Heal the Bay Blog

Ulices Ramirez and Yahaira Arenas, seniors at Santee Education Complex, a high school near downtown Los Angeles, didn’t like the litter they saw in their community, so they decided to document the problem in a short video as a class project.

With help from their English and Government teachers, the duo focused on the economic and visceral impact of illegal dumping and littering in their neighborhoods. They also asked Heal the Bay’s Susie Santilena, an environmental engineer, about the impact of man-made debris on marine life.

“It was my pleasure to work with Ulices and Yahaira,” said Susie. “It’s clear from watching their video that they really got the message. I’m happy that they’re helping to spread the word about the hazards of litter on public health, as well as on the health of our oceans.”

Watch it now.

Mark escaped being doused in a dunk-tank (thanks to an innovative last-minute fundraising plea to gathered guests), but he couldn’t escape the pointed darts hurled by some of the city’s most influential leaders. He definitely took some ribbing about his hyper-zealous advocacy, wonky-nerdiness and need to always be the brightest bulb in the room.

Eric Garcetti, a veteran member of the Los Angeles City Council, described Mark as the “poop in the ocean guy” who “speaks acronym, not English.” He recounted his utter disappointment about Mark’s reaction to the council enacting a difficult piece of environmental legislation. “He’s always sitting on that high horse. And after you did 90% of the things he asked you to do, then he’d turn around and yell at you about the 10% you didn’t!”

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Your kid just downed the entire contents of his reusable water bottle and you’re far from home. Where can you safely refill it? Now there’s a free app to help you find the nearest drinking water fountain.

Developed by the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing at UCLA and approved by the LADWP, the WeTap app for Android Smartphones also allows users to add the location of a fountain to the database and report broken fountains so they can be fixed.

According to WeTap: “The goal of this application is to support those who have said no to bottled water and help others join the cause. The average American now drinks nearly thirty gallons of commercial bottled water per year, up from just a gallon in 1980, creating plastic waste, wasting energy and costing a tremendous amount of money.”

Download the free app.

Read more about kicking the plastic water bottle habit.

Today’s blogger is Matthew King, Heal the Bay’s communications director.

Surfing is not kind to beginners. The waves are intimidating, the equipment expensive and the “rules” of the sport confusing. Learning how to get upright on a board is a grueling test of stamina, patience and ego. While seasoned surfers pop up gracefully around them, newbies flail helplessly at passing waves or get buried underneath tons of churning whitewash. Novices also end up eating a lot saltwater and hearing abuse if they get in the way of seasoned surfers.

But
if they put in enough hours, by some stroke of luck or divine grace, newcomers
will eventually latch onto their first feathering wave. Gliding
toward shore, they’ll feel the ocean’s power rumbling beneath their feet.
They’ll also feel an amazing calm in their soul. It’s called “stoke.”
And it’s why surfers spend hours dreaming about the shifting ocean.

But surfing has traditionally been a clannish, secret society. For outsiders looking in, learning its mysterious arts presents many challenges. There is no AYSO of surfing, so historically the sport has been handed down informally by fathers (and some mothers) who grew up along Southern California’s coastal strip. As a result, many athletes in inland neighborhoods have been marginalized from the experience and not given the opportunity to learn to surf. It’s been a particular challenge for people of color in underserved communities, many of whom lack the resources, access and tradition to chase waves.

But there is a thriving band of African-American surfers in Southern California who are committed to exposing ocean culture to their communities and beyond. The mission of the Black Surfing Association (BSA) dovetails nicely with our work at Heal the Bay, so I jumped at the chance to attend one of the group’s recent mixers in Baldwin Hills, arranged by the amiable Rick Blocker.

Surfers being surfers, our group of nearly 50 spent more time talking about our favorite local breaks than organizational politics. The group is composed of enthusiastic people from all walks of life: firefighters, teachers, artists and DJs. A highlight was a brief talk given by Bruce Wigo, the chairman and CEO of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, who explained how American blacks have been cut off from their rich African history of swimming mastery, such as pearl diving off the Horn of Africa. He made a stirring plea about the need to create programs that will keep young African Americans safe by teaching them how to swim.

To help further those goals and to spread the stoke, the BSA is sponsoring a series of Pan African Beach Days this summer at Dockweiler Beach. Club members will be providing free surfing lessons and supplying equipment. You couldn’t ask for a more friendly introduction to the sport. The get-togethers begin at noon on the first Sunday of every month, starting June 3 and running through Oct. 7. Participants will gather at Lifeguard Tower 49 and celebrate surf culture in all its forms: beaching, surfing, bicycling, skateboarding, fishing, volleyball, capoeira and fireside cooking.

For more information, contact Dedon Kamathi, BSA President-SoCal Chapter at (323) 646-4814.