Heal the Bay Blog

Mark Gold to Exit Post at Heal the Bay

01.10.2012 | Heal the Bay

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

Read Less

Garden Smarter, Save Water

01.06.2012 | 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 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.

Read Less

Turn Your Trash Into Slash

01.04.2012 | Heal the Bay

Santa Monica

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.

Read Less

Misinformation About MPAs

01.04.2012 | Dana Murray

Malibu / Pacific Palisades Marine Protected Areas Palos Verdes Peninsula

It has come to Heal the Bay’s attention that some kayaks in the Malibu area have been tagged with a notice that states they are not allowed to be moored or placed on the beach within the newly established marine protected areas (MPAs) near Point Dume.

These tags contain inaccurate information and are of unknown origin.

MPAs allow for the mooring of vessels or any other non-consumptive use activities, such as surfing, kayaking, diving and sailing. Heal the Bay and other organizations are involved in marine protected area monitoring, but not enforcement. Enforcement is being conducted by the Department of Fish and Game.

Refer to the Department of Fish and Game website for information on MPAs and the only list of restricted activities.

Sample Misinformation Tag

Read Less

Ten Best Recycling Elementary Schools

12.23.2011 | Heal the Bay

About Us

The City of Los Angeles LAUSD Recycling Program announced its ten “Best Recycling Elementary Schools,” including three schools that participated in last year’s joint Earth Month initiative between Heal the Bay, Chivas USA, and the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation to mobilize and educate students about the importance of recycling. Loreto Elementary (Cypress Park), Point Fermin Elementary (San Pedro), and Stonehurst Elementary (Sun Valley) came in 3rd, 5th, and 6th place respectively.

By “demonstrating a long term and comprehensive commitment to recycling on their campus,” these three schools also earned a grade of “A” in the recycling program.

Congratulations to these schools and everyone involved in recycling at home, on campus, and at work!

Watch this video of Heal the Bay staff, Chivas USA players and mascot ChivasFighter educating students at these elementary schools about caring for the environment. According to Bonnie Taft, Point Fermin Elementary School Principal, “sports figures are role models for kids and they look up to [them]. For them to be involved in something as worthwhile as recycling gets our kids excited.”

Read Less

10 Ways to Heal: Watch and Learn

12.23.2011 | Heal the Bay

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

Even if you live miles from the ocean, there are some simple steps you can take in your home to protect your favorite beach (as well as your local neighborhood, park or river).

Over the coming weeks, we will be sharing short, educational and fun videos with tips on 10 ways you can heal the Bay — so keep an eye on this page (or subscribe to our YouTube channel)!

Our first video comes from Melissa Aguayo, Heal the Bay’s Speakers Bureau Manager.

Hold on to Your Balloons

10 Ways You Can Heal the Bay

1. Keep your Litter out of the Gutter

Keep trash, yard trimmings, and other litter off the street and out of the storm drains so they don’t end up in the ocean. Clean up after your dog, cat, or horse to keep the waste out of the storm drain and away from your favorite beach. Report full catch basins to the Dept. of Public Works: L.A. City: (800) 974- 9794 L.A. County: (800) 303- 0003. For non-L.A. County residents find your local city numbers.

2. Bag the Plastic Bags

Instead of accepting plastic bags from the grocery store, bring your own reusable bag. Single-use plastic bags create loads of unnecessary litter; they are easily blown by the wind, and they often end up in the ocean. Plastic takes hundreds of years to degrade, and creates hazards for marine life and other wildlife.

3. Hold on to Your Balloons

Released helium balloons eventually pop and fall back to land, ending up in the ocean where animals mistake them for food. Always pop balloons and put them in the trash.

4. Beware of Six-Pack Rings

Avoid buying them, and any other loop of plastic, or cut them up before you throw them out. Marine animals choke on garbage and get tangled in trash. Unlike people, birds and fish don’t have hands to remove items caught around their necks.

5. Don’t Be a Drip

Overwatering is wasteful and moves trash and toxins to the ocean. Turn off the faucet when you don’t need it. Fix leaky pipes and install low-flow shower heads and toilets. Help the sewage treatment plants do a better job by conserving water.

6. Go Non-Toxic

If you must use harsh chemical products, when you are through bring them to authorized household hazardous waste drop-off centers. For locations near you, call (800) CLEAN-UP. Instead, avoid buying products like liquid drain openers. Use pesticides as little as possible and look for non- toxic alternatives. Use compost instead of chemical fertilizers. Best of all, using simple recipes and ingredients, you can make your own environmentally-friendly cleaners.

7. Make a Clean Sweep

Use a broom, not a hose, to clean sidewalks and driveways. Watering the driveway won’t make it grow! Sweep trash into a dustpan, not the gutter, and use the garden clippings as mulch to fertilize your yard.

8. Recycle Used Motor Oil

You can recycle your used motor oil at gas stations, auto parts stores, and garages. Never pour it down the drain, in the gutter, or on the ground. Motor oil is extremely toxic.

9. Go to a Car Wash

Most car washes recycle their water. But if you clean your car at home, always wash it on your lawn to recapture lost water, use a bucket to conserve water and consider a ‘waterless’ car wash like Lucky Earth or Ecover.

10. Become a part of Heal the Bay

Help us continue to protect the Santa Monica Bay and all of California’s coastal waters; become an environmental advocate, volunteer or join as a member.

