Day 345 - Oct. 19, 2012

lifeguard tower 26 - Santa Monica CA
trash collected for 20 min. 
3 pounds collected
1,288.3 pounds total
1 cigarette butt

I'm composing my Powerpoint for Santa Monica College's Plastic Pollution Panel this Thurs. at 3 p.m.. Just click on the image of the flyer below to find out more. This upcoming week is Sustainability Week at the college. For my presentation, I'm including creative solutions to the problem as it affects the ocean. 

3 - 5 THURS. OCT. 25TH 

THEATRE ARTS BUILDING, MAIN STAGE

1900 Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90405 

One of my favorite artists is Marina Debris. Her website WASHED UP gives you a good overview of her inovative graphic arts style. Last year she put out a HOLIDAY CATALOG full of many of the items she's found on her beach only a couple miles south of this one. Her most recent art series is TRASHION. Is it art, fashion, trash, or all three? You decide. Her creativity amazes me. 

I've also been thinking about Joel Harper who wrote the picture book ALL THE WAY TO THE OCEAN. His story illustrates storm drain pollution and how it connects all the way to the street you live on, the school and neighborhood that you play in. It's found in most aquariums across the country and online here. 

Day 344 - Oct. 17, 2012

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min. 

3.6 pounds 

1,285.3 pounds total 

17 cigarette butts

LA Waterkeeper had an open house last night to celebrate 40 years of the CLEAN WATER ACT. They've changed their name from Santa Monica Bay Keeper to LA Waterkeeper since their scope reaches San Pedro and up stream into the LA River Basin to name a couple of spots outside of the SM Bay that they advocate for. We've got a strong ocean conservation community here in Southern California. Last night was my first interaction with LA Waterkeeper. I really enjoyed the people I met and it's always fun to widen my own scope to meet other ocean advocates and enthusiasts. 

As I took a picture of this diaper, a man walked toward me and then away when I put it into my bag. He'd left a toddle without a diaper and a woman playing in the surf. I put the obvious 2 + 2 together but didn't say anything as he tried to saunter away unnoticed. 

After my 20 minute cleanup was over, I was by the bathrooms when the family without the diaper was leaving the beach. 

"Excuse me," I said to the father, "was that your kid's diaper I picked up?"

He admitted it was and that he often tosses it past the water line only to go back for it later but today felt like he was going to change his ways and go back early for it when I swooped in before he could.

"I wasn't going to shame you or anything when I picked it up. I'm not into that. But this is what I do." I went on to describe The Daily Ocean and handed him a card. 

"Thanks," he said.

We talked about how beautiful the night was and all of us left wishing the other a good night. Our exchange reconfirmed my choice to talk to people with kindness and to give them a chance.

Day 343 - Oct. 12, 2012

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min. 

1.5 pounds

1,281.7 pounds total 

8 cigarette butts

I just got home from speaking at SMASH - Santa Monica Alternative School House. My friend Bailey who teaches there has invited me twice in the last month to present The Daily Ocean to 7th and 8th graders. They ask thoughtful questions. 

One of the last questions was, "Where is the dirtiest beach you've been to?"

"Here," I said. The boy looked shocked. I went on to explain the "First Flush" of trash through the storm drain system of Los Angeles every fall in October. 

"I collected 11 pounds in 5 min. last year," I said as he sat down still a little wide-eyed. 

"Part of the problem is that there's 15 million people behind our coastline who may not understand the impact they have when they use certain products and where this plastic packaging ends up."

I went on to say, "How do we teach them that they matter, that they have an impact? How do we educate people so they are afforded a chance to change? How do we keep their ears open?" 

The class must have thought these questions were rhetorical. And to a large extent they were so I'll answer them here. 

One way I reach people is by using myself as an example of someone who drank plenty of bottled water, and used plastic bags when I started doing my solo beach cleanups. 

And I kept drinking bottled water and using bags even after I started until I'd found too many to continue the habit. My habits changed with my experience as I learned more. I believe if I share this with people, that they may feel less pressure to be environmentally perfect and more inclined to take action just as they are.

