Day 177 - Dec. 4, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min.

1.2 pounds

690 pounds total
Emilia came out with me tonight. She is a senior at Harvard-Westlake High School who is getting ready to go to college next year, but found the time to come out with me to take some pictures for her Photography Class. I'm honored.
I've been thinking about the Gulf a lot lately. Maybe it has to with the fact that I saw "Gulf Shrimp" on the menu of our favorite restaurant Sunday night that rose a red flag in my head, or that I watched a clip of Carl Safina on the Martha Stewart show talking about the devastation to the fisheries in the Gulf? Here is an article from Current TV on the "Secret Ingredients of Corexit," which if you don't know is the dispersant that BP has sprayed millions of gallons of into the Gulf. (and is perhaps continuing to do so daily...yes even now)

I noticed a comment at the bottom of the article from a man who had bought a one way ticket to Redding CA from his Gulf Coast home and I thought again about how I would feel if I had to do the same? How hard would it be to have to leave our life behind here on the Santa Monica Bay? Answer: heartbreaking.

Forgive me for being self promoting but I have forgotten if I've mentioned that I am in the YAHOO! Year In Review as one of 2010's Most Inspirational Acts. Pretty tickled over this.

If you could do one thing to help Garen and I raise the last 27K it will take to go on the 5 Gyres Research expedition, it would be to post the link to this article on your FB page for us so that we can get the word out. Thank you!

WALLACE J NICHOLS NEEDS 100 BLUE ANGELS!

Help him have one true employer - THE OCEAN

"I'm looking for 100 Blue Angels to help me to continue the work I've been doing for the past two decades. If you appreciate the way I work, my accomplishments so far and the importance of the work ahead, please consider joining me."

Emilia's post about our night out at the beach

I created THE DAILY OCEAN NEWS with this fantastic application called paper.li which lets you post all of your favorite twitter feeds into an online "newspaper" and you don't even have to be on twitter to enjoy it.

TODAY'S TOP STORIES FROM:

Wallace J Nichols

Philipe Cousteau

Oceana

5 Gyres

Jim Moriarty, CEO Surfrider

Carl Safina

Heal The Bay

and some of my favorite Ocean Hero Civilians DianeN56, therightblue, and mstrlight

Day 176 - Dec. 3, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

1.9 pounds

688.8 pounds total

Community Count Day - 73

Aaron Richardet from North Carolina visiting Santa Monica

trash collected for 20 minutes

1.1 pounds

612.3 pounds total

A special thanks to Aaron for coming out with me on the beach. He is the husband of my good friend Danielle who writes a fantastic blog called "It Starts With Me" and is responsible for OUR DAILY OCEAN - a 20 min. cigarette butt cleanup on her local Wrightsville Beach, NC. She also weighs the trash she finds for my Community Count. Just love it!

Sara Sikich from Heal the Bay signing the reprinted version of AB 1998 - the statewide ban on single use plastic bags sponsored by Heal the Bay. She's all smiles in Sacramento as we concluded a press conference to show support to the local municipalities pursuing bag bans, and reviving AB 1998 for the Dec. special session before the Governor leaves office. Fingers crossed!

I've been meaning to include this quote by Nobel Peace Prize Winner from 2004

- Waangari Maathai

"Passion begins with a burden and a split second moment when you understand something like never before.

That burden is on those who know. Those who don't are at peace. Those of us who do know get disturbed and are forced to take action."

My take on the AB 1998 press conference in Sacramento on 11/29

I got a chance to shake hands with Assemblywoman Julia Brownley who is the principle author of AB 1998 - CA statewide ban on single use plastic bags. I may have mentioned - oh just a few times - that she is from Santa Monica!
Terry Taminen of Seventh Generation Advisors introduced all the speakers at the press conference. His wife Leslie Taminen is a power house strategist, and super star who works tirelessly for legislation like AB 1998 that supports ocean health.
Sara Sikich of Heal the Bay gets to sign her name to the reprinted version of the bill. There were a lot of names on that board. I am sure that if felt good to add hers since Heal the Bay is the primary sponsor of the bill.

Thank you Heal the Bay for all of your hard work, and to Kirsten James of Heal the Bay who has lobbied for AB 1998 in Sacramento more times than she can remember, but could not come up that day.
The four star students from the South Orange County Surfrider Chapter who are leaders in their own high schools as part of the Surfrider Clubs that have sprung up in the last year are seen above joining forces with Environment California canvassers who came up in support of AB 1998.

