Heal the Bay Blog

King Tides on the Rise at Local Beaches

01.10.2013 | Heal the Bay

You may have difficulty fulfilling your New Year’s resolution this week if it involves morning outdoor exercise, and your preferred location is the beach, especially if your go-to spot is typically narrow like Dan Blocker or Carbon Beach. Why, you wonder? Because the King Tides are upon us.

King Tides are extreme high tide events that occur when the earth, moon, and sun are aligned in such a way that their gravitational forces reinforce one another causing the highest and lowest of tides. They occur in the winter and summer, but tend to be most dramatic in the winter, as they often coincide with storm events. The rain, wind, and high surf can intensify their effects. Places like Huntington Beach and Newport Beach experienced major flooding during last month’s King Tides, which overlapped with some big surf.

These are naturally occurring and predictable, but the King Tides can also shed light on the challenges coastal California faces with the threat of climate change and sea level rise. Predicting sea level rise is not an exact science, but under moderate greenhouse gas emissions scenarios, sea level rise along the California coast is projected to rise from 1-1.4 meters by 2100 (3 to 5 feet). The King Tides can help us visualize the impact of rising waters on the California coast.

King Tides at Carbon Beach, January 8-10, 2013

Approximately 85% of California’s residents live or work in coastal areas. These communities and the associated environment are threatened by sea level rise and increased storm intensity, which is likely to cause increased erosion and flooding. But the good news is that if we plan for it, we can adapt. Heal the Bay is involved in such planning efforts, through groups such as Adapt LA. And, we can look to cases like Surfers’ Point in Ventura, where climate change adaptation plans have already been implemented.

In an effort to help document King Tides throughout the state and help people visualize the threat of sea level rise, the California King Tides Initiative encourages people to photograph King Tides at their local or favorite beach and share them through Flickr. These photos will also help educate Californians about threats associated with sea level rise. If you are interested in visiting the beach to help document this unique event, Friday morning marks the highest of tides this week. Tides will top almost 7 feet at 8:15 a.m. in Santa Monica. Check out a tide chart to time your visit, and be careful exploring!

— Sarah Sikich, Heal the Bay Coastal Resources Director

Many of Heal the Bay’s initiatives are connected to climate change. Learn how you can help turn the tide.

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Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know About Weeds

01.08.2013 | Heal the Bay

About Us Malibu / Pacific Palisades

Southern California is packed with weeds, a.k.a. exotic invasive plants, which are one of the principal causes of habitat destruction. Constant maintenance and eradication is an absolute necessity if we want to hang on to our region’s natural places, which is why this Sunday Heal the Bay and Mountains Restoration Trust will be in Malibu Creek removing as many of these invasives—and planting native trees– as we can.

Please join us at 8:45 a.m. on January 13 in Malibu Creek State Park to get a great workout while restoring this essential ecosystem. In the meantime, here’s a quick primer, written by Tim Rosenstein, Mountains Restoration Trust Project Manager, on these pesky non-native plants and trees.

“Weed” isn’t really the best term to use. “Invasive” is much better because a tree can be invasive but no one thinks of a tree as a “weed,” for example. A weed is basically a non-native plant that aggressively reproduces. But there’s a bit more to it than that.

In any given habitat all the organisms that are native to the area have been evolving with each other over thousands of years. We use the term “ecosystem” to describe the totality of interactions between the living and non-living components that make up a habitat. A natural habitat will always consist of many different living components.

Even if dominated by one species, say Coast Live oak in an oak woodland, there were still be plenty of other plant life and a massive diversity of animals, insects, and microbes all living together in that ecosystem. It is the interaction of all those various components that maintains the habitat’s health, and those patterns of interactions are the result of thousands of years of co-development.

A weed is from somewhere else, often native to a different continent, and did not develop within the habitat it is alien to. You see back in a weed’s native habitat it was just another component of the whole. It grew up alongside all the other plants and animals and some animals and insects ate it or ate its seeds, which kept its number down, and other plants competed well with it — similar germination cycles, similarly aggressive growth, etc. — so all in all that weed back in its natural home wasn’t a weed at all, it was just another plant.

But removed from that habitat and transported to the other side of the planet, the natural germination cycle and growth habits of that weed are going to be quite different than that of the native plants and that may give them an advantage. For example, weeds often germinate much earlier than native plants and therefore establish themselves before natives can even sprout. Plus native insects and animals most likely won’t eat that weed, either. Altogether this means there are no natural processes constricting the spread of weeds, which allows them to crowd out native plants and take over, creating monocultures.

