Day 164 - Oct. 20, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

2.1 pounds

661.5 pounds total

Community Count - Day 68

Dean Miya - Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

2.4 pounds

535.4 pounds total

*Please excuse the excessive amount of sunset pictures in this post. We've had a lot of rain.*

Go Inspire Go - Is this fantastic website -- "using social networking for social change" -- created by Toan Lam.

"Discover and Use Your Power to Help Others" is their motto.

You can follow them on FB, Twitter, YouTube and the Huff Post.

Here's a quote from the story high-lighted on their homepage: "People talk about change. Some dream about it. Others take action and ARE the change..." now GO check out this cool site!
Oceana's Chile victory: Here's some good news. Oceana teamed up with National Geographic and the Waitt Foundation to propose a no-take marine reserve to Chile's President Pinera. The Fisheries Committee of Chile's Senate supported the recommendation unanimously and has established the reserve around Sala y Gomez Island, which is home to abundant populations of vulnerable species not found in the waters around neighboring Easter Island.

This is a huge step in the right direction. The marine park increased Chile's protected area more than 100 times! Oceana and National Geographic are going back to survey other sea mounts in the area to propose more protection. Good luck to them and congratulations on a huge victory for the oceans.
Disney Oceans is out on DVD and BluRay - Rent it if you don't predict that you will watch it repeatedly, (like will happen in our house.) If you go to their site and order the DVD, BluRay or Movie Download before Oct. 25th they will make a contribution in your honor to Save Our Coral Reefs. Sweet deal! Too bad I already have mine sitting next to me on my desk here. But that doesn't mean I can't donate on my own.
Our collection was of made up of mostly small fragments of plastic wrappers like the one above. And they were all found next to the water - not on the tide line - just up from the waves.

So 4.5 pounds of trash, (our combined total) was actually a lot of rubbish. For comparison -

1 Werther's Original candy wrapper weighs - .o2 ounces

1 plastic bag - .25 ounces

Dean Miya holding an eroded Mickey Mouse Mylar Balloon

One of the amazing outcomes from starting The Daily Ocean is that I get to meet incredible people. People like my friend Dean Miya who are working to help the oceans in a very low-key and direct way. He doesn't have a website to check, or a twitter account to follow his adventures on (although I know he has FB), he just helps when he is moved to. I got to hear about the trip he took to the Gulf with The Sea Shepard's that was only supposed to last for ten days and turned into 3 weeks!

Dean's trip to the Gulf

- He got to tag Whale Sharks to see if they are dying and fleeing the area b/c of the oil

- He took water samples that were sent to Canada for independent testing

- He spoke to local shrimpers who said that they wouldn't shrimp because their catch was not healthy even though the US government had given the ok (by sniffing the shrimp - now that's extensive testing)

- He got to see a crab fisherman crack open a - well a crab - to explain that the oil is inside the animals by getting Dean to feel the "oily" insides of the little critter. (Dean's disclaimer is that he doesn't know what crab insides feel under normal conditions - not too many of us do I imagine!)

- He learned a disturbing term that has sprung up from money being passed out to fisherman, "SPILLIONARES." BP has handed out money to these folks as a retainer for them to essentially do nothing...since they dispersed all the oil with their toxic dispersant.

- He got to DO something because he felt like he couldn't just watch the tragedy unfold without helping.

My hat is off to you Dean. You walk the walk you talk. Thank you for all that you do.

Yes, another one. That's a comment for anyone who saw Day 163

Oil moratorium lifted after 6 months! Yup - the only news that I could think of to put under this lovely photograph is the disappointing news that Obama has lifted the Deepwater Oil Drilling moratorium with out really changing anything. Ugh. Here's the NY Times piece on it.

Another terribly cool person I've got to talk to is Joel Harper. He is a musician, poet, author, dad, activist and all around amazing guy who wrote, "All the Way to the Ocean." When no one would help him get his vision published - he taught himself how navigate the self publishing world with deft skill, and success. Check out his truthful, and inspiring book that teaches all of us just what is ending up in our oceans....
Join Barbara Boxer for a rally on Sat. Oct. 23 - doors open at 10 AM - at Perry's Beach Cafe 930 Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Monica CA (free parking in Lot 7 North, PCH)

"A call to action against offshore drilling"

RSVP here is you plan on attending

Another great person I got to connect with is Mary, Dean's neighbor who happened to be out on the beach last night taking pictures of the sunset. She has a studio down the street from me on Ocean Park Blvd.. Here is her website where you can view the amazing art that she creates.

What are these things? I find them too often to let it remain a mystery. Someone please help.

I know fall has arrived when I see the new varieties of sea birds join the local gulls. The smallest birds with the legs that move faster than the naked eye can see are my favorites.

Community Count Back Log

Daryl collects here at Dockweiller Beach in the LA area for 2 years & counting!

