Heal the Bay Blog

Author: Heal the Bay

Wall Street Journal Poll on Plastic Bags

02.18.2011 | Heal the Bay

Take a minute to visit the Wall Street Journal and vote in today’s poll on whether or not plastic bags should be banned. The accompanying article talks about the numerous cities in California that have banned bags, and whether this city-by-city approach is working. The poll is running today only, so make your voice heard! Take the poll at Wall Street Journal (the poll is half-way down the page).

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Celebrating our Volunteers

02.17.2011 | Heal the Bay

About Us

Every year, Heal the Bay throws a special party to honor all of our incredible volunteers. In addition to thanking those who do so much for us, the night is an opportunity to reflect on all the accomplishments of the previous year, things we could not have done without our crew.

This year, our party at Santa Monica’s V Lounge coincided with February’s Chinese New Year and volunteers were treated to Chinese food, desserts by La Monarca Bakery, arts and crafts, special drawing prizes, free week long passes to YogaWorks Studios, DJ entertainment, and a theme photo booth.

This night also gives us the chance to give out awards to a select group of volunteers who go well above and beyond the call of duty. To check who these amazing people are and what they do, visit our brand new Volunteer Honorees page.

We’d love to see you at our next volunteer party – learn about our volunteer opportunities!

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Cleaner Water for Venice

02.17.2011 | Heal the Bay

Santa Monica Venice Beach

There’s good news for beach goers in Venice. A new project is set to improve your beach water quality. A City of Los Angeles Proposition O Clean Water Bond-funded 14 million dollar project is about to happen in your back yard. This month, the Penmar Water Quality Improvement Project begins construction. The overall goal is to reduce pollutants in stormwater runoff from the Rose Avenue storm drain. Right now, that drain goes straight to the ocean, but after the project is completed, the runoff will be diverted to Hyperian Wastewater Plant for treatment. Aging infrastructure will also be rehabilitated.

Learn more.

Photo Dr EG via Flickr

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Artists' Night at the Aquarium

02.16.2011 | Heal the Bay

Heal the Bay Aquarium Santa Monica

This post was guest-written by Aaron Kind, our education specialist at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium. Aaron runs our Aquarium’s lecture series. Here, he writes about an innovative new addition to that program.

Being a talented artist, whose works have hung on my mother’s refrigerator and graced a few bathroom stall walls, I was quite excited to host the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium’s first Artist Night. The event was meant to reach out to the local artists in the community, and by keeping the RSVP list to a minimum the Aquarium had plenty of room for the artists to set up. The event received some unexpected advertising; Traffic Queen and Shortcuts author Kajon Cermak of KCRW announced the night on her radio program and The Santa Monica Observer generously devoted an entire page in color to our Artists’ Night flyer.

The Aquarium’s local species were the models for the night; moray eels, octopus, sharks and moon jellies took center stage for the evening’s festivities. Photographers, painters and even a couple of digital sculptors attended the two-hour event. For the first hour, the Aquarium lights were dimmed to help photographers reduce glare from the tanks for their shots. For the second hour, the lights were brought back up and sea stars, sea urchins and other denizens of the deep were placed in bins so painters and sketchers could get an up close look. A little bit of 60’s beachy rock ‘n’ roll set the mood for the artists and models alike. After talking with the participants (the ones without the fins) the Aquarium staff is planning to set another artist night in approximately three months.

“Tonight is about artists hanging out with other artists,” one woman was overheard saying, and we were excited to offer this great community with a venue to do just that. For further information on upcoming events, visit the Aquarium section on this site. Also, join us on Facebook to view pictures from the night.

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Batting Cleanup With the Dodgers

02.16.2011 | Heal the Bay

About Us Santa Monica

On an overcast Tuesday morning, a crowd of 300 volunteers came out to clean the beach at Santa Monica Pier alongside their Los Angeles Dodgers heroes. Nearly every volunteer was dressed in Dodger gear and some came three hours early to meet Matt Kemp, Rafael Furcal, Steve Garvey, Fernando Valenzeula, Derrel Thomas, Sweet Lou Johnson, Shawn Green, Gabe Kapler, Tony Gwynn Jr. and Jay Gibbons. Despite the drizzle, everyone had a great time picking up trash, getting autographs and listening to the players tell stories of their exploits on the diamond.

The Dodgers visit, courtesy of team exec Howard Sunkin and owner Frank McCourt, marked a stop on a public service caravan around L.A. before the men in blue take off for spring training and the grapefruit league at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz. Howard introduced me to the players on the team bus and I felt a heckuva lot more nervous than I do testifying at city council. When Steve Garvey and Fernando came off the bus, I felt like I was in a time machine transported to my days as a teenager obsessed with the outcome of all 162 games on the schedule. After posing for a “team photo” right next to Fernando, I gathered up the nerve to tell the Dodger legend that I was there to watch him pitch as a 19-year-old call up in the September of 1980. Ever stoic, Valenzuela shook my hand and said nothing.

Then we walked across the sand to the sea of blue of Dodger fans in front of a standing microphone. I walked alongside former slugger Shawn Green and asked him some small-talk question about what he was up to now in the O.C. He answered politely. I always was a big Greenie fan. Star center fielder Matt Kemp took the long way to mic because he didn’t want to get his new black Nike kicks sandy. He soon got over that. Of course, Charlie Steiner emceed the event. Steiner remarked “it was a beautiful day for a ballgame” despite the gloomy drizzle. He introduced the entire Dodger lineup and then welcomed S.M. Mayor Richard Bloom and me. That’s right, I got an intro from Charlie Steiner. How cool is that!

