Heal the Bay Blog

Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” echoed through Los Angeles City Hall on Tuesday, as members of the City Council voted 11-1 to finalize the ban on single-use plastic bags in L.A.

We did it!

And by “we,” we mean the countless number of Angelenos who helped make this day possible.

First, Heal the Bay sincerely thanks Councilmember Paul Koretz and his staff, who logged years forging a plastic-bag-free path, first in Sacramento as an assembly member and then here in L.A. as a member of the city council. Koretz authored the bag ban proposal, which will take effect in January 2014.

Among the highlights of Tuesday’s meeting was hearing Koretz debunk claims by the plastic industry “which has put out so much misinformation” about reusable bags.  (Watch video from the hearing. We recommend dragging your cursor to 02:52:30.)

We are also grateful to Councilmember José Huizar and his staff, who as chair of the Energy and Environment Committee, recommended that the full council approve the ban. In his statement before the council, Huizar movingly spoke about taking on plastic bags after noticing how many of them were stuck in the trees along the San Gabriel river while on a bike ride with his kids.

“We’ve seen plastic bags clogging our gutters, polluting our rivers and piling up on our beaches,” Huizar said. “The time for the City of Los Angeles to take action to protect our environment is now. And every big city in the nation can follow our lead.”

The victory at City Hall was a true team effort. The City of LA couldn’t have gone plastic bag free without the invaluable support of dozens of organizations and individuals, including the Surfrider Foundation, the Sierra Club, Seventh Generation Advisors, Environment California, Green Vets, Earthwise Bags, Urban Semillas, Mujeres de la Tierra, NRDC, Echo Park TAP, 5 Gyres, Plastic Pollution Coalition, Food and Water Watch, Pacific Asian Volunteer Association, Compton High School, Dorsey High School, Zola Berger-Schmitz & The Archer School for Girls and her mother Stan Joffe from Earthwise, San Fernando High School, King Drew Medical Magnet, APEX Academy, Santa Monica High School, Ballona Creek Renaissance, WeTAP, the County of Los Angeles, the City of Santa Monica, and many, many others.

Here’s to a plastic bag-free L.A.! 

Among the many reasons we love L.A. are the beautiful spots to enjoy nature and forget city life for a bit. A hearty thank you goes to the Amgen employees and other volunteers who came to the Malibu Lagoon last weekend to restore it by removing weeds.

Congratulations to Eva Varro for opening their new Santa Monica store (pictured left), and thank you for donating a portion of the night’s proceeds to Heal the Bay. 

And, thank you to Whole Foods-Venice and Golden Road Brewery, for sharing your proceeds from the Heal the Bay IPA after Nothin’ But Sand on June 15.

Reel in the love this weekend at Fisherman Appreciation Day on the Venice Pier.

Created to teach local anglers ways to ensure the fish they catch are safe to eat, Fisherman’s Appreciation Day will be held this year on June 15 from 7 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the Venice Pier.

Fishing experts will be on hand to share healthy tips on cooking and catching fish, plus there’ll be contests with prizes (such as family passes to Heal the Bay’s Santa Monica Pier Aquarium) and free food!

Among the experts will be members of Heal the Bay’s Angler Outreach Program (AOP team, pictured left), who’ve educated more than 100,000 anglers about the health risks of eating certain fish (e.g., white croaker). Our bilingual AOP team span eight different piers ­‑‑ Santa Monica, Venice, Hermosa, Redondo, Pier J, Rainbow Harbor, Belmont and Seal Beach‑‑ to spread their message.

Download a guide to eating fish caught in the bay and find more tips courtesy of the Fish Contamination Education Collaborative.

Are you an educator? Healthy, sustainable fish choices are also covered in the curricula for our K-5 marine education program, Key to the Sea.

No one knows good taste like Coastal Living magazine, and now you can have that penchant for a stylized, seaside life in your own backyard!

Through the generosity of our friends at Coastal Living, these gorgeous cabana packages are being auctioned to benefit Heal the Bay.  Each cabana package, valued at $7,500 includes:

• Lee Industries Nandina Double Chaise Lounge
• 2 Lee Industries custom Ottomans
• 2 Wisteria Tray Tables
• 1 Jaipur Maroc Collection 8×10 rug
• 2 coral scuptures with succulents
• 12 battery operated paper lanterns

Along with Coastal Living, the stunning cabanas are provided by Sunbrella, Lee Industries, Wisteria and Jaipur. Here’s to your most stylist summer yet!

Bid now!

On Saturday evening, I drove from Santa Monica to Santa Ana. If you know me at all, you know this in and of itself was a huge feat, as I hate to drive. But some things are worth driving for and PBS SoCal’s A Lifetime of Learning Gala was one of those things.

Last year, Heal the Bay was chosen as one of PBS SoCal’s Community Champions for our educational programs that encourage engagement in learning, and, amidst the chaos of April 2012’s Earth Month, PBS SoCal filmed this lovely PSA about Heal the Bay’s educational impact.

The official award presentation was on Saturday evening, and we were honored amidst so many other effective individuals and organizations. For me personally, having spent the past 7 ½ years managing Heal the Bay’s environmental education programs, it was very rewarding to have these programs acknowledged by such an amazing organization and leader in education itself – PBS SoCal.

Most people know Heal the Bay for our cleanups and tabling events, but we also educate thousands of students every year, introducing them to our rivers, creeks and ocean, helping them to look at our natural world through a scientific lens, and inspiring a conservation ethic. People often assume that we only educate people living coastally, but we strive to provide opportunities for every student whether they live right on the beach or many miles inland to learn about our coastal resources and the ways they can become active stewards of them.

There are few experiences more rewarding than taking a child to the beach for the first time, leading them down the sand (“Teacher! It moves – the ground moves!”), and having them look out, not at buildings and roads, but at the ocean horizon, stretching for miles. Our educational programs do this and other similarly inspiring moments all of the time, so to be acknowledged for it was hugely rewarding.

A heartfelt thank you to PBS SoCal for honoring Heal the Bay for our educational work! And for letting me fulfill a childhood fantasy of having my photo taken with Big Bird! It was definitely worth the drive.

— Tara Treiber

Education Director, Heal the Bay

Three elephant seal pups now reside in the Santa Monica Mountains, checking into a newly-constructed rehabilitation facility at the California Wildlife Center that was built in only three weeks.

According to the Malibu Times, the 100-lb. pups were transported in vans from the Marine Mammal Center in San Pedro to the new shelter in Malibu Canyon.

In an email to supporters, California Wildlife Center Executive Director Marcella Bell reported: “All three of these young and severely underweight animals have been receiving medical care and treatment from our friends at Marine Mammal Care Center/Ft. MacArthur.  Now that they have arrived at CWC, we will continue the work that Marine Mammal Care started and prepare these animals for release back to their ocean home!

“This extra space, and our enhanced ability to care for Northern Elephant Seals in need, will subsequently free up much needed animal care space in Southern California as every attempt is made to care for the hundreds of sick and dying California Sea Lions on our local beaches.”

Bell credited the “outpouring of support” the CWC received since the rescue group began working to accommodate the massive influx of sickly California sea lion pups, which have been stranding on local beaches in record numbers this year.

Heal the Bay staff would like to thank our supporters—including The Waitt Foundation and California Community Foundation – for rallying to care for these animals in need.

 View photos of the new enclosures on the California Wildlife Center’s Facebook page.

Pictured: “Waitt” (left), rescued at Point Dume Beach on April 18; “Code Blue” (middle) rescued at Cabrillo Beach on April 25; and “Roy” (right) rescued at Will Rogers Beach on April 20.