People care. The beach and our oceans are places many of us treasure. I was afforded the chance to change. Other people can change too if given the opportunity, knowledge and inspiration to do so. 

Day 342 - Oct. 11, 2012

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min. 

1.9 pounds

1,280.2 pounds total

8 cigarette butts

Last Saturday I spoke to the Rise Above Plastics Speaker Training class at Otis. Surfrider is hosting it and really it's the orchestration and hard work of LA's own Juli Shultz who has gotten inspiring trainers to come teach. 

On Saturday I shared the class with Lindsey Jurca and Jordan Howard, both activists, teachers and inspiring people on their own who collaborate frequently with Surfrider and 5 Gyres among other organizations. Lindsey heads up the curriculum and implementation of Environmental Charter Schools that started with one location in Lawndale CA and is growing rapidly. 

Jordan and Lindsey spoke about their trip to India with Marcus Eriksen of 5 Gyres a few months back. It was a sobering presentation with plenty of solutions tacked onto the end. They had photographs of plastic bags covering trees and riverbeds thick with trash. Re-designing products was a major theme as well as getting the audience to ask themselves if "...we really need this?"

I'll ask you - do we really need single use plastic bags like the one above?

It's going to take a coordinated effort to teach, inspire, change and shift ourselves away from creating more environmental consequences with convenience products. Products used for minutes or seconds that persist in the environment leaving a trail of damage and toxicity. I know we can do it though. 

Here's two other women happy to lead the way. Check them out.

LINDSEY JURCA    JORDAN HOWARD

When I feel overwhelmed by the hurdles humanity has to overcome to take care of ourselves and the planet, spending time in the company of dedicated, knowledgeable people committed to spreading solutions for change gives me hope. Thanks for a great presentation Lindsey and Jordan. And thank you Juli and all the RAP trainees for showing up on a Saturday to care. 

Day 341 - Oct. 9, 2012

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica, CA

trash collected for 20 min. 

1 pound 

1,278.3 pounds total 

8 cigarette butts

Community Count Day 254 - Arleen McGlade

trash collected for 20 min. 

.5 pounds

1,067.1 pounds total 

THE DAILY OCEAN COMBINED TOTAL - 2,345.4 POUNDS 

JOIN US! THE COMMUNITY COUNT IS FUN, EASY AND YOUR INVITED!

It's always fun to go out for a beach cleanup with my friend Arleen. Arleen contacted me back in the beginning of The Daily Ocean. She's done several Daily Ocean beach cleanups on here own and a few with me in Santa Monica. As I approach my initial 365 cleanup goal, I'm looking back on the friends I've made along the way. 

A big thank you to Arleen for her support and friendship over the last three years.

This rosary is in the glove box of my car. We'd been talking about religion minutes before finding the plastic cross on the sand.  I couldn't bring myself to throw it away. We decided I needed to hold onto it until I finished my cleanups. I'm not sure what to do with it. Suggestions welcome. 

I'm on Pinterest. If images get you going, come find me on there.

Day 340 - Oct. 8, 2012

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min. 

1.3 pounds

1,277.3 pounds total 

Community Count Day 253 - Megan van Dyke - my Mom!

trash collected for 20 min. 

1 pound

1,066.6 pounds total 

THE DAILY OCEAN COMBINED TOTAL - 2,343.9 POUNDS

I've been speaking a lot lately. This week was a visit to Guidance in Venice, CA. Guidance is a web design, marketing and commercial strategy company that has a Green Committee who bring speakers in once a year on a variety of environmental topics. I was thrilled to represent the ocean portion of the panel along with experts on solar from Grid Alternatives and Martifer, and Friends of Ballona Creek. One of the messages I conveyed during my talk was that I've learned to take the items off the sand that I find on my beach cleanups and then take them out of my own life. 

TAKE IT OFF THE SAND AND THEN TAKE IT OUT OF YOUR LIFE

Glass and aluminum containers are truly recyclable and will degrade back into their original material. Plastic never biodegrades and persists in some form forever in our environment. 

What a packed week it has been with my Mom visiting! 

Thanks for coming out onto the beach with me! 

