After spending more than half of my life at Heal the Bay, I’ve decided to move on and test the waters in academia at my alma mater, UCLA. The decision to step down as president of Heal the Bay was one of the toughest decisions of my life. I’ve put my heart and soul into this place and most of my closest friendships are with staff, board, volunteers and colleagues.
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Heal the Bay Blog
Author: Heal the Bay
The Nothin’ But Sand for Saturday, Jan. 21 at Dockweiler has been cancelled due to weather conditions.
Sign up for February’s Nothin’ But Sand.
Reduce energy, save money, create jobs and support Heal the Bay.
Energy Upgrade California in Los Angeles County is a rebate and incentive program for homeowners to improve their homes’ energy efficiency, save water and natural resources, lower utility bills, and create a healthier and more comfortable home through a home energy upgrade. Heal the Bay has been selected as an Energy Champion to introduce homeowners to the benefits of a home energy upgrade.
Air leaks in your attic, crawl spaces, doors chimney or air ducts are hard to find, but they are a source of energy loss. For a limited time, when you improve the energy efficiency of your home, you will get rebates up to $8,000 and give back to Heal the Bay.
Learn more about how you can find savings for YOUR home.
Ready to save some cash and help the planet? Download your Homeowner Action Form here.
Energy Upgrade California connects homeowners with local Participating Contractors who can complete their home energy upgrade and help them apply for rebates and incentives. For more program details, visit www.EnergyUpgradeCA.org/LACounty
Malibu / Pacific PalisadesMarina del Rey / Playa del ReyMarine Protected AreasSanta MonicaVenice Beach
Heal the Bay volunteers who helped make the new marine protected areas (MPAs) a reality can now join our new citizen scientist program, MPA Watch. Staff scientist Dana Murray, who manages the program, says you don’t need to be an expert to lend a hand.
“We had many supporters and people who worked hard to get MPAs approved in L.A. County,” she said. “We thought this was a good way for people to stay involved.”
Pairs of volunteers with binoculars, clipboards and cameras already have started canvassing the beaches, recording data on what they see people doing, from scuba diving to commercial squid fishing.
Join Dana and become an official steward of the sea at two upcoming classes.
Can’t make it this week? For future trainings, contact Dana.
Or, celebrate Underwater Parks Day with us Sat., January 21 at Point Dume and our Aquarium.
Long Beach / AvalonMalibu / Pacific PalisadesMarina del Rey / Playa del ReyPalos Verdes PeninsulaSanta MonicaSouth BayVenice Beach
Can good design change the world? According to JUST DESIGN Socially Conscious Design for Critical Causes, a new book about communication design for the greater good, the answer is a resounding “Yes”!
Containing more than 140 stories of socially-engaged design the book showcases a diverse collection of projects, people and causes, such as trashionista Marina DeBris and Project H, the humanitarian design nonprofit.
JUST DESIGN author Christopher Simmons, principal creative director of the noted San Francisco design office, MINE, says he wrote the book because, “For many, doing good work that also does good in the world is part of the ethos of design practice.”
Learn more.
Long Beach / AvalonMalibu / Pacific PalisadesMarina del Rey / Playa del ReyPalos Verdes PeninsulaSanta MonicaSouth BayVenice Beach
“The same nutrients that make your grass grow also will make algal blooms grow if they wash down the storm drains and into the waterways,” notes Susie Santilena, an environmental engineer in water quality at Heal the Bay.
The nitrogen and phosphorus in fertilizers that are so good for plants, may contribute to toxic red tides in the ocean and can make algae run wild in freshwater areas like Malibu Creek, creating dead zones as the green scum blocks sunlight and inhibits the growth of other plants and animals, Santilena says.
The algae even wreaks havoc when it dies, because it sucks oxygen out of the water as it decomposes, a process known as eutrophication.
“When you don’t have oxygen in your waterway, your marine life suffocates and you get fish die-offs because there’s no dissolved oxygen in your water,” she says. “And there are aesthetic issues—algae growth can create pond scum, which is just kind of gross to look at in waterways.”
So what to do? It’s tricky, environmental advocates say, because while organic fertilizers such as steer manure and worm castings have advantages that chemical fertilizers don’t share, both can create destructive runoff if they aren’t applied carefully.
Long Beach / AvalonMalibu / Pacific PalisadesMarina del Rey / Playa del ReyPalos Verdes PeninsulaSanta MonicaSouth BayVenice Beach
On Jan. 11, San Luis Obispo County became the 15th community in the state to pass a ban on single-use plastic bags in an effort to encourage citizens to use reusable bags instead.
