Heal the Bay Blog

Ben Kay, a marine biology teacher at Santa Monica High School and longtime partner of Heal the Bay in the fight against plastic pollution, took a midnight run to Santa Monica’s Pico Kenter stormdrain this morning. Here’s his alarming report about the effect the season’s “Second Flush” had on our local shoreline:

Sorry, had to share another shocking video from my midnight run today: copious plastic pollution and mystery foam strike again. With much more rain, the second flush of the stormdrains this early morning turned out to be much worse than the first flush back on Oct. 9., spraying debris all along the beach. The sad thing is that this is totally preventable, yet my students and I have documented the same phenomenon six years in a row.

Unmistakable negative human impacts to oceanic and land habitats stem from our increasing reliance on disposable plastic goods. Each flush of Santa Monica’s Pico Kenter Storm Drain exacerbates the problem. Even in our affluent, progressive, and green-minded community of Santa Monica, a thick stream of plastic pollutants flows unfiltered into the sea, and nothing meaningful has been done to systematically combat this crisis in my eight years of examining the issue with students.

We clearly have both a litter problem and a plastic packaging problem, not just the former. Real solutions include:

• Mandatory environmental education in all schools at all grade levels
• Banning and refusing to use single-use plastic bags, utensils, straws, water/juice/soda bottles, and polystyrene food packaging
• Choosing reusable products
• Listening to sound science on environmental issues, not what the plastic industry tells us

If this report bothers you, consider joining our emergency Storm Response Team, a hardy group of volunteers that removes debris from our most impacted beaches following heavy rainfall.

For six years, Heal the Bay has organized “A Day Without a Bag” to kick off the holiday season, encouraging people to skip single-use plastic. But this year we proudly celebrated “A Day With a Bag” – a reusable one – to commemorate the City of Los Angeles’ plastic bag ban, which goes into effect Jan. 1. Heal the Bay helped organize the distribution of 8,000 free reusable bags to residents in all corners of L.A. and every council district.

The mobilization wouldn’t have been possible without the assistance of the following groups: The Children’s Nature Institute, Tree People, One Generation, Temple Judea, PAVA, Sun Valley High School, Pacoima Beautiful, St. Raphaels, Augustus Hawkins Nature Park, Challengers Boys and Girls Club, EsoWon Books, Palisades Cares, Boys & Girls Clubs of Venice, CSUN service learning students, Echo Park TAP, LA Beautification Team, Urban Semillas, Punk Rock Marthas, Cathy Beauregard and a group of UCLA students. More information about all of these terrific partners can be found through our distribution site map.

Inland cleanups help beautify a community and educate about the connection between urban areas to the east and the Santa Monica Bay. We also salute JingTian Ye, president and founder of the Bottles for the Bay Foundation in Rowland Heights, who understands that connection and generously purchased three cases of heavy-duty bags for use at our inland cleanups.

Heal the Bay CEO Ruskin Hartley pays a visit to one of Heal the Bay’s greatest triumphs — Ahmanson Ranch, the largest parkland acquisition in the history of the Los Angeles-Ventura County region.

The early 2000s were heady days for land conservation. Flush with funds from voter-approved bond funds, the state competed for and secured protection for some remarkable pieces of property. At the time I was working in Northern California safeguarding redwoods. Save the Redwoods League had just protected the 25,000-acre Mill Creek property at a cost of $60 million. It seemed like a lot of money at the time, but I remember hearing of two transactions in Southern California that together cost the better part of $300 million. Wow, I thought. How could anything be worth that much?

Well, this past Saturday I finally stepped foot on one of these tracts of land: the former Ahmanson Ranch (now the “Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve,” a natty name I know). In 1998, Washington Mutual acquired the Ahmanson Ranch Co. and set about developing a self-contained city (complete with two PGA golf courses) located in the rapidly urbanizing San Fernando Valley. The proposal set off a firestorm of local opposition. Locals hated the thought of all the additional traffic, and the loss of local open space that was valued by both them and the critters that called the 3,000-acre ranch home.