Ready to help rid Malibu Creek of invasives? Sign up now to volunteer this Sunday, January 13. If you can’t make it, no worries. Check Heal the Bay’s Calendar of Events for upcoming restorations.

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Huell Howser: A Host with a Heart of Gold

01.07.2013 | Heal the Bay

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

Veteran TV broadcaster Huell Howser passed away Sunday night. Here Communications Director Matthew King remembers his work with Heal the Bay.

If anyone could make plastic bags come alive, it’d be Huell Howser.

As Heal the Bay’s newly hired Communications Director six years ago, I’d been grappling with how to engage the public about the environmental costs associated with society’s addiction to single-use plastic bags. I’d sent out press releases, assembled fact sheets and written earnest letters to the editors about Los Angeles County’s proposed bag ban. But something was missing. We needed some human interest.

So I sent a long email to Huell suggesting that California’s Gold spend a day on the beach taking an up-close look at what plastics were doing to our shorelines. To my surprise, he responded positively and quickly to my pitch. I’ve placed several Op Eds in the L.A Times and successfully arranged dozens of segments on local TV news programs since then, but Huell calling me back that afternoon and coordinating the filming schedule marked one of my greatest professional moments here.

Media relations professionals often lose perspective about the issues they pitch. Self-doubt naturally creeps in when success hinges on the mercurial interests of overworked journalists. Is this topic compelling to most people? Does anyone really care about this?

Huell served as bit of a gold standard. He had made a career of mining the profound in the mundane. So if he found plastic bags interesting, then by default they were interesting.

On the drive down the 405 freeway to the Manhattan Beach Pier, my colleague Kirsten James and I did our best Huell impersonations. I made a bet with Kirsten that I could get Huell to drawl the amount of plastic bags we use each year in L.A. County in dragged-out astonishment. “Noooooo, Kirsten! NINE BILL-YUN plastic bags??!!” I won my bet.

Huell became a bit of a caricature to some jaded members of L.A.’s media community, with his beefy biceps and cornpone demeanor. But that sunny afternoon in the South Bay proved to me that his TV personality wasn’t some calculated act. Off camera, he bubbled with the same Southern charm and decency as shown on screen. It could’ve been model trains or an old mill, but on this day plastic bags inspired that sense of wonder and incredulity that marked his best work.

Huell never proselytized about environmental protection, letting the sheer beauty of California’s special places speak for itself. Before you can expect people to act, you have to inspire. And inspire he did. For that, environmental organizations up and down the state owe Huell a debt of gratitude.

In subsequent years, I’d occasionally suggest other ideas to Huell: looking for great white sharks in Santa Monica Bay or exploring Compton Creek. He didn’t take the bait, but he always made a point of calling me back personally to tell me why. Most journalists don’t respond to pitches, no matter how well-crafted and personalized, either by phone or email. You get used to the rejection, but it still grates. It’s a simple thing, but Huell’s calls showed class and consideration. He didn’t have to telephone, but he did.

My last phone call from Huell came a few months ago, declining an invitation to attend a Heal the Bay event in Santa Monica celebrating African-American surf culture in Southern California. He wanted to attend, he said, but would be traveling. As we chatted on a fading Friday afternoon, he seemed a bit tired. I said goodbye and wished him well.

Huell will be remembered as the champion of the obscure. But I think of him celebrating the essential: to be kind, to be curious, to be connected. California will miss him.

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Hope Soars Above the Parking Lot

12.21.2012 | Heal the Bay

About Us Heal the Bay Videos South Bay

On a recent Thursday, our four-person crew met to lead a water chemistry field trip—aka “Creek 101”— at Compton Creek. However, just as students arrived a dramatic downpour cancelled the field trip and left us to explore and contemplate other ways we could enhance the experience of Creek 101 at Compton Creek. I had never been to the site before, so I was very excited to get my own personal tour and explore the area.

Although the stretch of creek Eddie Murphy, Heal the Bay’s Secondary Education Coordinator uses as his outdoor classroom is fairly restrained due to many factors, there are nearby sites with great potential for habitat restoration that could be accessible and beneficial to the entire community (both people and wildlife).

Because of the natural sediment bottom of this particular Creek 101 site, many different types of plants inhabit the stream creating a lush and green island between the surrounding parking lots and developments. We had noticed during our walk that many birds were still present and valued the site as suitable habitat in a habitat limited region. The most compelling evidence, which proves the importance of this small non-concrete space was Katherine Pease, Heal the Bay’s Watershed Scientist identifying a White-Tailed Kite hunting directly above the creek (seen in the video below).