Read Less

Dragon Boat Makes Historic Crossing

12.21.2011 | Heal the Bay

Long Beach / Avalon More Ways to Give Palos Verdes Peninsula

After months of training, the AeroDragons Dragon Boat Club, met their goal to “go where no man has gone before” by paddling a dragon boat in the open ocean from Two Harbors at Catalina Island back to Mother’s Beach on Naples Island, Long Beach.

Dragon boats are not typically designed for open-ocean travel, making the crossing a dangerous undertaking, but the team succeeded nonetheless. The AeroDragons Dragon Boat Club members challenged themselves, not only to set a new record by making the first open-ocean crossing of the Catalina Channel by a dragon boat, but also to use the paddle out as a third party event to raise funds for Heal the Bay.

The Club’s team couldn’t have asked for more perfect conditions on the morning of September 24th, with calm seas and virtually no wind or waves. It took the team three hours and 26 minutes to paddle the 21-mile crossing.

During the paddle out, the team reported multiple sightings of blue whales and dolphins, including a pod of hundreds of dolphins near Point Fermin.

Congratulations to the Long Beach-based club for going, where no dragon boat has gone before.

Reusable Water Bottles = Triple Bonus

12.21.2011 | Heal the Bay

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

Today’s guest blogger is Melissa Aguayo, Heal the Bay’s Speakers Bureau Manager

The New Year is just around the corner, and we all know what that means… New Year’s resolutions.

Some people like to focus on their health while others focus on helping others or even saving money. If only there was an easy way to do all three… oh wait, there is!

Kicking your bottled water habit and switching to tap and a reusable bottle will save you money. Plus, it’s better for the environment and your health! Confused? Keep reading.

Save Money
Bottled water is expensive; it costs anywhere from 240 to 10,000 times more per gallon than tap water. The average tap water in California costs about $1.60 per thousand gallons while the average bottled water costs about $0.90 per gallon-that means you are paying over 560 times more for a product that falls from the sky! In fact, if you look at the price per gallon, you will pay more for single-use bottles than for gasoline. In 2009 Americans spent $10.6 billion on bottled water and almost half of that bottled water came from public tap water supplies. Beverage companies do a great job of marketing bottled water as purer and safer; however this is not necessarily true.

Protect Your Health
Our tap water is safe and highly regulated by the federal government. On the other hand, the Food and Drug Administration has much less stringent rules and only regulates the 30-40% of bottled water sold across state lines. Even then, testing is intermittent and once the water is bottled and stored, it does not have to be tested at all. The Natural Resources Defense Council completed a four-year study where they tested 1,000 bottles of 103 bottled water brands. Among many shocking discoveries, they found several companies buying water from a spring in Massachusetts which was located near a hazardous waste site. The water was contaminated with carcinogenic chemicals. Many plastic bottles also contain phthalates and BPA (Bisphenol A) which are both carcinogenic chemicals and can leach into the water.

Help the Environment
Many bottled water companies take water from local public sources, which harm the environment by depleting groundwater sources which the local community relies on. Once this water is removed it has to be packaged, in plastic. The U.S. alone uses about 17.6 million barrels of oil to produce plastic bottles. That would be enough oil to fuel more than one million vehicles each year. These bottles then have to be transported over hundreds of miles which consumes energy and releases pollutants. At the end of all this we are left with billions of empty bottles of which only 16% are recycled. The other 84% will end up in landfills or littering our streets where they can make their way to our rivers, lakes or oceans through the storm drain system.

So there you have it, three incredibly important reasons to make switching to tap and reusable water bottles this New Year’s resolution. It’s a small change that will go a long way.

Now go return that ugly sweater Aunt Liz gave you and exchange it for a reusable water bottle.

Read Less

L.A. Bag Ban Sends Strong Message

12.16.2011 | Heal the Bay

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

The Los Angeles City Council’s energy and environment committee today approved an action asking for a Chief Administrative Officer-Chief Legislative Analyst report on a single-use bag ban within 30 days. Also, the Bureau of Sanitation must implement a public outreach program over the next 60 days.

Immediately after the committee meeting, the city council met to celebrate outgoing president Eric Garcetti’s long-term leadership. After Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue and the rest of the festivities, the council heard the bag-ban item.

Read Less

L.A. City Council Vote, Not in the Bag…Yet

12.14.2011 | Heal the Bay

Marina del Rey / Playa del Rey Santa Monica Venice Beach

The Los Angeles City Council heard testimony from over 60 people today on the long-awaited single-use plastic bag ban. The environmental community was well represented and attired in natty green. Other supporters included reusable bag manufacturers, the California Grocers Assn., the L.A. Chamber of Commerce, and 17 neighborhood councils! Clearly, a life without single-use plastic bags is a popular movement that has grown well beyond L.A. County, Long Beach, Malibu, Santa Monica Calabasas and other SoCal cities.

Opposition was provided by bag man Stephen “This bag is more than a toy” Joseph and Crown Poly bag manufacturing staff. Joseph tried to tie the city council vote to California’s ranking by industry titans as the place they’d least likely want to do business. I’m not sure where the ranking came from, but Joseph did say that Texas was No. 1. Enough said.

Thanks to a prior commitment to the environmental community from Council President Eric Garcetti, the City Council heard the testimony. However, members were uncomfortable taking action without the bag ban first going through the Energy and Environment Committee.

Read Less