A big thank you to Denise Erkeneff for mentoring the 9 high schools, and one middle school into adopting Surfrider Clubs at their schools deep in the O.C..

The students with Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi from the city of San Francisco who was:

First-in-the-Nation to write a ban on plastic bags in chain grocery stores and drug stores, which sparked similar legislation around the world from Oakland to Canada to Paris to Beijing.

Andy Keller - creator and owner of Chico Bags who gave a great speech about the benefits to CA's economy by fostering more green jobs. You can watch his speech in this post.
Ahhh - this next photograph is of a major lobbyist for the ACC who had so many of his facts wrong that it would take me all day to list them, but here are some of the highlights from his interview. Notice that he had some people in the background that were trying to get his attention.

HE SAID: "Bill would have succeeded in putting people out of work in CA."

HE LEFT OUT: That the largest bag manufacturer of single use bags is in South Carolina.

HE SAID: AB 1998 would "Raise grocery costs for families"

HE LEFT OUT: That if you remember your bag you don’t have to buy a paper bag for 5 cents. And the price of the already available paper and plastic "free" bags are already in your grocery bill right now. SO using a reusable bag saves you money.

HE SAID: "There’s a better way to deal with it (plastic bags) and that is through enhanced recycling and public education."

HE LEFT OUT: For years they have been “improving” recycling efforts and are up to less than 5%. That is only 950 million out of the 19 billion bags that CA uses in only one year! That leaves 18.05 billion bags in our oceans, rivers, landfills and streets…

HE SAID: "These bags are fully recyclable and people reuse them in their homes so to suggest that people use them once and dispose of them is factually incorrect."

HE LEFT OUT: Um..what about the CADMIUM in the red lettering on the bags that ends up in peoples homes that is a known carcinogen?

And one final message to State Senator Mimi Walters from the students in her district:

(Who also took $3,600 in donations from the ACC and voted against AB 1998)

"I feel like our senator Mimi Walters does not represent us. She does not represent what the future needs, just what the ACC wants. If she were here today I would ask her to please re-look at her wants and what other people have influenced her to do like the ACC and really look at what the people need and what the people want."

Senator Walters might want to rethink the price of listening to her constituents.

Student Voices from South Orange County Surfrider Clubs

The four students in the video above cared enough to spend their Thanksgiving weekend in the state capitol to let their elected officals know that they want to see the kind of change that would occur if we pass AB 1998. Here is what they had to say. I was very impressed.

The four students that schlepped up to Sacramento go to sign the reprinted version of AB 1998

Have you seen a bag monster before? Well, check it out. They are pretty scary! Not the girls, the bag monsters. Although these students are a force to be reckoned with in their own communities. I look forward to seeing how their movement to band together grows.

AB 1998 Sacramento Bag Ban Press Conference 11/29

Here are some of the stand out points that the Governor made during his speech at the press conference I was at last Monday:

"We (CA) is very proud that we are always trying to TERMINATE (oh yes, really) the dirty pollution that we have been talking about today."

Facts he mentioned that I was glad to hear him include:

CA uses 120,000 tons of plastic bags a year.

(I know that a plastic bag weighs only .25 OUNCES because I weighed one recently.)

Only about 5% gets recycled

(That means 950 million bags, leaving out of the 18.05 BILLION that we use. And most of the "recycled" bags are shipped overseas to Asia where they are burned in open air facilities to melt the plastic...more on this later)

It is estimates that 80% of all Marine Debris is plastic

(let's call it what it is shall we - Marine LITER, or Marine POLLUTION, or something else that doesn't make it sound natural. Debris could be sticks and leaves. Plastic is toxic.)

Julia Brownley is from Santa Monica (Where I live! A little Santa Monica pride over here...)

Her speech was great! You should take a minute to watch it.

She congratulated LA County for banning the bag and said that if, "LA County were a state, it would be the 8th largest one." Feeling good about the progress that we just made.

She also mentioned that she was in Paris recently and there were no plastic bags there. The list of other countries that have already implemented a bag ban, or tax is long and diverse.

But the majority of what I filmed where student voices. Next post with what they had to say coming right up!

