Heal the Bay Blog

Styrofoam Cups: From Trash to Fashion

08.10.2011 | Heal the Bay

In celebration of Ocean Awareness Month, artist Marina DeBris’ “Beach Couture — A Trash ‘n’ Fashion Show” showcases the artwork she crafts from detritus she picks up as she walks the Westside. “In the beginning I would just pick up stacks of Styrofoam cups and bring them to the local 7-Eleven, but I soon realized that this wasn’t really attacking the root problem. I needed a creative way to draw attention to it.

“The whole idea of making beach detritus into art started just three years ago from the realization that the waste we create always comes back to haunt us,” said DeBris, who regularly lends her talents to Heal the Bay and other environmental groups.

“With this work, I’m hoping to dramatize in a playful way some of the problems our waste creates,” DeBris noted. “I use humor to startle viewers into taking a closer look at things we usually ignore. The goal is to encourage people to rethink their use of disposables and ultimately reduce waste.”

Marina DeBris’ art will be on view in celebration of Ocean Awareness Month from Aug. 2 – Sept. 5 at ZeroMinusPlus/Fred Segal Santa Monica, 500 Broadway, Santa Monica.

Hours: Mon-Sat 10 a.m.- 7 p.m. & Sun Noon-6 p.m.

Find out more about Marina DeBris at http://www.washedup.us/

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Renowned Food Critic Takes on Shark Finning

08.07.2011 | Heal the Bay

California Sharks News

Pulitzer Prize winning culinary writer Jonathan Gold eloquently advocates for AB376, which would ban California sales of shark fins, in the Opinion section of the Sunday, August 7th Los Angeles Times . “There is no sustainable source of shark’s fin,” wrote Gold, noting that “nearly a third of shark species are approaching the point of extinction.”

Read Jonathon’s Op-Ed
Shark fin soup: The taste of extinction (LA Times)

Help Save Our Sharks
Take Action on AB 376Use our Action Alert to call your Senator and send them an e-mail urging their YES vote on AB 376.
Attend the Rally to Save Our Sharks on 8/13
Please join Heal the Bay and other leading environmental groups on Saturday, August 13, 10am, at the Manhattan Beach Pier to tell our State Senators to stop the sale of shark fins and vote YES on AB 376! Shark costumes are encouraged!

Gold, dubbed “L.A.’s most adventurous eater” by The New Yorker, is the older brother of Heal the Bay President Mark Gold. For the past 25 years he’s specialized in writing about ethnic cuisine, spending significant time in restaurants that serve Cantonese food, including shark’s fin.

In his op-ed, Jonathan notes that Chinese culinary culture has proven to be resilient over the centuries, able “to withstand the absence of sea-turtle skirt and bear paw, whose preparation obsessed the earliest Chinese gourmets. There is no third way with shark’s fin – we either stop eating it because we choose to preserve the species, or we stop eating it because soon there will be none left to eat.”

Read Jonathan’s entire op-ed (new window).

Illustration by Wes Bausmith / Los Angeles Times

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French Town Says: “Ne Pas Fumer Sur La Plage!”

08.03.2011 | Heal the Bay

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

A small town in Provence declared smoking off limits on a stretch of its beachfront, proclaiming itself the first non-smoking beach not only in France, but Europe.

According to the Associated Press, the smoking ban came into effect earlier this summer in La Ciotat, and compliance among the public at the packed beach has been strong. “We don’t stop smokers from going elsewhere, but this one we want to reserve for nonsmokers, for mothers and children so they can make sand castles and not cigarette butt castles,” Deputy Mayor for the Environment Noel Collura told the AP.

Cigarette butts remain the No. 1 item picked up by volunteers at Heal the Bay beach cleanups, despite the fact that Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Long Beach and Malibu have banned smoking on the beach. A typical cigarette butt can take anywhere from 18 months to 10 years to decompose, depending on conditions. Cigarette butts contain the chemicals filtered from cigarettes that leach into waterways and water supplies.

Read the story at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44002823/ns/travel-destination_travel/

Photo courtesy Jacques Brinon / AP

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Protect What You Love – Get CA's New Ecoplate

08.01.2011 | Heal the Bay

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

Buy one of California’s newly-designed Whale Tail® specialty license plates and support Heal the Bay’s cleanup and education programs. Plus, be among the first 1,000 ocean lovers to get the new Ecoplate and pay $25 instead of $50, or get $25 off a personalized plate. Each of the first 1,000 to purchase one of these license plates will also receive two tickets to visit one of several California destination attractions.

But the best reward is: Each purchase of these new plates benefits Heal the Bay and supports our award-winning beach cleanup and education programs. We use these funds to support the 600+ cleanups we conduct each year along the L.A. County Coastline and to educate our volunteers on how to protect the ocean environment from pollution.

Learn more and purchase a new Whale Tail® plate.

