Heal the Bay Blog

Heal the Bay CEO Ruskin Hartley discovers Compton — and that a river runs through it.

At first glance it looked like a backdrop to an apocalyptic movie. To many engineers it’s a flood control channel. To some Southland residents it’s a place to pitch a tent and call home. Or a place to dump garbage too big for your trash can. But as I looked more closely I began to see a river, with life still flowing in and through it.

Turkey vultures and hawks soared overhead while egrets, waders and herons picked their way up the channel feeding on tiny fish. Where the sediment built up, reeds and plants started to take hold and an ecosystem had begun to assemble — enriching the simple concrete channel and introducing an element of nature’s chaos.

I was standing at the confluence of the L.A. River and Compton Creek.

Compton Creek is the last major tributary to the Los Angeles River, and where I stood marked their merger, before they flowed into the Bay a few miles downstream. It was my first trip out to the river since I joined Heal the Bay three and a half weeks ago. I am used to watershed tours — having led visits in Northern California to some of the most beautiful primeval coast redwood and giant sequoia forests in the world. But this urban river was all new to me. And I soaked it all up as staff from Heal the Bay’s Healthy Neighborhoods, Healthy Environment program gave me a tour of the watershed and communities they’d been working in for the past decade.

The goal of the Compton program is pretty simple — letting people know that there’s a river in their neighborhood that drains to the Bay and empowering them to protect it. For a decade we’ve been working alongside teachers, community groups and local nonprofits on projects that connect them to the river that for too long society has turned its back on.

One hundred years ago this was one of the braided channels of the Los Angeles River. For the worst part of a century, it has been engineered and re-engineered to carry flood water as quickly as possible from the streets to the ocean — picking up trash and pollutants from city streets along the way. Finally in 2010, after years of advocacy by many groups, the EPA designated the L.A. River as a “navigable waterway” of the United States. That marked a turning point, with the flood channel becoming a river once more. It would now be subject to protections under the federal Clean Water Act. Of course, the ducks and birds and animals that had used the river were oblivious to that.

There’s a lot of work underway around the river to clean it up and bring people down to its banks. And what’s good for the river is ultimately good for the health of the Bay. I’ll be learning more about all of that in the coming weeks and months. Yesterday was a chance for me to begin the process and to start to understand what watersheds are like in the context of a highly urbanized city.

If you’d like to get involved in Heal the Bay’s work to connect inland communities to their watersheds, considering attending one of our volunteer trainings.

Zipping a zipper is something everybody knows how to do, but what if you wanted to build an elaborate machine to creatively, artistically, turn this task into a fantastic feat of engineering?

Teams of high school and college students have done just that, and entered their curious contraptions into the L.A. region’s inaugural Rube Goldberg Contest. The machines will be on display Nov. 9 at the Santa Monica Pier as part of a daylong S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) event hosted by Heal the Bay and presenting sponsor Time Warner Cable’s Connect a Million Minds.

The first-ever event known as S.T.E.A.M. Machines will offer a variety of interactive science, technology, engineering and math activities using art as the medium and fun as the common denominator. This day of innovation also includes tasty treats by Peddlers Creamery: artisan quality ice cream and non-dairy frozen delights churned by bicycle power; they are products that have to be seen – and tasted – to be believed.

Join S.T.E.A.M. Machines at the east end of the Pier from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. to check out the Rube Goldberg machines in action, alongside a kaleidoscope of innovative exhibitors. Paint by numbers on a grand scale with Time Warner; Trash For Teaching will stage a make-your-own recycling machine station; try games galore courtesy Two Bit Circus and Marbles the Brain Store; and Pacific Park will present a thrilling physics lesson (think roller coasters and the Pacific Wheel). The S.T.E.A.M. theme continues at Heal the Bay’s Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, beach level just beneath the Carousel – with an underwater ROV and a screening of the awesome Whale Fall Video.

Don’t miss this opportunity to play, learn, and celebrate the art of the mechanical.

Matthew King, Heal the Bay’s Communications Director, recounts a harrowing moment at today’s Storm Response Team cleanup.

I fought the First Flush, and the First Flush won. Well, at least temporarily.

