You might have already heard about the awesome fish that washed up in Malibu last week. It was more than 10 feet long, shaped like a ribbon, and is a very unusual visitor to our beaches. This oarfish, which was correctly identified by an eight-year-old who came across it lying on the beach, is a very rarely seen deep sea fish.

In fact, there are only a couple of known cases in which oarfish have come ashore.They can grow up to 35 feet long and are awesome looking, with silver scales and bright red fins, and are actually thought to be the original sea serpents that appear in sailor legends. Unfortunately, they only come to shore when they are close to death, and this fish, while originally spotted live and in the water, died shortly afterwards and washed ashore.

It was sent to the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum, which will conduct tests and possibly put this awesome creature on display. If you’ve been to the the Natural History Museum, you might have already seen the 14 foot oarfish in a glass case in the grand foyer. That specimen washed ashore on Catalina, but only after scientists from the Wrigley Marine Science Center got some photos of it swimming in Big Fisherman Cove.  Having such a rare creature wash up in our own backyard is exciting for everyone, but especially for the SoCal marine science community!

Read more in the LA Times.

If you celebrate Christmas, but mourn the environmental impacts of all those packages, paper and plastic scraps and shipped-in Douglas Firs, we have the answer for you!  There’s an awesome company called The Living Christmas Co. that rents living Christmas trees. They’ll deliver them and pick them up, all through the LA area, and you can even arrange to have the same tree year after year.  They also have an online eco-friendly holiday decor store.  What an awesome way to try to keep Christmas as earth-friendly as possible. So pick up that tofurkey, give out handmade gifts, and rent a living Christmas tree!

In an incredible vote, the LA County Board of Supervisors voted yesterday to ban the distribution of plastic bags throughout all of unincorporated LA County. This landmark ruling is an example for the state, and municipalities all over the country. Read more on Mark Gold’s blog, Spouting Off, or check out Heal the Bay’s press release.

In an interesting twist, Los Angeles County is the new statewide leader on breaking Californians’ 19-billion-a-year addiction to single-use shopping bags. The Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 today to ban plastic and paper bags in unincorporated areas of the county and allow grocery stores, drug stores and convenience stores to charge a dime for green paper bags. The ordinance is the farthest-reaching bag ban ordinance in California and should result in a 600 million-bag-a-year reduction in the county.

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We all deserve to swim in clean water. But everyone needs clean drinking water too. In many parts of the world, clean water is an absolute luxury, and the lack of clean water leads to disease and death. But here in California, there are towns where the over-use of nitrate fertilizers has led to contaminated water supplies. Literally, people’s faucets are pouring out water that is absolutely undrinkable because of the high levels of nitrates.  Read more about it in the LA Times.

Last weekend the Plastic Pollution Coalition hosted a TEDx event in Santa Monica on the Not So Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The gathering was well attended by celebrities (Jackson Browne, Ben Lear, Daphne Zuniga and Ed Begley Jr.), explorers (Dr. Sylvia Earle, Charlie Moore, Fabien Cousteau and David De Rothschild) and numerous other environmental leaders fighting against the scourge of plastic pollution. The well-produced evening beamed via webcast globally and included a blend of dramatic footage from plastic contaminated gyres (including a short film from the 5 Gyres expeditions from Marcus Ericsen and Anna Cummins), performances from Lear, Browne and others, and solutions-oriented talks from such Heal the Bay friends as Long Beach Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal, Lisa Boyle and Leslie Tamminen.

Attendees also saw the unveiling of an ad campaign from Leo Burnett that asks people to become citizens of the Crapola Islands (also known as the Pacific Garbage Patch) – the only nation we want to disappear. Two speakers presented potential solutions that won’t have a positive impact on the global marine debris crisis. Patrick Kenney of Green Harvest Technologies spoke about a green future with bioplastics. Although there are many eco-advantages to bioplastics, especially in areas with effective composting programs, solving the plastic pollution problems in our oceans is not one of them.

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