Day 339 - Oct. 4, 2012

 

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min.

.5 pounds

1,276 pounds total 

22 cigarette butts

Community Count Day 252 (left to right) Mark, Danielle, Aaron, Garen

1.8 pounds

1,065.6 pounds total

You too can add to The Daily Ocean by doing a Community Count Beach Cleanup anywhere in the world!

HERE'S HOW

A beach cleanup with friends and my husband is such a treat. Danielle and Aaron were visiting from North Carolina this past weekend. Danielle writes the blog, IT STARTS WITH ME where she collects trash for 20 min. at a time on her local beach too. It all started when she came out to CA over two years ago and went on a Daily Ocean cleanup with me. After returning home, she felt discouraged about the number of cigarette butts on her home beaches and asked me if she could start OUR DAILY OCEAN, a portion of her blog where she weighs all the trash she finds but counts out the cigarette butts.

She's collected over 50,000 cigarette butts off her beach, 20 min. at a time. 

We found the rest of the usual suspects as well. 

This styrofoam cup looked covered in beak marks and beak bites where some hungry gull had mistaken it for a meal. 

It's tough staying committed and optimistic, but when you don't have to do it alone, it makes it so much easier. Danielle brought me a bracelet with a favorite quote of mine inscribed - 

"INDIVIDUALLY WE ARE ONE DROP, TOGETHER WE ARE THE OCEAN."

 - Ryunosuke Satoro

Kim Beller made the copper cuff - find her on Etsy at bigstronggirldesigns.etsy.com 

Day 338 - oct. 2, 2012

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min. 

5 pounds

1,275.5 pounds total 

2 cigarette butts

My friend Danielle who writes the blog, IT STARTS WITH ME, and I are in the October issue of DIVE magazine. DIVE magazine is now FREE online. You can download it onto any device - laptop, desktop, tablet, or smart phone. They featured our beach cleanup collaboration. Danielle focuses on cigarette butts, although she collects all liter. When out on our respective beaches (California and North Carolina) we collect how many butts we've found in 20 min. and each keep a tally on our sites. 

Here's the latest: (found on the right side column of this blog)

76 - 20 min. beach cleanups - Santa Monica - 478 cigarette butts

36 - 20 min. beach cleanups - Wrightsville Beach, N.C. - 8,587 cigarette butts

On Tues. I spoke to a class of thirty 13, and 14 year old students at SMASH (Santa Monica Alternative School House) which is down the street from me, in between where we live and the beach. It was satisfying to share my photographs and story with people who have grown up at the beach I do my cleanups at. They asked smart questions, and inspired me with their genuine interest. I really love talking to students, which makes phase two of THE DAILY OCEAN - OFF THE SAND AND ON THE ROAD speaking tour even more exciting. I'll be hitting the road in 2013. More information coming soon along with a whole new DAILY OCEAN website and re-design. Exciting times!

When I first envisioned THE DAILY OCEAN, I named it as such because I was going to collect trash off my beach daily! Then it struck me that this was a near impossible goal. What if I got sick, wanted to go to a wedding, or on vacation? I decided to ease back on myself and go as often as I could, but the name THE DAILY OCEAN stuck. Now I take it to mean that every day I am out there, I find trash, plastics and other liter out there daily. This is the modern detritus strewn across the sand DAILY whether I'm there to pick it up or not. And by not going every day, but most days, I hope you relate to my efforts, follow in my footsteps, and do what you can with the time you are given. 

Day 337 - Sept. 29, 2012

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, CA

trash collected for 20 min.

2.2 pounds

1,270.5 pounds total 

6 cigarettes 

I've got only a few photos to share with you because some sand jammed up my camera lens tonight. But this gives me just enough space to retell part of a conversation I had over the weekend with my friend Alyssa. 

A certain eastern city that shall go unnamed so as not to take away from their liter improvement efforts, spent millions of dollars on liter removal. In one massive effort they were going to clean up their city! 

The very next day the mayor saw a citizen throw trash along the street. He screamed at the person to pick it up, shaming him and in my opinion ruining a chance to get through any message of real value to the cleanup effort and to this man's frame of mind.