Sacramento AB 1998 Press Conference - videos

My trip up to Sacramento was a quick one, but chock full of great inspirational speeches and information. I will do two posts on the Nov. 29 press conference hosted by Green Cities California and organized by the Clean Seas Coalition and Seventh Generation Advisers.

Part 1 - speeches from policy makers and business owners in support of AB 1998

The creator and owner of Chico Bags, Andy Keller gave a speech on the economic benefit of green jobs in CA and how passing AB 1998 - the CA statewide ban on single use plastic bags - would ensure economic growth.

Things that I learned from Andy's articulate speech:

1. Chico Bags is 1 of 20 reusable bag companies in CA

2. CA is home to more reusable bag companies than any other state in the country

"Groups like the ACC (American Chemistry Council) are spending millions to stop this movement. I think they would be elates if we were all running around as bag monsters....Make no mistake, when they (the ACC) talk about jobs they are not talking about green jobs, they are talking about a handful of bag manufacturers in CA...What they are not telling us is that for most of them, single use carry out bags are just a small section of their product line. And that many of these plastic bag manufacturers already make reusable bags."

I have two more speeches to add to this post, but I will do so later. We got our Christmas Tree tonight so I am sure you understand if I sign off after many frustrating minutes uploading YouTube videos to "deck the halls" with my husband, two dogs and cat. More soon!!

OUT OF TOWN FROM 11/28 - 12/2

First stop tomorrow is Sacramento where I will get to hang out with my lobby buddy Denis from the Surfrider So. O.C. chapter, which seems like a total kick ass operation.

I met her in Sacramento this year and lucky for me, she's up there again for another rally to Ban the Bag. We'll be attending the event for promoting momentum for the city-by-city Bag Ban at the State Capitol Building Steps on Monday morning.

I hope to get up there in time to do a Sacramento River cleanup.

Then it is off to the SF Bay area to see my friends, and back down through Santa Cruz in time for my husband's birthday on Thursday.

We tried to find a sustainable sushi restaurant to go to on his birthday in LA. NONE were found. Bummer. We need to take a cue from SF and Seattle.

More cleanups from my local beach will resume Friday when I meet with my friend Danielle's husband Aaron who is in town. She writes a great blog that I mention often called, It Starts With Me - check it out!

Day 175 - Thanksgiving Day 2010

Matador Beach, Malibu CA

trash collected for 20 min.

4.7 pounds collected

686.9 pounds total

Charlotte heading down to Matador Beach on Thanksgiving Day before our 2 pm meal

It felt right to be on the beach with some of my favorite people on the planet for Thanksgiving Day.

many fishermen were staked out on the beach with yards, upon yards of mono filament

Most of the trash that I found on the beach came from the people that were still near it. A Red Bull can near a fisherman casting into the surf. A plastic water bottle in front of a chair next to another man ready to fish. This made me wonder if it was my place to explain why we wanted to make sure we took our trash with us when we left the beach? I collected their trash, but said nothing which didn't help me let go of the resentment and judgement that was ringing through my head, "Why don't people know better?" And why don't they? And how do we tell them in a way that hits its mark and takes effect? Seriously, I'm asking...

Lisa's toe and a plastic bottle top

I thought this was kelp...

But it wasn't. It was a buried black, plastic tarp or bag that we couldn't entirely unearth. Garen and I dug, and dug as the tide came in, pushing sand right back on top of it.

But maybe this is why I am driving to Sacramento on Sunday for a Monday rally on the steps of the CA State Capitol Building to build momentum for the plastic bag ban. I see so many plastic bags that I have to get in the car. Do you live in Sacramento and want to join us? Leave me a comment and I will tell you the details.

Community Count Day 72 - November 23, 2010

Herbert and Charlotte after learning that we collected 38.2 pounds of trash in 20 min.

Community Collection Day 72 - Palos Verdes, CA

trash collected for 20 min.

by Lisa, Herbert, Charlotte, Garen and Sara

38.2 pounds

611.2 pounds total

thank you to our friends who collected trash with us, and especially to Herbert who took all of these photographs with his new itouch!

Garen walking down to one of his favorite tide pooling beaches in CA

This is my first post in a few days. I felt like I was on vacation since Monday afternoon when one of my oldest friends, Lisa arrived with her two kids who are pictured above. I didn't even turn on my computer until after noon today which made me remember why I love this time of year so much. Even with holiday madness, and family drama, we slow down a bit.