The California Grocers Association endorsed the proposal, as did representatives of local landfills, who said plastic bags are a problem for them. Approximately 130 million plastic bags are used each year in the county alone, and only three percent of those are recycled.
In an attempt to stop the ban in SLO County, the Save the Plastic Bag Coalition said after the meeting that it would file a lawsuit within 30 days, serving a “threat of litigation” to the board. The coalition issued a similar challenge when the Manhattan Beach City Council approved a bag ban in 2008, which ultimately failed in July 2011 when the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled in the city’s favor. The Manhattan Beach plastic bag ban goes into effect Saturday, Jan. 14.
Momentum for plastic bag bans has been building since 2007, when San Francisco became the first city in the nation to ban the free distribution of plastic bags. Other cities and counties across the country have followed, including Seattle, Portland, Ore., San Jose, Los Angeles County, and Washington, D.C. Smaller cities such as Santa Monica, Long Beach, Carpinteria and Fairfax have enacted some form of ban or limitation on the use of plastic bags.
The SLO County ban will apply to single-use plastic bags at supermarkets, pharmacies, convenience stores and big-box stores as part of an effort to get shoppers to start bringing in reusable bags. It is scheduled to go into effect on Oct. 1. 2012.
Heal the Bay has led the legislative fight to enact a bag ban for more than five years as part of its ongoing efforts to tackle plastic pollution in California seas and neighborhoods. Join us and take action.
Learn more more about the San Luis County bag ban.
Read about plastic pollution and its impact here.
About UsLong Beach / AvalonMalibu / Pacific PalisadesMarina del Rey / Playa del ReyMarine Protected AreasPalos Verdes PeninsulaSanta MonicaSouth BayVenice Beach
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (Jan.10, 2012) – Heal the Bay president Mark Gold announced today that he is stepping down from the environmental organization to accept a position at the University of California at Los Angeles as associate director of its Institute of the Environment and Sustainability.
Gold, a 23-year veteran of Heal the Bay, is returning to his alma mater to provide leadership at the Institute’s Coastal Center. As part of his management duties, he will also help spearhead efforts to build the Institute’s education, research and public outreach programs. He begins his new duties at UCLA Jan. 30.
Executive Director Karin Hall and Associate Director Alix Hobbs will continue to provide day-to-day management and organizational and fiscal oversight for the environmental group. Heal the Bay’s board of directors will be meeting to determine a management structure for the nonprofit following Gold’s departure. Gold will continue to serve on Heal the Bay’s board of directors.
“Everyone who lives in or visits Southern California has benefited from Mark Gold’s tireless efforts to keep our waters safe and clean,” said Matt Hart, chairman of Heal the Bay’s board of directors. “He has also built a great organization of smart, dedicated professionals that will sustain the legacy he and Dorothy Green started over 25 years ago.
“On behalf of our Board of Directors, our Board of Governors and the thousands of Heal the Bay volunteers, I want to thank Mark Gold for his leadership and service to Heal the Bay and wish him the best of luck in his new career at UCLA.”
While working on his doctorate in Environmental Science and Engineering from UCLA, Gold joined Heal the Bay as staff scientist in 1988, making him the organization’s first employee. Guided by his mentor and Heal the Bay founding president Dorothy Green, Gold was named executive director of the organization in 1994 and president in 2006.
He has worked extensively over the last 25 years in the field of coastal protection and water pollution and is recognized as one of California’s leading environmental advocates. He has authored or co-authored numerous California coastal protection, water quality and environmental education bills.
“I have been lucky to be part of an environmental organization that has achieved so much to better Southern California,” said Gold. “I’ve had the privilege to work with many incredible leaders, staff members and volunteers that have shared a common vision of clean water and protected watersheds. I am confident that the senior management team we’ve spent years developing will continue to move the organization forward. Heal the Bay will always be an important part of me, but I look forward to new challenges at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment.”
Heal the Bay staff is focusing on four key policy issues in the coming year:
- The implementation of marine protected areas off the coast of Southern California. Heal the Bay is assisting the state Department of Fish & Game gather research to help educate the public about the boundaries, which took effect Jan. 1.
- Coordinating with Assemblymember Julia Brownley on her pending bill to enact a statewide ban on the distribution of environmentally and fiscally wasteful single-use plastic bags. Heal the Bay also has led the drive for a ban in the city of Los Angeles expected to be enacted this spring.