This morning, I joined Heal the Bay’s volunteer-driven Storm Response Team at Santa Monica’s Bay Street Beach to help pick up ocean-bound debris unleashed by the season’s first downpour. As Communications Director it’s my job to take photographs of the toll that pollution takes on our shorelines. A picture is worth a thousand words when it comes to getting people excited about urban runoff, which courses through city streets, catch basins and stormdrains and then dumps trash onto some of L.A.’s most popular beaches (see below).

I found myself tiptoeing through the muck near the Pico-Kenter stormdrain to get a perfect shot of a soiled plastic bag perched atop a black-and-white soccer ball. Unfortunately, I took a misguided step and suddenly found myself thigh deep in a sickening sludge of brackish water, clumpy sand and very dirty trash.

A moment of panic hit as I began sinking deeper into the ooze. It felt like being in one of those cartoons you saw as a kid, when the hero gets trapped in quicksand. Just as I was about to whimper for help from my colleague Meredith, I thankfully hit hard ground. With a creepy slurping sound, I was able to extricate my leg from the quagmire and find solid ground. I was wet and I stunk, but I was safe.

Thankfully, the dozen or so other participants who came out from 8-9 a.m. escaped misfortune. Our group filled about 10 enormous garbage bags, stuffing them with the usual litany of depressing trash items: cigarette butts, plastic water bottles, fast-food wrappers, Styrofoam cups, snack-chip bags, straws, coffee cup lids, you name it. In all, we collected about 60 pounds of trash that otherwise could’ve migrated to the sea.

Considering that a single storm can pump as much as 10 billion gallons of runoff through L.A. County stormdrains, it’s not that surprising to see so much trash on the shoreline after rainfall. Still, after writing about pollution week in and week out at my job, it’s instructive and sobering to see all that trash in its not-so-natural setting. One post-storm cleanup will get you immediately rethinking your daily consumer habits.

Kudos to Heal the Bay board member Lisa Boyle for coming out to help, after dropping her child off at school. Lisa is an outspoken and tireless advocate against plastic pollution, so it was inspiring to see her walking the walk as it were and getting dirty with the other volunteers. I also was impressed with a friendly woman named Leslie Rockiteer, who was all set to go on her morning run by the beach. She saw the TV news trucks filming our group and then decided instead to grab some gloves and help us remove debris.

A few intrepid volunteers also joined our efforts along the rocky banks in Playa del Rey, removing a significant amount of derlict fishing gear in addition to clumps of cigarette butts and plastic detritus.

If you want to join us next time, we will be deploying the Storm Response Team as needed through the rainy season. Sign up and you’ll get an email with locations and details hopefully with 24 hours’ notice. If you can’t get to the beach, do your part and please remind friends and co-workers to kindly dispose of trash properly before it gets into the stormdrain system. It’s the single biggest step we can take in our everyday lives to keep our shores clean.

Heal the Bay CEO Ruskin Hartley goes back to school with a weekend trip to Malibu Creek.

Science is cool, but laboratories are cooler. I always enjoyed being in the lab at school. I liked watching chemicals react as they are mixed together. Or recording how the intensity of a laser beam changed when passed through saline solutions of different strength. After many years away, I was back in the lab this weekend with Heal the Bay’s Stream Team. And just as in my school days, the time proved both fun and informative.

Since 1998, scientists and volunteers at Heal the Bay have been monitoring water quality throughout the Malibu Creek watershed. Tracking nutrient and bacteria loads on a monthly basis in more than a dozen different locations. Earlier this year, we released the State of the Watershed report based upon this long-term dataset with detailed recommendations on how to improve water quality throughout the watershed. One thing that is critical is continuing the monthly monitoring work.

I was part of the small team — mostly volunteers — that went out last Sunday to collect and analyze water samples. It was fascinating to be part of the whole process, from field measurement through to the laboratory work. We measured temperature, pH and conductivity in the field and collected samples to determine nutrient loads and bacteria count back in the lab.

It was great to see different parts of the watershed. From the relatively undeveloped headwaters, through the main-stem that flows through neighborhoods, to the lower reaches impounded behind an old dam that is now choked with sediment. But what was really fun was being back in the lab to process the samples. There’s something very therapeutic about the detailed and replicable work to process dozens of samples to unlock their secrets. Adding a little of this and watching the clear water turn to purple to indicate the presence of nitrates. Or diluting the samples and encasing them in plastic pouches so the bacteria can incubate overnight and then be counted.