White-Tailed Kites are small raptors that hunt by facing the wind and hovering elegantly in the air. Their beautiful white-feathered bodies hang like actual kites, while they scan the ground for rodents to prey on. Our sighting is especially crucial because Kite populations have been declining in past years mainly due to habitat loss and are rarely seen in developed areas. This is so hopeful to see that Compton Creek (and possibly also the adjacent abandoned partially undeveloped lot) provides a haven of ecological importance for both plants and animals.

— Marissa Maggio, Stream Team Intern

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Spreading Green Cheer Throughout Los Angeles

12.21.2012 | Heal the Bay

About Us California Bag Ban Heal the Bay Videos

Green Santa and his eco-elves made a stop in historic Los Angeles distributing more than 1,000 reusable bags at Olvera Street and $1000 in Vons/Pavilions gift cards to families, tourists and holiday shoppers as part of Heal the Bay’s 6^th annual A Day Without a Bag.

Across Los Angeles County on December 20, Heal the Bay staff and volunteers gave away 15,000 bags to promote going reusable for the holidays and in preparation for the L.A. City bag ban ordinance that’s poised to move forward in spring 2013.

To date, Heal the Bay has given away 100,000 reusable bags as part of an ongoing outreach effort to get Angelenos to forgo their plastic bags in favor of reusable ones.

Kirsten James, Heal the Bay’s Water Quality Director, noted that Olvera Street, as the birthplace of Los Angeles, was the perfect spot to talk about making history with a bag ban. “L.A. is poised to be the largest city in the U.S. to ban plastic bags. When that happens, our city will be a model for the rest of the nation,” she told the dozens of people who had lined up to recieve reusable bags.

Every year California municipalities spend nearly $25 million just to collect and properly dispose of plastic bag waste. Only 5% of plastic grocery bags are recycled annually in L.A. Plastic bags clog our waterways and are harmful to human health and marine life.

A Day Without A Bag 2012 Golden Ticket Winner at Olvera Street At Olvera Street, each reusable bag recipient had a chance of finding a “golden ticket” inside good for a $25 Vons/Pavilions gift card. Vons/Pavilions also sponsored giftcard giveways at its Hollywood stores.

“Vons is happy to partner with Heal the Bay on A Day Without a Bag,” said Jenna Watkinson, Manager, Public Affairs and Government Relations at Von’s. “We feel that part of being the neighborhood grocery store is being a good neighbor. Our commitment to the environment plays a huge part in being that good neighbor.”

Albertsons and Ralphs markets also partnered with us to promote A Day Without a Bag, as did the City and County of Los Angeles and EarthWise Bag Company Inc. Commissioner Capri Maddox, vice president of the Los Angeles City Board of Public Works, and Jim Cragg from Green Vets LA (which provides local military veterans with jobs making reusable bags), joined Heal the Bay at Olvera Street to share the good news about reusable bags reducing litter and creating green jobs in Los Angeles.

This year Heal the Bay also focused on youth to advocate for change in their own communities, training them on how to build support for the ban all over the city. On December 1 we organized the Day Without a Bag Youth Summit, bringing together 35 students and teachers from eight different schools, including Apex Academy.

A group of students from Apex helped distribute Vons/Pavilions gift cards in Hollywood and garnered support for reusables at Amoeba Music and the East Hollywood Farmers market.

We also launched our Rockin’ Reusables contest this year, encouraging people to share images of everday use of reusable items. Melissa from Huntington Beach won our grand prize for sharing her “Off to the grocery store!” photo on Instagram. Congratulations, Melissa!

Visit our Action Alert page to stay up-to-date on our latest advocacy campaigns, or sign up for our newsletters, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr.

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Thank You Thursday – 12.20.12

12.20.2012 | Heal the Bay

About Us California Bag Ban More Ways to Give Santa Monica

At Heal the Bay, we are so grateful to the ocean that every December, we promote sacking plastic bags and going reusable for the holidays…and all year round. Plastic bags clog our waterways, poisoning marine animals and posing health risks for humans.

T Boy poses with his reusable bag next to deflated Bag Monster his year, we’d like to thank Green Santa for distributing reusable bags at Olvera Street in historic Los Angeles at our sixth annual A Day Without a Bag. Some of the bags contained “golden tickets” good for $25 Vons/Pavilions gift cards. In addition, at their Hollywood stores, Vons/Pavilions rewarded customers using reusable bags with $25 gift cards. Thank you, Vons/Pavilions!