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Mapping an Uncertain Future

08.01.2011 | Heal the Bay

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

With the world focused on the silly brinksmanship in Congress over the national debt ceiling, there hasn’t been enough focus on the ramifications of the recent California legislative redistricting process. The final maps, created by an independent body called the California Citizens Redistricting Committee, just came out last week and the new districts are substantially different. For the L.A. County coast, the changes are pretty dramatic.

Overall, our local coast didn’t do that well during redistricting. Separating the ports in different congressional and senate districts is not good for San Pedro Bay and misses the opportunity to integrate environmental protection and cleanup efforts among the ports, and L.A. and Long Beach. The new state senate districts separate some of the strongest supporters of Santa Monica Mountains conservation from the actual resource. That makes it tougher for Westside residents to help out on those issues.

Read more & comment»

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Rock the Bay, Support a Cleaner Ocean on August 4

08.01.2011 | Heal the Bay

News

The Twilight Dance Series partners with Heal the Bay on Thursday, August 4, 7-10 p.m., with Nelson Marquez & the Moderators and Tutu Sweeney & the Brothers Band set to perform a free concert at Santa Monica Pier.

Show your appreciation and “Protect What You Love!” by texting GIVE2HEAL to 20222 which will donate $5 to help keep our beaches safe, clean and healthy.

Learn more about the August 4th concert.

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A Bloomin' Mess

07.29.2011 | Heal the Bay

News

Does the scene in this photo count as algal impairment under the Clean Water Act? I’m just curious if the folks in Florida that are attempting to blow up the Clean Water Act over proposed nutrient standards would agree that this is impairment. After all, the kids appear to be enjoying themselves, and after all, isn’t that what recreational water contact is all about? Heal the Bay gets in a lot of fights on the definition of algal impairment with regulators and the regulated community. When you see pictures like the ones from Qingdao in China, it makes you realize that the regulated community isn’t even willing to come part way on the issue. If there is a Karenia bloom in Florida that poses a respiratory health risk to beach goers, is that an impairment? If Malibu Creek has an antifreeze algae bloom that covers the entire creek for a quarter mile, is that impairment? The regulated community may argue that 10% algal cover for 30% of the time isn’t impairment (a definition previously used by some at EPA). But how can they look at pictures like those in China, Florida and Malibu Creek and not offer nutrient reduction recommendations?

Harmful algal blooms are a growing problem that are choking our nation’s rivers and coastal waters with devastating impacts to aquatic ecosystems. Yet, the EPA and most states are still arguing over the right thing to do and completing an endless series of studies. They should be requiring aggressive reductions in nutrient discharge loadings (nitrogen and phosphorus) and concentrations, and they should have done it years ago.

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Cut the Coal Power at LADWP

07.28.2011 | Heal the Bay

News

It’s time for Los Angeles to move beyond coal power. LADWP (Los Angeles Department of Water and Power) is considering a plan to sell its stake by 2014 in the Navajo Generating Station, which is, according to the Sierra Club, one of the largest and dirtiest coal-fired power plants in the entire country. The LADWP is asking for customer feedback on this plan.

Please take two minutes and complete the LADWP survey. Make sure to mark moving beyond coal as a high priority.

Photo: Navajo Generating Station via Wikipedia

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Plastic Bag Wars Heat Up

07.26.2011 | Heal the Bay

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

The August 4 issue of Rolling Stone reveals the U.S. plastics industry’s formidable efforts to protect the use of plastic shopping bags and highlights Heal the Bay’s strong commitment to banning their use in cities and municipalities. “We’re going to keep pushing this issue,” Sarah Sikich, Heal the Bay’s director of coastal resources, told Rolling Stone. “It’s a battle we can win. In the end, public awareness and the grassroots movement will overcome the deep pockets of [plastic] industry groups….”

Read the article at Rolling Stone»

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This Decision Sucks…Literally

07.20.2011 | Heal the Bay

Marina del Rey / Playa del Rey South Bay

In a defeat for the health of our local oceans, the State Water Resources Control Board voted 2-1 Tuesday to grant LADWP an additional nine years to phase out harmful once-through cooling at its three coastal power plants. The Water Board voted for the extension despite the fact that California’s energy agencies determined that DWP’s compliance plan and extension proposal did not provide enough information to justify an extension from the previously approved 2020 deadline. The nine-year extension was practically pulled out of thin air by board chair Charlie Hoppin, and Fran Spivy Weber supported the move. The extension will result in the ichthyocide of approximately an additional 30 billion larval and adult fish, with local energy plants allowed to continue the practice of sucking water – and animal life — out of the sea to cool themselves. It was definitely horrible news for local fish populations. Board member Tam Doduc was the lone voice for holding DWP accountable until it could provide adequate information to substantiate a compliance deadline extension.

In addition to extending the temporal impacts of sucking the life out of the ocean, the water board set a horrible precedent for the other California coastal power generators.

By approving a long-compliance extension despite the lack of a compliance plan approved by state energy agencies (California Energy Commission, Public Utility Commission and Cal-ISO), the board decided to award the extension for the following reasons:

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