Heal the Bay Blog

December 9, 2015 — While the weather outside is frightful …Okay, maybe not here in Southern California. But, it is that time of year: holiday season. With the buzz of decorating, baking, travel, parties, and shopping, many people lose sight of how their actions and increased consumption during the holidays are affecting the environment. Here are 12 tips from Heal the Bay staff on how to have the greenest holiday ever:

1. Pledge to use a reusable bag.

Reusable bags aren’t just for groceries anymore: Keep a readily accessible supply of bags by the front door, in the car and at work for all your holiday shopping needs.

Also, we invite you to add your name to our pledge to go reusable this holiday–we’re hoping to get 1,000 people on board! By pledging, you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a gift bag full of reusable Heal the Bay swag. Please share with your friends and family!

2. Get a living tree.

A living Christmas tree is the gift that keeps on giving, sequestering carbon and producing oxygen year after year unlike cut trees that are destined for the dump after one holiday. Check out The Living Christmas Company for more information.

3. Offset your emissions.

Getting to Grandmother’s house may require a plane rather than a sleigh. Consider reducing the impact of your holiday travel by offsetting your carbon emissions with Carbon Fund or TerraPass.

4. Bring your own.

Be the eco-envy of the holiday party by bringing your own straws, utensils and food containers for all those yummy leftovers! And remember your reusable water bottle when you’re pounding the pavement for presents. To-go Ware and Simply Straws offer some great products. 

5. Gift experiences, not things.

Concert tickets to the Bowl, a whale watching expedition on the Bay, a gift certificate to a local sustainable seafood restaurant–L.A. offers so many amazing experiences that are much more meaningful than the latest gadget or gizmo.

Speaking of experiences, your donation of $25 or more to Heal the Bay earns your giftee free family admission for 4 to our Santa Monica Pier Aquarium. If you want to support the animals at our aquarium directly, Aquadoption is an awesome option. Plush stuffed animal included at the $50 level! 

6. Avoid using your car to shop.

Be greener (and stave off holiday poundage) by walking or taking public transit to do your holiday shopping. You’ll also spare yourself the huge headache induced by traffic and crazed mall parking lots. 

7. Give a water-saving gift.

Consider giving an El Niño-friendly rain barrel or low-flow showerhead to encourage your family and friends to be more water-wise during the drought. Kick it up a notch by offering to install it yourself. (If you need help selecting or installing the right water-wise gift, give us a shout.) 

8. Be a green party host.

Go meatless at your holiday party to save on greenhouse gas emissions and agricultural water consumption. Avoid serving food on disposable products if possible, and rent dishes from a catering company or borrow from a neighbor if needed.

9. Use LED lights to decorate.

Swap out old holiday lights for newer, energy-saving LED lights. Their low energy usage makes them the cheapest option in the long run. And remember to use a timer for your outdoor and indoor lights to save electricity. 

10. Use reusable gift wrap.

Wrap your gifts in newspaper or magazines and recycle the wrappings afterwards. Or, even better, use fabric, a pretty basket, or a decorative box to make the wrapping itself part of the gift.

11. Start a green holiday tradition.

Create an outdoorsy holiday tradition: Plant a tree, ride bikes to the beach, or head to the park for a holiday clean-up. There’s even free coffee in exchange for your good deed, thanks to a new partnership between Heal the Bay and Starbucks!

12. Host a swap party.

After the hustle and bustle of the holidays, lighten your load with a regifting extravaganza. Invite friends over to swap their new or lightly used unwanted clothes, toys, home goods, and pet supplies.

BONUS TIP: Support a healthy ocean and make a tax-deductible, year-end gift to Heal the Bay today. 

Dec. 08, 2015 — Who doesn’t love open space? asks programs director Meredith McCarthy. Here’s how you can help L.A. build the next generation of smart parks.

The County of Los Angeles is in the midst of a formal 15-month assessment of its park and recreation facilities to better understand how to improve, expand and make parks more accessible so that all our communities can benefit and thrive.

The information gathering will guide a potential L.A. County Parks funding measure next year, which would invest in park enhancements throughout the county. The community-driven process is centered on input by, and engagement of, residents in all 88 cities in the county as well as more than 130 unincorporated areas.

To gather public input, the county is hosting community meetings throughout the region. Heal the Bay is urging its supporters to attend in order to ensure that every park project considers the recreational needs of the community, while also considering a multi-benefit, climate-resilient, smart-water approach.