4 days of Community Count Cleanups come from here - The Baltic Sea

Santa Barbara - two Community Counts come from here

First of all, I would like to thank all of the people who reached out with emails, and comments after reading about The Daily Ocean in the LA times last month. It was a thrill to read so many good wishes and kind words about this project. I've also had the chance to meet a few of you, and that is also a real treat.

This past month I was chained to my computer for most of the day finishing a project that has taken nearly four years. I completed the draft last Thurs. knowing full well that it doesn't stop there. But it does mean that I get a reprieve from the intensity of writing for many hours a day and now I am chained to my desk answering back-logged emails.

Actually, I am enjoying pouring over emails from people who have written in about what they have found on their walks, on their beaches. There are so many of you that I have to dedicate an entire post to your efforts. I'm really looking forward to compiling all of your hard work here. It inspires me to no end. I hope you find that these people have the same effect on you. Again, my sincerest thanks.

A LIST OF PLACES AND PEOPLE WHO WROTE IN TO SHARE THEIR FINDINGS:

1. Anke - The Baltic Sea, Germany

2. Ginger Taylor, Wrightsville Beach N.C.

3. Patricia - professor at SBCC, Santa Barbara

4. James - Long Beach CA

5. Rebecca, Santa Barbara CA

6. Arleen - Martha's Vineyard MA

7. Daryl - Dockweiller Beach LA, CA

8. Jaqueline - Makaha, Oahu

1. Anke - She collects rubbish from her beach on the Baltic Sea and creates beautiful art with it. She went above and beyond the Community Count call and submitted 4 days worth of beach cleanup information.

Day 1 - 9/18 3.9 pounds

Day 2 - 9/23 - 2.4 pounds

Day 3 - 9/24 - 1.4 pounds

Day 4 - 9/25 - 15 pounds

total 22.7 pounds

2. Ginger Taylor - Wrightsville Beach, N.C.

I have two collections to report about from her.

She walked for 20 minutes near beach access 33 and found 1.7 pounds. Here is her list of trash:

74 cigarette butts

7 bottle caps

5 straws

1 wiffle ball

1 mini New Hanover Wildcats basketball (the kind they throw out at the game)

1 unused large black garbage bag

1 walmart plastic bag

4 Styrofoam cups

1 netting (the kind that beach toys are packaged in)

2 zip lock bags

1 cigar tip

3 balloons

1 hat

1 plastic spoon

other bits and bobs

Her second collection took place in the woods: All things roll down hill, all drains lead to the ocean....

Today we picked up 14 lb. 11.4 oz. of trash in a little over an hour while we walked the dog and played with other dogs. Most of the trash came from behind Carlton Place apartments. It looks as though residents party up and throw their beer and cigarette butts over the fence into the woods. Another "dirty" area was the Hooker Rd. access to the forest. There we picked up many many plastic bottles and aluminum cans as well as two bags of something poopy---yuck yuck yuck!

Here is a list of our loot:

2 beer case boxes

14 plastic bottles

a pile of rusted survey flags (plastic flags)

5 glass bottles

16 aluminum cans

4 plastic cups

3 straws

1 styrofoam cup

5 glass bottles

2 dirty diapers

2 plastic bags of poop

5 plastic bags

lots of other bibs and bobs of plastic and styrofoam stuff.

3. Patricia is a professor at Santa Barbara Community College. She takes her students out every Sunday! That's right - every Sunday time depending on the tide. They have a FB page I can't see since I don't have a personal FB account. But you probably can!

Look up - Beach Angels on FB to see what they are up to.

I will be going up to the Santa Barbara area to collect with them, and another woman who contacted me from the area. Stay tuned for those results.

4. James - Long Beach already baught a scale to go out with, and he will report back to me when he has the chance to head to the beach.

5. Rebecca - Santa Barbara - collects trash when she walks her dog (I've learned that many people do this, yay!) I've pasted a few lines from her email here because it makes me smile. Especially the last line.

When out with Ruby the Jack Russell, I pick up litter for our 1 to 2 mile walks/6 days weekly. Plastic, glass, ciggy butts, dog poop, clothing, cardboard, paper, on and on.

I calculatee poundage in my head and multiply by the imaginary if 1,000 people in SB did what I do, we could keep______pounds per year from reaching the ocean.

Your pictures and precision make it much better but just so you know.

We are out here!

6. Arleen - Martha's Vineyard. She was one of the first people to follow The Daily Ocean on twitter. She also came out for a cleanup at the end of the summer when she was visiting her daughter who lives in Santa Monica. And recently she went to her own beach to see what she could find while also dragging out her kitchen scale. I love LOVE LOVE this photograph.

Arleen was bummed to find that her, "quiet Martha's Vineyard Squibnocket beach" was not very clean like she thought it would be. She found 3.6 pounds in 20 min.