One of Garen's favorite beaches is out on the Palos Verde Peninsula and so we took our three guests there for an octopus hunt, and to admire other "beasties" as Garen would say.

The view from the cliff is stunning. Unspoiled coast awaits you, or does it?

A purple sea urchin

Garen, Lisa and Herbert all tasted fresh Uni (Japanese for sea urchin) after Garen dissected it on the spot for Herbert. He's a marine biologist, not just some random beach goer who likes to open up urchin shells. And Herbert is intensely curious about the workings of all things marine. They dissected a squid together about two years ago when they spent their first Thanksgiving out on Avery Island. Herbert was so impressed he made Garen a shirt that says:

SQUIDS HAVE 8 ARMS, 3 HEARTS, AND 2 TENTACLES AND YOU DON'T

view of a seemingly pristine beach

But as the time for the beach cleanup got closer, I was getting anxious. I knew what awaited us up toward the high tide line in the rocks, and it was going to be a bummer.

the tide pools below the rocks at low tide

We made our way up there as the clock struck 4 pm. At first it looks like there's lots of trash to collect, but on further inspection...

where all the plastics gather

there's just tons and tons of it. You stay hunched over for the entire 20 min. just picking bits of plastic-this-and-that as fast as you can. If you move a couple of rocks, there's always more.

our friends who were visiting couldn't believe that everything was made of plastic

If I was even more fanatical than I already am about beach trash, I would save all of the trash that I collect, and separate it out into brands. SO for example all of the 7/11 products I find would be put into a nice big pile, and shipped off to 7/11 with a note. Hmmm...

My fanatical idea leads me to something that I have been thinking about lately. Why does the burden fall on the consumer to educate themselves about the environmental impacts of products and foods and the many varied negative effects that these goods also have on human health? Why aren't these issues factored into the beginning of the product's life? Why can't I even trust the label organic? And for example, why when I look at this Right Guard tube of antiperspirant do I have to know that the packaging will be around for oh - a thousand years or so - and that it most likely contained a form of aluminum that was detrimental to the health of the user? I just want to buy deodorant that doesn't hurt myself, or the planet don't you?

Plastics Are Forever International Youth Summit

COUNTDOWN: TEENS, SUBMIT YOUR SOLUTION TO PLASTIC POLLUTION BY NOV 30!

Win a chance to Join 100 Youth Leaders at Algalita's Plastics Are Forever International Youth Summit in Los Angeles in March 2011

The deadline for submitting your team’s solution to plastic pollution is November 30. Don’t forget to submit your idea for a shot o join 100 other teens, media experts and environmental leaders in Los Angeles in March 2011 for Algalita’s Plastics Are Forever International Youth Summit. Read more @ http://www.plasticsareforever.org/.

All you have to do is:

1) Form a Team

2) Learn a little more about plastic pollution at /www.plasticsareforever.org/learn/

3) Come up with an idea to solve plastic pollution in your community

4) Submit your idea at www.plasticsareforever.com/submit

5) Check back in December to see if your team is a winner!

Submit your ideas @ HTTP://WWW.PLASTICSAREFOREVER.OR

this will stick in in your head in the best way possible and inspire you!

Day 174 - November 19, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 minutes

2.1 pounds

682.2 pounds total
I try to go running on the beach. Before I set out, I tell myself that it is OK if I run past some of the trash that I see along the way. I reassure myself that, "I do enough!" I can enjoy a little half hour run without feeling guilty!

But I can't get very far.

I'll run past some things, and then something will catch my eye, like a boogie board leash, and I think oh man, I have to get that! Think of the damage that loose, plastic rope could do to some animal or sea bird? SO I pick it up.

Then I pick up a big plastic bag. Perhaps after I have ran past a few smaller items since I now feel off the hook by having the boogie board leash in my hand. I mean, how many people do you see running with trash in their hands?

SO I pass a Cheetos bag, or a water bottle. But then I see another piece of litter I just can't go by. Now my hands are full. This means I then have to run to the beach trash cans, (and I hate using those...it just feels wrong to throw something away there, like there it has a higher likelihood of escaping the open top confines and sprinting back to the ocean. I'm revealing my fanaticism, aren't I?)