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Teens Turning Green

02.15.2011 | Heal the Bay

Long Beach / Avalon Malibu / Pacific Palisades Marina del Rey / Playa del Rey Palos Verdes Peninsula Santa Monica South Bay Venice Beach

The environmental movement appeals to people of all ages, from all walks of life. We each have important and very personal reasons for protecting the world around us.

But young people, in particular, are poised to become the new face of the environment. As they grow older and begin to inherit the earth, with all of its majestic open spaces as well as all of its pollution problems, more and more teenagers and other young people are embracing environmental activism as their legacy.

One of the coolest examples of the connection between teenagers and the environment is a group called Teens Turning Green. It’s a youth-led initiative that brings environmental education and awareness to young people throughout the country.

And we’re not just talking about environmental science. Teens Turning Green focuses on environmentally friendly lifestyles, including making smart purchases, avoiding chemicals in makeup and other products, and other important habits. One of their biggest campaigns has been against lead in lipstick, called Lips Against Lead.

Teens Turning Green is having a free environmental summit in LA on Feb. 26. If you’re interested, or know someone who might be, visit teensturninggreen.org.

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Orcas in Our Bay

02.10.2011 | Heal the Bay

About Us South Bay Venice Beach

Did you know that we have orcas, or killer whales, in our Bay?

A pod of orcas was spotted last weekend outside of King Harbor hunting dolphin. Onlookers believed that a set of parents was teaching a calf to hunt.

Orcas are spotted off our coast very occasionally. This year, blue whales were also seen in large numbers near Redondo Beach.

Check out the orca photos in the Easy Reader.

Photo: Sheryll Nebrida via the Easy Reader

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The Future is in Good Hands

02.09.2011 | Heal the Bay

Long Beach / Avalon Malibu / Pacific Palisades Marina del Rey / Playa del Rey Palos Verdes Peninsula Santa Monica South Bay Venice Beach

That is, if Ethan Gauthier is any indication. The Sierra Madre teenager just won first prize in his school’s science fair for a project he called Runaway Runoff.

Basically, he took 4 samples of garden soil and added inorganic fertilizers to 3 of them. Then he added water, and measured the amount of nitrates and phosphates coming off of each sample.

The project is a brilliantly simple way to illustrate the impacts gardeners can have on the ocean. When inorganic fertilizers are added to gardens, those same phosphates and nitrates run off your yard, into the stormdrain system, and into the ocean.

Nitrates and phosphates are a huge source of harmful algal blooms in freshwater bodies like Malibu Creek. They contribute to dead zones by encouraging the overgrowth of algae. That algae blocks sunlight, inhibiting the growth of other plants and animals. And when it dies and decomposes, it sucks up all of the oxygen in the water.

Ethan’s answer? It’s even more simple. Follow the directions on your fertilizer packages, and don’t over-fertilize. Heal the Bay will take that one step further and suggest you use organic fertilizers, like compost, rather than chemical-based fertilizers.

Read more about Ethan’s project at Sierra Madre Patch.

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Ascenta Partners with Heal the Bay

02.08.2011 | Heal the Bay

More Ways to Give News

In its ongoing committment to the environment, Ascenta – the industry leader in omega-3 fatty acids and the first natural health product manufacturer to become a member of 1% for the Planet – is announcing a partnership with Heal the Bay, a nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to making Southern California coastal waters safe, healthy and clean.

“The ocean is host to the best sources of omega-3 and we feel it is our responsibility to help keep our waters clean and safe,” says Marc St- Onge, president of Ascenta. “We believe giving back to the environment is part of the cost of doing business and we are committed to working with partners to help preserve our oceans. We are happy to be able to support Heal the Bay, a dedicated organization that is working to protect our waters everyday.”

As a member of 1% for the Planet, an alliance of businesses committed to leveraging their resources to create a healthier and greener Earth, Ascenta donates one percent of its annual sales to environmental causes worldwide. At the end of 2010, the funds generated from Ascenta’s US sales will be donated to Heal the Bay to support their advocacy and action programs that help to protect one of our most precious resources. “We are pleased to partner with Ascenta.” Says Natalie Burdick, Development Manager from Heal the Bay. “It is inspiring to see organizations commit to environmental causes at this level with a percentage of their sales. Their support will help further our efforts to make a difference in the health of the oceans.”

About Ascenta

Ascenta is a leading developer of natural health products. Ascenta is headquartered in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. The company develops, produces and markets omega-3 supplements for human and animal health. Its human products under the NutraSea brand have a dominant 43 per cent share of the Canadian market. Ascenta products are sold throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

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Fight On, Samohi!

02.08.2011 | Heal the Bay

News

I’m a lifetime Bruin (birth, preschool, bachelor’s, Master’s, doctorate and currently teaching) so the title of this post doesn’t come easy. I couldn’t bring myself to write “I Heart USC” because of the history: Rodney Peete running down a certain UCLA football victory or Trojan guard Harold Miner punking the Don MacLean-led Bruins. My own son Jake wore cardinal and gold braces just to piss me off. Despite the fact I’ve sat on the USC Sea Grant Advisory Board for over a decade, I hate that white horse almost as much as I hate the Trojan fight song.

All of that changed last Saturday. The Santa Monica High School Vikings (they wear blue and gold and use the UCLA fight song as their own) competed in the Surf Bowl, the L.A.-Orange County competition of NOAA’s regional Ocean Sciences Bowl. As always, USC and JPL hosted the battle of the aqua-nerds. Last year, USC played host to another heart-wrenching defeat that shattered the Gold family: Arcadia (clad in cardinal and gold) beat Samohi on the last question of the tourney at the buzzer. A half-court three-pointer cost Samo a trip to St. Pete, Florida.

This year was different.

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