- Working with local school districts to implement environmental literacy materials developed by National Geographic and Heal the Bay into K-12 curriculum statewide.
- Advocating for a countywide stormwater permit that will reduce polluted runoff to levels that protect public health and aquatic life
Heal the Bay is one of the largest and most influential environmental groups in California. Combining scientific rigor with dogged advocacy, Heal the Bay staff and volunteers have secured dozens of environmental wins for Southern California coastal waters, including:
- Hyperion wastewater treatment plant – In 1986, Hyperion was ordered to stop dumping incompletely treated sewage in the bay by 1998. Also, the LA County Sanitation District’s sewage treatment plant in Carson was forced to upgrade its facility by 2002. As a result, sewage pollution discharged to Santa Monica Bay was reduced by more than 90%.
- Pollution limits – Heal the Bay fought to have site-specific pollution limits included in routine regulation. These so-called Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) force dischargers to dramatically cut down on trash, bacteria and other pollutants entering our rivers, creeks and ocean.
- Beach Report Card – In 1990, Heal the Bay published the first Beach Report Card, a local analysis of bacteria levels at L.A. area beaches as a guide to let swimmers know if it was OK to get in the water. Heal the Bay now grades almost 500 beaches along the Pacific coast on a weekly basis. The Beach Report Card, the subsequent Santa Monica Bay health effects study, and beach TMDLs led to California’s beach water quality criteria and monitoring program, as well as over $200 million being allocated to clean up California’s most polluted beaches.
- Santa Monica Pier Aquarium – In 2003, Heal the Bay opened the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, bringing the Santa Monica Bay to life for more than 70,000 people each year.
- Coastal Cleanup Day – Heal the Bay first coordinated Coastal Cleanup Day in Los Angeles County in 1990. Now, 15,000 people annually clean more than 65 sites, both coastal and inland in L.A County.
More about Mark Gold
Gold received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Biology and his doctorate in Environmental Science and Engineering from UCLA. He has served as chair of the Santa Monica Environmental Task Force for 18 years and was vice chair of the California Ocean Science Trust. Currently, Mark is vice chair of the National Estuary Program’s Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission.
About Heal the Bay
Heal the Bay is a nonprofit environmental organization that makes Southern California coastal waters and watersheds, including Santa Monica Bay, safe, healthy and clean. We use science, education, community action and advocacy to achieve our mission.
Contact: Matthew King, Heal the Bay, 310.451.1500, x 137; cell 310.463.6266
Long Beach / AvalonMalibu / Pacific PalisadesMarina del Rey / Playa del ReyPalos Verdes PeninsulaSanta MonicaSouth BayVenice Beach
The Water Replenishment District (WRD) will offer a series of free classes for water smart gardening.
Topics include drought-tolerant plants, irrigation basics, horticultural practices, and garden design concepts. Classes will be held monthly from Feb. 18 – June 9 at WRD Headquarters in Lakewood.
For a complete schedule and to sign up, call 562.275.4215 or visit www.ecogardener.org.
Waste to Waves lets you recycle your Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) foam (Styrofoam) into new Eco-friendly surfboards. Just drop off your waste packaging foam at ZJ Boarding House where it will be picked up, grinded up and then shaped into new foam surfboard blanks. Recycling your Styrofoam keeps it out of our dumps and ultimately off our beaches, waves and oceans.
You probably got EPS foam packaging when you bought a new TV, computer, or furniture. Most cities don’t let you recycle this, and it just feels wrong to throw it into the trash can, so why not turn it directly into a new surfboard blank?
You can win a FREE surfboard by T. Patterson made from recycled foam and painted by surfer/artist Mike Losness!
For your chance to win, enter the drawing.
They accept:
- Clean, white EPS foam from packaging materials (such as what came with your new television)
They do not accept:
- Food waste contaminated foam – it will contaminate the blank
- Foam “peanuts” – these aren’t EPS foam
- Broken surfboards – instead give them to Rerip.org
If the foam has been used to hold food, or is soft or flexible, they can’t make surfboards out of it; please drop off only hard white foam used in packaging.
Help us protect what's endangered in 2026.
Don’t let the science, education, and advocacy you rely on go extinct. Donate now to keep Heal the Bay’s work alive with your tax-deductible donation!
Donate appreciated stocks to Heal the Bay and further leverage our important work for the precious coastline!
Questions? Contact Sheila McSherry at smcsherry@healthebay.org