Anyhow, I get to the can, I'm completely winded from the run in the loose, dry sand, and inevitably I just head back to the bike path away from the beach because I just can't take the multiple treks back to the trash can thru the dry sand that I know are coming if I carry on at the water's edge. One part lazy, two parts?

Maybe it's as simple as not being able to run away from caring.

I found so many of these today. It made me think about the bill that got killed last year in the CA State Senate - SB #something-or-other - was a law to leash your lid to the bottle.

Kind of like how we used to pull the top off of the aluminum cans until someone figured out how to leave them attached by just pushing them under. We have the technology now to do the same for bottles. There is a man, with his factory all geared up and ready to go, in South Carolina that has the technology in place.

Now we just need the willingness to change.
I wish people who came to the beach to enjoy a joint would just put this damned plastic tip in their pocket after they've rolled their blunt. Did I just write blunt like I use that word in my everyday life?

Well, I don't.

But when I see "Philly Blunt" wrappers, and cigarillo plastic stubs, I'm not too old to figure it out that they ain't smoking cigars out here.

So BEFORE you smoke pot on the beach by rolling it in the cigar paper that is usually attached to this little plastic nubbins - try, PLEASE try to put that thing in your pocket before you light up. Please?
And then take this wrapper with you after you've satisfied your munchies. I can't believe I am writing this. I think it is funny right now, but maybe I should rethink this post before I publish it?

I'm not condoning getting stoned, but if I were to get baked, (clearly I'm in 10th grade again) the beach is a great place to do it. Which brings me to an interesting point.

We can't stop people from doing what they are going to do. We can try, (and all of this is my silly opinion now), we can make sweeping changes by implementing laws, fines, and the like but folks are going to do what they want.

Prohibition anyone? (by the way...you MUST watch Boardwalk Empire. I'm just saying. HBO. Brilliant!)

I just want to advocate for cleaning up after ourselves once we've gotten what we came for. To enjoy a spectacular sunset, a place to hang with your family, a spot to sit quietly by yourself. It strikes me as a way to sort of pay that place back by leaving it as it was when you came, or making it even better. What has gotten into me today with the preachy preach stuff?? Apologies.

From left to right: Ross (producer and sound engineer), Brett - D.P. extraordinaire & Destin - Director

Destin Cretton and crew out on the beach to shoot a short for the Sundance channel. Destin won best Short in last year's Sundance festival for Short Term 12. And if I am not mistaken, the congratulations extends to all three of them since I think everyone in this shot was part of that production. I know great things await for these uber cool, creative guys with easy going outlooks and passions galore for what they want to do in the challenging world of film.

Day 173 - November 16, 2010

life guard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min.

1.2 pounds

680.1 pounds total

Community Count Day 71 - Doctor Heather Lounsbury - thank you Heather!

catch her next Blog Talk Radio show tomorrow!

Santa Monica, CA

trash collected for 20 min.

.5 pounds

573 pounds

The Daily Ocean combined total = 1253.1

Today the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 to ban single-use plastic bags in LA County. What a victory! The BAG MONSTERS were out (Yay Chico Bags!!!) and so were Surfrider and Heal the Bay. I missed it because of a stomach bug I'm fighting off - insert big bummer sigh here - but I am extremely proud that LA County took decisive action to become the biggest municipality to ban the bag in the USA! Hip-hip-hooray! Read Team Marine's coverage on their blog too.
The International Bird Rescue Research Center caught a gull that had been collared by a beer can and removed it! But they think that someone is doing this on purpose to these birds. Please read their post for the number to call if you spot a bird that has a beer can around its neck for all of you who live in the bay area.
Here is a report from Maine on what is washing up there. The Flotsam Diaries is written by my fellow trash trudger Harry. He has great observations on what's hitting the sand all the way up in Northern Maine.
Have you see the Story of Stuff, the Story of Bottled Water or the new Story of Electronics? Well they are awesome short films that are jam packed with illuminating info. on what really happens to the many products we buy from start to finish. Start with the newest edition - The Story of Electronics.

Annie Leonard talks about, "design for the dump....making stuff to throw away quickly."

Makes sense if the companies making this stuff want us to buy more, and in fact they depend on it. But she has a better idea - that's not so new - "Product Take Back," also called EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY. These laws are popping up all over Europe and Asia.

And let's not export our 25 MILLION POUNDS of E-WASTE a year to other countries like China.