Some of the items she collected were:

a buoy

cans

plastic

a slipper

some jeans

cups

wires

and balloon ribbon

Sounds very much like the beach in Santa Monica. See a trend?

*if you click on these images they enlarge.

7. Daryl emailed me from the LA area. She has been doing what I do with The Daily Ocean for over 2 years! Bravo! She cleans a stretch of beach from Marina Del Ray to Dockweiller Beach (notoriously dirty). Daryl said that the most frequently found item out there are plastic straws. Here's a way to cut back on straw liter. The next time you go to a restaurant and order a drink ask them to hold the straw. It will catch on. Your friends may ask you why with a funny look on your face. You can then explain, and even if only one person catches on to the hlod the straw habbit, that is one more person than before....

Daryl says that she finds all the usual suspects like:

condoms

syringes

plastic cigar tips

plastic cups

plastic bags (see a trend forming -- it begins with the letter p...)

plastic toys

styrofoam cups

plasitc forks

but also ....

dead birds

dead sea lions

and one time:

" I even found a live fullgrown chicken in a trashcan near Marina. Freaked me out!

Keep up the good work. The oceans need our help. We are drowning in our own waste."

8. Jaqueline - Makaha, Oahu and Mauna Lanilahi Beach Park

Here's a quote from what she finds on her daily walks along the stretch of road near her house in Makaha:

I now work on my daily walk on a stretch of road and most of that stuff consists of 7/11,McDonalds, plate lunch boxes and beer bottles flung out of the cars traveling on this road. "

And another quote from her beach collections:

"

I filled at least 6 large garbage bags with the following items, frequently seeing myself people eat plate lunches from styrofoam containers and just getting up where they sat leaving behind the plates, folks, cups, plastic bags, condiment containers, and straws. Mothers left their dirty disposable diapers right on the beach along with their children's juice containers with straws. These people would get up from a nice lunch or day at the beach, walk by the trash can and get into their cars."

The reason that I wanted to include all of these people's findings in one post is that we are collecting the same liter from all of our beaches. And we are all seeing the same behavior.

I saw the remains from a family that got up from the sand in Santa Monica and left all of their disposable plates, forks, cups, etc. right where they were sitting.

But here is the good trend that I thought would be apparent if I shared this in one post. We all care about the beaches where we live. We are all taking the same actions to protect the ocean that we live near. We are all making a difference. Join us?

Day 163 - Oct. 17, 2010

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

4.6 pounds

659.4 pounds total

This is a picture of me and Emilia. She is a senior at Harvard-Westlake High School in the LA area. She came along tonight to take photographs of a beach cleanup for her photography class. It was so fun having her out there.

Thanks Emilia, for being interested in helping the oceans and creating art. Two things that I care about a lot. Probably why you asked to come along tonight...

Lewis and Clark would be crazy not to take you. Stay in touch!

Here is a link to her funny, well thought out blog - "THAT'S EXACTLY MY POINT"
It has been raining in Santa Monica a lot over the past week. I like it, but what I don't like is what it does to the bay. Especially that first flush of liter that comes through the storm drains and empties right into the ocean.

Team Marine of Santa Monica High was there to capture it with some sickening photos. They also did an emergency beach cleanup. They estimate that they collected around 200 pounds of trash from the beach. This estimate may be on the low side considering they stuffed - like have to stand on top of to pack down - stuffed four trash barrels worth. How much can an oil barrel sized trash can hold? Check it out.
Live in the LA area? Hey even the SoCal area? Come out to support the Los Angeles ban in single use plastic bags! If you would like to brush up on some of the reasons -- and there are many -- to ban these destructive things then watch BAG IT! first. I think it will make you want to call in sick to work that day and join us. Here's the info. We need a BIG turnout.

"Please mark your calendars for the Los Angeles County bag ban hearing on November 16^th at the County Supervisors building downtown. The hearing starts at 9:30am"

What can I say under this picture???

We all know to cut these up, right?

I'm going to dedicate an entire post about this tomorrow, but I wanted to mention the BLUE MARBLE PROJECT that Wallace J Nichols started. He has more creativity to help the ocean than any person I've ever met.

"SAVING THE OCEAN ONE BLUE MARBLE AT A TIME - BLUeMaRBLeS - THROUGH RANDOM ACTS OF OCEAN KINDNESS"

"It's a simple idea: commit a random act of ocean kindness by sharing a blue marble forward with someone doing good things for our blue planet and tell them to do the same."

Jack Johnson Concert for 5 Gyres - Oct. 12

Anna Cummins and Dr. Marcus Eriksen who are the co-founders of 5 Gyres

I've lost track of which ocean Marcus is crossing at the moment, and Anna is home in LA very hard at work, so Garen and I went to the Jack Johnson concert for them to set up a 5 Gyres table in the Village Green.