A textbook campaign ensued that ultimately led to the ranches protection as parkland for all to enjoy. But before it could succeed, it had to go beyond a local issue to an issue of regional and state-wide importance. And that’s where Heal the Bay came in.

Ahmanson marked the first time that Heal the Bay had played a leading role in opposing a private development, one located many miles from the coast to boot. The nexus was water quality in Santa Monica Bay and the impact that unchecked development would have on the headwaters of Malibu Creek. Heal the Bay scientists mapped red legged frog habitat, assessed downstream water quality, and mobilized regional and statewide support for what until that time had been a local issue. Ultimately the stars came into alignment and the recent passage of voter-approved park and water bonds provided the funding to halt the development and create public park land.

California Governor Gray Davis, state legislator Fran Pavley, and director-activist Rob Reiner announced the deal back in 2003. This weekend they reunited to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the acquisition.

Yes, $150 million was a lot at the time. But it truly was an investment in the future. Not only does Ahmanson Ranch protect water quality each and every day, it also provides a much needed green sanctuary in the heart of suburbia for the residents of the Valley and beyond.

It’s safe to say, that without the dogged and persistent engagement of Heal the Bay to transform a local issue to a statewide campaign, the land today would be just another subdivision and place to play golf (two rounds). And as we know, subdivisions and golf courses don’t help water quality. Quite the reverse. Society as a whole ends up paying the costs to clean up the runoff they create.

I no longer look at the $150 million as an expenditure. It really was an investment in protecting open space that has a direct return in terms of enhanced property values, forgone costs of water pollution clean-up, and the intangible values of providing people open space to recreate in. Thank you Heal the Bay!

P.S. I just read about the latest Lear Jet. For its $600 million-plus price tag you could buy four ranches (at 2003 prices). That said, you and three friends could get anywhere in the world quickly and comfortably. I will let you decide which is the better long-term investment.

Visitors enjoying the open space afforded by the Ahmanson Ranch purchase in 2003.

Our first-ever S.T.E.A.M. Machines event Nov. 9 on the Santa Monica Pier was a smashing success. Presented by Heal the Bay and Time Warner Cable’s Connect a Million Minds initiative, the day included LA’s inaugural Rube Goldberg Contest and a host of innovative activities for all ages.

A huge thank you goes to sponsor Time Warner Cable and to the staff of the Santa Monica Pier Corporation for their collaboration. Contestants in the Rube Goldberg Machines competition brought their enthusiasm, passion and engineering acumen to the curious contraptions they created to complete the task of zipping a zipper. Kudos to the teams from Santiago Canyon College, Rancho Dominguez Preparatory School, Malibu High School, King Drew Magnet High School and Washington Preparatory High School.

Judges Dina Keirouz, Preston Williams, Hector Alvarez and Dan Busby get perfect scores for not only judging the contest, but for going above and beyond by providing invaluable feedback to all.

Pacific Park, Marbles the Brain Store, Trash for Teaching, Two-bit Circus, The Exploratory and the reDiscover Center brought games and materials that delivered hands-on fun for all. Ben Kay and his Santa Monica High School students of Team Marine provided a lesson in converting a car from gas to electric. Peddlers’ Creamery brought the sweet, cold treat everyone enjoyed on an unseasonably warm November Saturday atop the Pier. DJ Agent Blak created the perfect soundtrack for the day.

Beneath the Pier, visitors to our Santa Monica Pier Aquarium spent hours driving an underwater R.O.V. (remotely operated vehicle) thanks to Aquarium advisory board member Kurt Holland. Kurt financed, built and staffed the Aquarium’s ROV station vehicle during S.T.E.A.M. Machines. And finally, Dale Voelker of Digital Lava Graphic Designs created a Rube Goldberg-esque graphic of Heal the Bay’s successful efforts to ban plastic bags in the city of Los Angeles. The poster remains as a teaching tool in the Aquarium’s Green Room.

We can’t wait for next year’s S.T.E.A.M. machines event!