In the new climate reality, our local parks are an important part of our water future. They have enormous capacity to help meet multiple needs of the region, including improving our water quality by providing natural filtration, augmenting our water supply by capturing runoff for reuse or filtration into the ground, and sequestering carbon to help curb local climate change impacts.

During your community meeting, make sure you tell county planners that you want a water-smart park that:

• Employs design and construction strategies that reduce stormwater and polluted runoff;
• Reduces polluted runoff by harvesting rainwater, recharging groundwater, while using efficient irrigation practices. These tactics will help reduce energy-intensive and expensive water imports. These methods are cost-effective, resilient to changes in climate, and benefit local communities and ecosystems;
• Uses water efficient landscaping and irrigation to reduce outdoor potable water consumption, including rainwater and runoff harvesting, reuse and recycling; and
• Provides high-quality tap water. Existing fountains need to be assessed and tested for lead in pipes and replaced when water flow is compromised. New bottle refill stations need to be installed to reduce the plastic waste of single-use bottles.  

Here are some additional things to keep in mind before, during and after a community meeting:

What to expect: You will be given a list of priority potential park projects and  an opportunity to prioritize projects that might include repairs to existing parks and facilities, the addition of new amenities to existing parks, and the creation of new parks. Meeting attendees can use all their votes for one project or split up their votes. Also, attendees can come up with their own idea for a project that they and other attendees can vote for. 

What you can do: If there are any projects that are water-smart, please vote for them! If there are no such projects being proposed, write your own description of a project that is water-smart. If you have a specific idea in mind, go for it. For instance, you could write a general description of a project that could be an addition or replacement at an existing park or could be a new park. Name it “Water-Smart Park” and give its location as your neighborhood. For the description you can include such things as: additions to existing parks or new parks of rain gardens, stormwater capture devices, rainwater capture devices, groundwater recharge systems, native plants, efficient irrigation, and high-quality tap water. Then vote for your project and get your friends and neighbors to vote water-smart too!

All infrastructure improvements represent a considerable investment in our future. In the face of climate change, it is imperative to invest the scarce public funds that will support our parks in projects that provide as many benefits as possible. Multi-benefit parks are good for the ocean and good for our communities.

Check the map to find a community meeting near you!

Have questions about how to prepare for a meeting? Contact Meredith.

February 8, 2016 — OK, java junkies, something big is brewing between Heal the Bay and Starbucks!

UPDATE: Starting today and lasting through the end of February or until supplies last, you can snag a 1/2-lb. bag of an all-new coffee blend at your LA-area Starbucks: The Heal the Bay Blend!

This limited-edition blend is available for just $5, and must be purchased with cash. ALL proceeds go directly to Heal the Bay!

Inspired by the lightness of summer, this medium-bodied coffee will bring a much-needed infusion of beachy sunshine to your daily caffeine fix. See below for locations where the Heal the Bay blend is on sale!

December 4, 2015 — Today we launched a yearlong partnership to promote clean local beaches and watersheds at 92 Starbucks locations between Thousand Oaks and El Segundo.

This weekend only (12/4-6), you can snag our specially designed “El Niño Frappuccino” at your local Starbucks and learn about how to better prepare for the expected heavy rains this winter.

But this partnership is more than just blue drinks! We’ve also come up with a great way for Angelenos to get a FREE cup of coffee while protecting our ocean and beautifying their neighborhoods:

For the next year, you can score a complimentary tall coffee when you fill a bag with at least a 1/2 lb. of trash from your neighborhood, share a photo on Instagram with the tag #SbuxHeals and then show your Insta to your Starbucks barista at participating locations!*

In the coming year, stores will be showcasing ocean-friendly messaging and offering special promotions to support Heal the Bay. Keep an eye out for a limited Heal the Bay coffee blend in early 2016, as well as something cool during Earth Month in April. We’ll also be teaming up to promote greater use of environmentally friendly reusable cups and straws.

The regional team at Starbucks recognizes that ocean and watershed conservation begins in our homes and businesses, so they have joined forces with us to educate customers throughout the Southland about making smart choices. We thank them for their support.

*Participating Starbucks can be found in the following regions: Agoura, Calabasas, Camarillo, Carpinteria, El Segundo, Filmore, Goleta, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Isla Vista, West Los Angeles, Malibu, Marina del Rey, Montecito, Moorpark, Newbury Park, Oak Park, Ojai, Oxnard, Playa Vista, Port Hueneme, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Santa Paula, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Ventura, Westchester, Woodland Hills

On Sunday October 11th, over 25 students representing nine different middle and high school environmental clubs crept into the closed-to-the-public Santa Monica Pier Aquarium for an after-hours workshop. Find out what fishy fun they had below.

