mothers, Kelly and Sherry decided that the traditional Girl Scouts weren't environmentally active enough - and so they split to form the Peace Troop. In a word, awesome.

We spent Earth Day together watching the film Tapped that, "examines the role of the bottled water industry and its' effects on our health, climate change, pollution, and our reliance on oil."

One of the troopers asked, "Why doesn't Obama stop them."

Them being the big bottled water corporations of Nestle, Coke and Pepsi.

"That's a good question," I said. There wasn't enough time at the end to come back to that question.....

But they did decide 3 things:

1. to go home and tell their family about what they learned from watching TAPPED.

2. to tell their friends at school tomorrow.

3. to write a certain popular LA TV talk show host, that shall remain nameless here, to reconsider having the director of Tapped, Stephanie Soechtig, on her show instead of caving to the pressures of her sponsor....Pepsi - well they left that last part out.

I think it was unanymous though that everyone was going to switch to, "one of those stainless steel reusable bottles." I told them about Kleen Kanteen and that you could find them at Whole Foods among other places. Finally - when we watched Capt. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation in Long Beach, CA being interviewed walking the remote Hawaiian Beach littered with single use plastic water bottles, every one got very quiet. We live in a coastal city. This segment hit close to home.

So Happy Earth Day to the Peace Troop and to the people who made TAPPED. It was a great way to spend this day. I'll leave you with this -

Fact from Tapped - "The US uses 80 million single use water bottles a day. The recycling rate world wide for these containers is about 50%, but the US falls behind at 20%."

The rest end up in landfills, and in the ocean.......

A message for you from the Peace Troop