Thank you to our additional partners: Albertsons, Ralphs and Earthwise. We’d also like to thank our reusable bag “eco-elves,” who distributed bags throughout Los Angeles from the following local high schools:

Compton High School
APEX Academy @ Bernstein High School
Westchester Enriched Science Magnet
Sun Valley High School
King Drew Magnet High School

Coalition for a Green Glendale also handed out reusable bags at Glendale retailers.

The ocean is also important to the folks at Alchemie Spa, who hosted a “Beauty for the Bay” event this week, donating proceeds to Heal the Bay.

We are also grateful to have new neighbors, the independent pizzeria Fresh Bros. Not only is their food yummy, but they also donated a portion of their proceeds from last week to Heal the Bay.

And thank YOU for a wonderful 2012. Without you, we can’t push forward with our mission to keep the Santa Monica Bay healthy and safe. Whether you donate your time or your treasure (or both!) we appreciate all you do. Happy New Year!

Seeking a fun way to celebrate New Year’s Eve? Bring in the New Year 2013 in Santa Monica at the Basement Tavern at the Victorian! Great food, drinks and entertainment on all three floors: Ground Zero in the Basement, the Mixx in the Attic, and DJ Benjamin Walker on the Main Floor. Tickets are $45. Proceeds will benefit Heal the Bay and the National Heritage Museum.

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MPAs: An Ocean Legacy Like a String of Pearls

12.18.2012 | Dana Murray

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

It’s been a long road – more than 12 years – but, California’s statewide network of coastal marine protected areas (MPAs) is now complete. As of Dec. 19, 2012, the final piece of the coastal MPA network (along the North Coast) is effective.

Our state’s marine life will now have safe haven along about 16% of our entire California coastline, lining our 1,100 miles of coast like a string of pearls, protecting habitats, ocean ecosystems, and marine natural heritage.

California’s state legislature enacted the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) in 1999, directing the Department of Fish and Game to design and manage a statewide network of MPAs to protect marine life and habitats, marine ecosystems, and marine natural heritage. Heal the Bay was most actively involved in the effort to designate MPAs in southern California under the MLPA, and is now working with partner groups throughout the state to monitor and conduct outreach about these new underwater parks.

Through the phased “MLPA Initiative” process various interests ranging from fishing groups to conservationists designed 119 MPAs, which have been adopted off the CA coast- first in the Central Coast in 2007 and 2010, then along the Southern California coast, which entered into regulatory effect on Jan. 1, 2012.

This network of MPAs is designed to function together as an interconnected system. California’s MPAs are being monitored by state and federal agencies, researchers, citizen science groups, and others.

The North Coast MPAs going into effect marks a historic moment to be celebrated – this is the first statewide network of underwater parks in the U.S. As an investment for future generations, this system of MPAs will lead to a stronger and more resilient marine ecosystem in California.

— Dana Roeber Murray

Heal the Bay’s Marine & Coastal Scientist

Want to do more to steward our ocean environment? Join Heal the Bay’s citizen science program, MPA Watch. Training begins January 30.

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3 Things to Do with HtB This Week

12.17.2012 | Heal the Bay

California Bag Ban More Ways to Give Santa Monica

Friends don’t let friends use plastic bags. And this holiday season, Heal the Bay will reward your friends who go plastic-free.

As part of A Day Without a Bag on December 20, take a picture of yourself, your friends, or a stranger (with their permission, of course) using their reusable bags to enter our contest! Catch your friends in the act and post it to Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook with the hashtag #RockinReusables and tag @HealtheBay to enter. Winners will receive a limited edition Heal the Bay A Day Without a Bag T-shirt, $100 Vons gift card, as well as other great prizes. Contest ends at 5 p.m. on December 20, and winners will be announced on December 21.
Come meet Green Santa at Olvera Street noon-1 p.m. on December 20 and maybe you’ll be among the lucky recipients of reusable bags containing “golden tickets” redeemable for $25 Vons/Pavilions gift cards. Can’t make it to Olvera Street? You can still be a winner. We’re hosting dozens of other sites, from Chinatown to Venice, to give away and promote reusable bags. Check this map of all giveaway sites.
Join us for an evening of spa treatments at Alchemie Spa in Santa Monica. Fifteen minute mini-treatments are $35 in advance or $40 at the door with a reservation by phone (310-310-8880). Choose from a mini organic manicure, brow and lip wax, hand and foot scrub, chair massage, or mini-sage. Purchase tickets online: select an entrance-only ticket ($10) or a ticket with mini-treatment ($35). Alchemie Spa is generously donating 100% of the entrance charge, raffle tickets and auction plus 15% of the mini treatments.