As the school year leaps off into predictions of a wet El Niño winter and a deluge of sewage-related waste being released into the bay from a local sewage treatment plant, it’s clear that environmental clubs have their work cut out for them.

But where to start? It can be easy to highlight a problem but far less clear on how to choose and plan an action to help it. Clubs brainstormed their goals for the school year and then grouped them into themes common across all clubs. Some examples were “Smarter Members and Smarter Schools,” in which education on current environmental issues is key; “Alternatives at School” which tackles changing the way schools do things; “Cleanups” which can be completed from coast to campus; and “Awareness Through Social Media,” where dedicated accounts can keep members and followers up-to-date with club happenings.

Choosing S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Bound) tasks or projects is crucial to seeing your goals blossom. The group was lucky to hear from three youth leaders who’ve all completed dynamic projects in the past. From cleanups and fundraising, to youth boards and media interviews, Ben Moody, Fallon Rabin and Paige Hornbaker had great tips to share with the group.

The summit wrapped up with time for each club to reflect on what proposed projects would suit their vision for the year and then plot those goals onto a calendar of the school year. As a registered Club Heal the Bay Partner, clubs also learned that participating in three events or netting three reward “drops” would earn them an invitation to our Beachy Celebration which we will host at the end of the school year.

Whether it’s educating their own peers, spreading environmental awareness through social media alerts, or fundraising within their communities or local businesses, clubs from all grade levels and with varying membership bases strategized how to make a big splash this school year.

See you at the beach!

Jenn Swart
Programs Associate

Top restaurants in town are offering El Niño-inspired cocktails to raise awareness and to benefit Heal the Bay. Oyster shell-infused mezcal, anyone?

Here at Heal the Bay we take the possibility of an intense El Niño winter very seriously. Downpours and deluges can impact our homes, cities and waterways negatively. So we’ve targeted Oct. 11-17 as El Niño Week to help us all understand what causes this meteorological phenomenon, offer tips to prepare and explore the ways that expected heavy rains can be turned to our advantage.

But if this all sounds too serious, take heart – supporting Heal the Bay’s preparation efforts includes fun cocktails too!

Five local establishments are supporting Heal the Bay’s efforts to protect our communities, waterways, and the marine environment by creating El Niño-inspired libations. Heal the Bay will receive a portion of the proceeds from each clever concoction sold throughout El Niño Week. You can contribute to our work by sampling tasty beverages (responsibly!) at the following restaurants:

• The Lobster: This long-time Santa Monica institution offers a perfect perch to observe approaching weather — and their own El Niño cocktail.
• Cassia: One of Santa Monica’s newest, hottest restaurants. Sample a Hop Sea Negroni (pictured on bottom left); you’ll have to drop by to see the recipe — but it does involve some oyster shell-infused mezcal. It’s the perfect drink to enjoy with items from the raw bar or a bowl of seafood laksa!  
• Hotel Casa del Mar’s Terrazza Lounge: The staff was so inspired by our El Niño Week that they’ve come up with two cocktails. They’re too gorgeous for words, but the names say it all: “Santa Monica Water,” and “Santa Monica Sky” (pictured on right).
• Locanda del Lago: These mixologists are sure to put a Northern Italian twist on their version of the El Niño.
• Rusty’s Surf Ranch: Contemplate a stormy winter with a stormy drink on the Pier – all the while contributing to Heal the Bay’s efforts.

 And a reminder if you’re looking for more substantial food for thought — we’re kicking off El Niño Week at our Santa Monica Pier Aquarium at 2:30 pm Sunday, Oct. 11 with “Capture, Conserve and Reuse,” a discussion about water and land use. Check out all the latest methods of water recovery with demonstrations on the Aquarium’s patio from 2:30 to 4:30.

Then on Tuesday Oct. 13, come back to the Aquarium to learn all the latest on El Niño from Bill Patzert, often called the “Prophet of California climate.” Patzert has been a scientist at the California Institute of Technology’s NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, since 1983. He’ll be speaking from 3:30 to 4:30 pm.

Our website and social media outlets will be overflowing with blogs, contests and giveaways.  And since this is a Heal the Bay production, we’ll cap off the week’s activities with our Nothin’ But Sand beach cleanup Saturday, Oct. 17 on Venice Beach.

So get prepared, support Heal the Bay’s efforts for clean and healthy water from the mountains to the sea – and enjoy the drinks – responsibly, of course.

Thanks to staffer Randi Parent for writing this preview and arranging many of the drink promotions.