The results clearly show that how we live on the land has a big impact on the quality of the water. Agriculture, development, roads, sewers, septic – they’re all connected and leaves their  markers behind in the water. Water that to the untrained eye looks clean. But the lab tells a different story.

If you’re interested, why not sign up for one of Heal the Bay’s training sessions and become a citizen scientist helping unlock the secrets of this watershed? You’ll be helping out and having a lot of fun at the same time!

With temperatures expected to hit the 90s in many parts of the region this weekend, Angelenos will be flocking to the beach to enjoy a bit of Indian summer.

Before they head to the shore, ocean lovers can check the latest water quality grades on our Beach Report Card website and app, thanks in large part to the longtime support of our corporate partner simplehuman. For the past three years, the innovative home products company has served as a major sponsor of the free service.

If you come to the Santa Monica Pier this weekend to escape the heat, check out our new exhibit at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium. We just took the wraps off The Green Room, a space that honors the work and legacy of Heal the Bay’s founding president, Dorothy Green. Visitors can take an interactive tour of Southern California watersheds and how to protect them in their daily lives. Thanks to the Annenberg Foundation for underwriting the just-completed exhibit.

It’s been a busy time for Heal the Bay, organizing and managing last month’s Coastal Cleanup Day, our largest volunteer event of the year. Thanks to the more than 11,000 participants who donated their time to protect what they love. We give a special shoutout to young Ben Moody, our top “friendraiser” at the event. Ben, pictured below, raised more than $1,100 from friends and family to support our work as part of his Bar Mitzvah project.

Looking for a way to get involved in helping our local beaches and oceans, come to our next volunteer orientation, Oct. 13 at the Heal the Bay offices.

Heal the Bay CEO Ruskin Hartley examines how the federal shutdown is affecting the Bay.

There is a greenhouse up in the Santa Monica Mountains brimming with new life and hope. In it, staff and volunteers of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area have dedicated countless hours growing native plants. When planted out, the vegetation will help restore the creeks and rivers that flow into Santa Monica Bay.

With the federal government shutdown and “non-essential” staff furloughed, these plants are now fending for themselves. Well, that’s not strictly true. At the last minute, the restoration ecologists trained the law-enforcement personnel in how to operate the greenhouse and water the plants. Don’t get me wrong. I am sure they can do a good job of it — but they also have thousands of acres of closed parkland to protect. I fear they will be busy elsewhere.

It’s a small example of the impact the shutdown is having on our work to protect and restore the waters of the Bay. But then multiply it by each area of impact — the research into the sea lion die-off earlier in the year that is now halted, the EPA staff who are no-longer working on beach pollution and storm-water issues, the Coast Guard vessels now drastically cutting back on routine patrol — and it starts to add up. The longer the impasse lasts, the greater the cumulative impact on the Bay, and the bigger (and more costly) the hole we’ll have to dig out of. That’s a cost we will all have to bear as the politicians go about their dance in D.C.

Of course, the Bay does not have a bank account, so it will pay the price differently — in lost opportunities that further delay the day our local ocean is fully healthy.

Meanwhile, we’re continuing to do our bit to safeguard the Bay, quietly and calmly with your help. And with fewer federal employees out there working on the same goal, we’ll have to stretch a little further to cover the gaps. We couldn’t do it without your support. Thank you!

To learn more about how you can help, consider attending one of Heal the Bay’s regular volunteer orientations.

WestEdge Design Fair hosted an opening-night party Thursday at Barker Hangar to benefit Heal the Bay ahead of this weekend’s design expo. We’re excited to partner with the top showcase for modern design on the West Coast. To get ready, we asked WestEdge organizers to offer some tips to help make your home healthy and energy-efficient. We recently sat down with two of our favorite eco-friendly interior designers, Santa Monica-based Sarah Barnard and New York-based Robin Wilson of Robin Wilson Home. Here they offer 10 easy tips to make your home interiors healthy, beautiful, and non-toxic.

Buy hypoallergenic pillows and mattress covers. We sleep one third of our life so our bedding is a vital part of our overall health.

Take off your shoes in the entry area. When you walk into your home with your shoes, you allow dirt and pesticides into your living space. Leave them by the door!