Visit Heal the Bay’s calendar to discover more ways to get involved.

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Preparing Youth for Bag-Free Future

12.13.2012 | Heal the Bay

California Bag Ban Marine Protected Areas

As Angelenos head toward a reusable future, with L.A. City Council moving forward on an ordinance banning plastic single-use bags that’s expected to be approved in spring 2013, Heal the Bay staff decided it was time to refresh our approach to our sixth annual Day Without a Bag (DWAB) campaign.

Held the third Thursday in December, DWAB gives Southland shoppers an early holiday present, courtesy of a reusable bag giveaway at locations throughout Los Angeles County.

Taking a page from marketers everywhere, this year we’ve focused on youth to advocate for change in their own communities, training them on how to build support for the ban all over the city.

On December 1 we organized the Day Without a Bag Youth Summit, bringing together 35 students and teachers from eight different schools to train them on the skills necessary for recruiting business partners from their local community into the campaign.

“We wanted to support teachers seeking hands-on ways to teach civic engagement and environmental stewardship,” said Meredith McCarthy, Heal the Bay’s Director of Programs. To that end, students learned how to shape their own campaign tasks, manage team members, and speak with local businesses about their support.

One of Heal the Bay’s strongest advocate partners, 15-year-old Zola Berger-Schmidt joined us as our keynote speaker, telling of her success as a student leader in the environmental movement, and how important students are in effecting change. Zola was instrumental in our campaign for Marine Protected Areas in California.

The day was filled with empowering ‘a-ha!’ moments and excitement and students became charged with the task of bringing those ideas back to their community to garner support for the ban.

Now as we approach Day Without a Bag on December 20, students are reporting back in impressive form, with stores all over the city handing out bags and joining in support of the ban. From grocery stores, to the East Hollywood farmers market, to Amoeba’s Hollywood location and mom-and-pop shops,retailers are taking part in A Day Without a Bag, and the students have made sure their communities are counted.

Students from the following schools attended the youth summit:

–Edward Murphy

Secondary Education Coordinator

Join us on December 20 throughout Los Angeles, as we celebrate going bag-free on A Day Without a Bag.

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Thank You Thursday – 12.13.12

12.13.2012 | Heal the Bay

About Us Malibu / Pacific Palisades Santa Monica

Volunteers fuel Heal the Bay’s activities, from scouring the beach for trash at our cleanups to monitoring the progress of the new MPAs, to … stuffing envelopes!

In the spirit of the holidays, we would like to give a shout out to some of our favorite Heal the Bay elves — our lovely Wednesday Office Volunteers.

Heal the Bay Staff with recycled wallet

“Believe it or not, volunteering can be super fun and rewarding,” says Nancy Shrodes, Heal the Bay’s volunteer and outreach coordinator. On a recent Wednesday, our volunteers had quite a project on the table.

Says Nancy: “We had some old vinyl tarps sitting in our storage that were ready for a renovation. These old banners could not be reused in original form any more, so I decided to repurpose the vinyl by making Heal the Bay wallets. After consulting a few YouTube how-to videos, my helpers and I had 60 beautiful handmade vinyl wallets!”

We’d also like to thank Santa Monica High School’s ocean stewardship group Team Marine. On November 16, when the Santa Monica area received a significant amount of rain, Team Marine headed to the Pico Kenter storm drain to collect trash. They removed more than 75 pounds of debris, preventing a small portion from entering the ocean. The team reported that the majority of the trash was plastic.

This marks the fifth consecutive year that Team Marine has documented the flow of pollutants coming out of the storm drain and performed emergency clean ups.

Last Friday, a corporate cleanup team from Yahoo! joined Heal the Bay at Will Rogers State Beach to pick up trash. In addition, Ford Motor Company was there, offering test drives of their Focus Electric and C-MAX Hybrid models. Ford donated to Heal the Bay for each and every participant. Thank you, Ford!

And a big shoutout to our friends at the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA) Environmental Fund.Their unwavering support of Heal the Bay’s Beach Report Card has safeguarded the health of millions of surfers, swimmers and everyday beachgoers.

For those of you who would like to join in on the Wednesday fun, or if you have always wanted to get involved as a volunteer with Heal the Bay and don’t know where to start, email Nancy Shrodes and she’ll get you started.

Interested in building team spirit at your company? Sponsor a Corporate Healer Beach Cleanup.

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