Jack Johnson invites local non-porfits from the surrounding area to come to every one of his concerts to educate people about helping the environment whether it is through ocean conservation education about marine plastic pollution, or supporting local foods. He invites a diverse group of folks out to change the world.

Garen and I did not know the treat that we were in for. Sure, I've liked Jack Johnson for awhile - BUT now I am a huge fan! He's a fantastic musician with a message I totally dig, but also he walks the walk so to speak. One of his staff - Kate - who was very nice to all of us - told me that there are no plastic water bottles allowed on the tour. So cool.

Garen is standing at an empty table - the only time that happened that night - because, as you will see below, Jack Johnson came out and played a 4 song set for us from oh...I'd say 20 feet away!

Jack Johnson and friend playing for a small gathering of folks on the Village Green

Garen is teaching interested concert goers about the dangers of plastic trash that ends up in the oceans. Much of it is collecting in 5 places called a gyre, which is a place where the ocean currents swirl together naturally bringing in natural debris, and trash - mostly plastic trash.

Marcus made this really cool display from welding the base to hold three window panels each depicting one of three topics - PROBLEM - SOLUTION - 5 GYRES. His display made the information easy to understand because of its creative, eye-catching design.
A sample shot of the PROBLEM side. See what it says in the bottom,"What's in your sushi?"
Algalita, 5 Gyres and Surfrider's Rise Above Plastics are hosting the PLASTICS ARE FOREVER INTERNATIONAL YOUTH SUMMIT in Long Beach this coming March.

Are you in high school, work at a high school, or know anyone who does? Then check this out and pass the word.

They are asking the youth to come up with solutions to plastic pollution, participate in a weekend conference in Long Beach, hear speakers Wallace J Nichols and Charles Moore, and then head back into their communities to be leaders of change!

It's going to rock!
Kamillo Beach is on the Big Island of Hawaii, which also happens to be my favorite place in the world. Swimming in the ocean off the Big Island inspired me to write, "Calliope and the Heart of the Sea" that I just finished on Thursday night. I sent it out the next morning to a literary agent that I met the SCBWI conference this past summer. Cross your fingers for me will you?

The paragraph above made it sound like I just blasted out, "Calliope" in no time. It actually took me 3 years, 10 months, and 15 days to get it to the agent I mentioned. That's not even to get it published. The clock is still ticking...
This shirt was designed by Rick Erkeneff - he and his wife Denise are very active in the South Orange County Surfrider Chapter. I had the priviledge of lobbying with her for AB 1998 - CA Ban the Bag Law (that didn't pass) - twice this year in Sacramento. They are a powerhouse environmental duo, and their daughter Lulu is a total champion surfer.

Check out Jack Johnson's All At Once initiative.

"An individual action, multiplied by millions, creates global change."

the picture above is of the "Village Green" that is erected at each JJ show

Day 162 - Oct. 14, 2010

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

4.8 pounds

654.8 pounds total

Community Count - Day 61

Casey Bayles, NYC

trash collected for 20 minutes

2.4 pounds

505 pounds total

Remember the owl that would say on the Tootsie Pop commercial, "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop?" AND then he would count as he licked 1,2, and then CRUNCH - he couldn't even make it to 3 licks! Damn those pops must be good, I'd think.

SO here's the question - if you can't even wait for three darn licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop, then why-oh-why make the wrapper out of plastic?

Hold something that people can't take three licks of - with plastic that lasts for - well plastic never goes away...........hmmmm.....does that make sense?
Straws are easily overlooked. Like my friend Danielle said in her most recent post, just say, "HOLD THE STRAW" when you go out to eat. Really, it adds up and people catch on.

Look what Danielle caught on to do in her home state of North Carolina and now she is up for a film award from the BRITTA FILTER FOR GOOD PROJECT. Won't you take a sec. and vote for her please? THANKS
Garen and I tabled for 5 Gyres at the Jack Johnson concert in Irvine last Tues. If I loved Jack Johnson before, now I am in total awe of what he does. He donates 100% of his earnings from his tour to the local non-profits that he invites to the show. Man, that is just the coolest thing EVER!

Anyway - spent a lot of time showing pictures of Albatross with lighters remaining in their skeletons after they have died from starvation from ingesting plastic to people who came up to the 5 Gyres table.

Chris Jordan is the photographer, artist, activist behind these images. Please check them out, and be forewarned -- you'll never look at a lighter the same way again. Ever.
This is my amazing aunt Casey. She came out to visit a few friends and family sprinkled around the LA area. AND she is the first family member to come out with me to the beach for a Daily Ocean cleanup. But, like she pointed out, more of my familia would probably be out with me if they didn't all live on the opposite coast.

Love you Casey - thank you for coming out with me!