Close the toilet lid when you flush. Flushing creates a two to four foot spray of particles in your bathroom (gross!) These particles could land near your toothbrushes and natural soaps, so be sure to put down the lid!

Get a nylon shower curtain. Most shower curtains are made with vinyl which releases volatile organic compounds. Such chemicals are linked to developmental damage as well as damage to the liver and central nervous, respiratory, and reproductive systems.

Clean with affordable, non-toxic products. Robin recommends Ecover as they make an array of phosphate-free products for all your needs that are made with plant-based and mineral ingredients.

Use energy-efficient light bulbs. Change the bulbs in your house to LED or CFL lights and save money. Get low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators. These items will reduce your home’s water consumption and reduce the energy cost of heating the water. Plus, they’re easy to install.

Dust your home regularly. Doing so will better your home’s indoor air quality and prevent allergies, wheezing and sneezing. Dust can be microscopic so even if you can’t actually see the dust, wipe the surfaces of your home with a cloth at least twice a week.

Avoid “phantom power” and save money. Un-plug electronic appliances when not in use like cell phone chargers, computer cords, toasters, coffee pots, etc. Put all of your electronics on a power cord and simply turn off the circuit when not in use.

Re-use old furniture. If you have a couch or chair that’s looking a bit weathered and you’re on the verge of tossing, simply purchase a eco-friendly slipcover in a great color and pattern and it will feel like it’s brand-spanking new!

Ruskin Hartley, Heal the Bay’s newly appointed CEO, makes some sweeping comments about L.A. in his inaugural post for his On the Watershed blog.

It’s Wednesday and that means I need to move my car parked in Santa Monica from the north side of the street between the hours of noon and 3 p.m. If I remember, the street sweeper can work its magic. If I forget, I risk a fine. That had me thinking of watersheds. Bear with me.

The concept of a watershed is pretty simple — it’s an area of land where all water falling within it drains to a common point. It’s also the name given to the boundary demarcating this area. Whether we know it or not, we all live within a watershed. Healthy watersheds provide a home for countless creatures and give us clean water. Start to mess with a watershed — by building in it, damming it, logging it, mining or drilling in it — and you start to impair the health of the watershed and the quality of its water. Unfortunately many watersheds around the world are suffering today. And in turn, so does anything that lives there — including us.

It’s hard to image that a heavily urbanized area is also a watershed. Fly over L.A. and all you see are buildings as far as the eye can see. To me, it couldn’t get more different from northern California and its thick blanket of forest. But both are watersheds and both suffer from degradation that affects the health of the watershed and the quality of its water. In turn, poor water quality and degraded watersheds struggle to support life and provide us with clean, drinkable, swimable water.

In northern California, rural roads that dump sediment into creeks and a legacy of aggressive logging are obvious signs of an impaired watershed. Millions are being spent fixing these problems so salmon and other animals can once again thrive. Down here in Los Angeles, it’s different. I now live in a highly urbanized environment where I almost never see a creek, let alone a fish swimming in it.

For 28 years, Heal the Bay has led the charge to clean up Santa Monica bay and its watersheds. At first our founders had to tackle the acute problems, such as the dumping of partially treated wastewater into the Bay that was killing sea life and sickening surfers. Today, the challenges are more those of a chronic malaise. We’ve triaged the worst of it, and now we have to deal with the underlying causes. Foremost is how we deal with stormwater that flushes directly from the street to the bay, untreated, carrying the toxic debris of urban life with it.

Because in most regions all water flows to the ocean, the health of the bay is an indicator of the health of the region and its watersheds. When we can swim in the bay 365 days a year and know that it provides a rich environment for the countless sea life beneath the waves, we know we’re doing our job. While huge strides have been made over the past 28 years, there’s a long way to go to complete the task of healing Santa Monica bay.

And that brings me back to street sweeping. Moving your car once a week is a simple act that helps keep the watershed just that little bit healthier. Every bit of trash swept up is one less piece that is dumped in the bay. And what’s true here, is also true in your neighborhood. As all oceans are really just one body of water, so we all live in the same watershed. And to me that’s a powerful thought as I move my car and help protect the ocean along the way.

To read more about Ruskin’s thoughts about sustainability and his journeys through the natural world, please visit RuskinHartley.com