The mayor told this story as part of a keynote. What kind of message is he carrying to his city? 

Someone littered right after the cleanup because the cleanup was a band aid. The issue of littering is steeped in human psychology, sociology and of course environmental science. 

People's habits don't transform overnight. In some rare cases they might have an ah-ha moment and shift. But what's become clear to me as I approach the end of my physical beach cleanup goal is the message I want to carry afterwards to people across the country and maybe even the world. 

I want folks to change because they've been invited to with inspiration and education and an open heart. I get down about how much single-use plastic trash and other garbage I find, but I never get down on people for it. OK, sometimes. But mostly I see the connection between how we treat our bodies reflects how we treat the outside world. How we value ourselves is how we value the environment. 

The way to a healthier world, and a healthier ocean is through loving people, offering a spark, waiting patiently although with urgent, persistent effort for the ones who want to join me. 

When I speak at Santa Monica Alternative School House tomorrow to a class of thirty thirteen, and fourteen year olds this is the invitation I will deliver.

Day 336 - Sept. 26, 2012

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min. 

2.5 pounds 

1,268.3 pounds total 

11 cigarettes

A high school student in Maui follows The Daily Ocean. She calls herself the Blue Menpachi. Cool name! She's got a blog, and does a video blog on Youtube. Here's her stunning video of the 100 pounds of trash she got during her Maui International Coastal Cleanup Day. 

"I had only three trash bags with me yesterday and I thought it was funny cause I wanted to continue cleaning but I ran out of trash bags. However, I was able to find two more plastic bags 

of sorts that was on the coastline. So it was kind of funny because 

I guess the ocean really does provide whatever you need." - the Blue Menpachi

The Blue Menpachi found a perfectly good lawn chair, a metal drawer, wood and lots of cigarette butts among the liter. She showed us how plastic gets fragile and breaks apart when 

left out in the sun and surf. This is called photodegrading. 

I appreciate her attitude while showing us the trash she found. She lets her findings do the "talking." One cardinal rule in writing fiction is the principle of show don't tell. Her efforts show us what's out there and show us how much she cares which inspires me. 

People care about the ocean. If you care, you are not alone. Together we can really make a difference. 

Day 335 - Sept. 23, 2012

lifeguard tower 26 - Ocean Park, Santa Monica CA

trash collected for 20 min. 

3 pounds

1,265.8 pounds total

3 cigarette butts

Last night I went to hear Greg Stone, Marine Biologist/Explorer/Scuba Diver and Conservationist talk about the health of the oceans. He has an article on Sea Mounts in this month's National Geographic and had real life tales of diving into icebergs to share with us. 

The work he does now with Conservation International focuses on policy and international collaboration. 

What I really enjoyed about his talk was when he broke down why the ocean is so key to not only the health of the planet, but the health of all the people on the planet.  

For starters, the ocean is the primary source of protein for developing nations. With over 8 billion people here and 9 billion around the corner, managing the way we catch fish so they can reproduce and grow at a rate that keeps the ocean a vital food source is a really good idea. 

How can you help?

Go to Monterey Bay Aquarium and download their seafood guide for Android and iphone. 

Then in the grocery store or at a restaurant you can check if the fish you want to order is caught using sustainable fishing practices and is healthy for you to eat.

It's true, LA states on their Public Works Website that you can recycle styrofoam cups in the blue bins provided by the city. So why does this photo bother me? Because I've read up on what happens to materials in the recycling waste stream. 

My friend Harry from The Flotsam Diaries lifts the veil on recycling to reveal the ugly truth that

 - THE TRIANGLE IS A LIE. 

Harry goes into detail and sites his sources to deliver concise, easy to understand facts about recycling. Even the stuff we dutifully clean and sort into our bins is still an issue. Many nations in the world have little to no recycling infrastructure at all.  

How can you help?

Buy in bulk so there is less plastic packaging. 

Buy less plastic wrapped stuff. 

Carry a clean, reusable bag to the grocery store. 

All of these efforts make a difference. Remember, there's a whole lot of us on the planet. What if most of us changed only a little? I believe it would still make a world of difference.