Heal the Bay Blog

We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.—Nelson Mandela

Our monthly Nothin’ But Sand beach cleanup was made even more significant last week, as it was held in honor of anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela as part of an international volunteer effort to encourage people to donate 67 minutes of their time to their favorite causes.

Rico Cabrera, Jr, founder of the locally-based Rico Gets Better Foundation partnered with us to bring 460 volunteers to Will Rogers Beach. Saturday’s effort removed more than 100 pounds of debris from the shore. Thank you to Rico, his crew and our own dedicated beach cleaners!

To spur the spirit of grassroots organizing, we would also like to thank advocacy group Keep Hermosa hermosa for encouraging Hermosa Beach residents to attend a proposed oil drilling EIR scoping meeting at the Hermosa Beach Community Center held on July 24. An oil company, E&B Natural Resources, is proposing to drill four blocks inland from a beloved local beach. Residents will vote on the project in approximately a year. Until then, it’s important to continue to raise informed and well-researched questions about the environmental, economic and community health impacts of opening Hermosa Beach to drilling.

Cigarette butts were the hot agenda item at this week’s Corporate Healer Cleanup with DirecTV.  Forty volunteers collected enough cigarettes to measure 6 and a half feet. Thank for being such wonderful corporate citizens!

This week we also extend props to Mattel, Inc. for their commitment to supporting our Youth Education Day 2013, an event that will officially kick off Coastal Cleanup Day activities in September.

And once again, we thank the folks at Golden Road Brewing who guided us through their beer-making process as part of a Heal the Bay members event on July 13 (pictured above). What a relaxing way to spend a hot afternoon, learning about what goes into our favorite craft beer, the Heal the Bay IPA. (Still haven’t tried it? We hear it’s still available at Whole Foods and was even spotted at a Trader Joe’s!)

The big kahuna of cleanups is just around the corner…Coastal Cleanup Day on September 21! Get your friends and family on board!

Have you ever seen small holes on the beach and been perplexed by the mystery of what made them? They are from nocturnal bugs, called isopods, which burrow along our beaches to hide from the heat of the day and predators. They play an important role in beach ecology – breaking down decaying matter, like washed up kelp and seagrass. And, local seabirds, like sanderlings, rely on isopods for a crunchy snack while they walk along the shore.

You might be surprised to hear it, but Southern California’s isopod populations are in peril. Some beach experts fear that they are at risk of extinction, as indicated by a recent study conducted by ecologists, Jenny Dugan and David Hubbard. They examined historical changes in distribution and abundance of two intertidal isopod at SoCal beaches since 1905. The researchers found declining trends region-wide with local extinctions at about 60% of beach sites where they were reported over 100 years ago. Populations were stable at only a handful of beaches – not surprisingly, the more natural areas where beaches aren’t groomed or hardened with seawalls, like Point Dume in Malibu.

Although most people don’t have the same affection for isopods as they do dolphins and sea otters, these little critters are important indicators of change. Living in the upper zone of the beach, they are particularly vulnerable to human-induced environmental threats, like beach grooming and coastal development.

Beach, bluff, and dune protection won’t just help imperiled isopods on our beaches; these natural habitats are also important in buffering coastal communities against the threats associated with climate change.

According to a new study by scientists with the Natural Capital Project on July 14, 2013 natural coastal habitats such as dunes and reefs are vital to safeguarding millions of US residents who live in coastal communities, as well as billions of dollars in property from coastal storms and sea level rise. They found that these natural habitats provide both economic and environmental benefits to coastal communities poised to cope with climate change. Defaulting to seawalls and engineered structures is costly and may have unintended environmental and economic consequences in the long-term.

This research helps stress the importance of local climate change adaptation planning by local governments and the need to build resiliency by investing restoration and conservation of natural habitats, like beaches, dunes, and wetlands to protect coastal communities. Heal the Bay is working with partners in the Los Angeles area to help plan for climate change impacts and advance the adoption of adaptation strategies that protect public safety and the environment.

Check out this interactive map to see sea level rise and storm surge exposure projections for the U.S. over the next century — you can even zoom in to see the risks to your community or favorite spot.

Discover how Heal the Bay is working to address climate change.

If the realization that lawns are inefficient isn’t enough for you to move forward on replacing yours, now there’s even more incentive: cash!

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is currently offering an incentive from $1.50-$2 per square foot for residential customers who install “California friendly” plants and other water-conservation features. Commercial customers may receive $1 per square foot.

Grass is water-thirsty and high-maintenance, which is why LADWP is encouraging residents and businesses to remove their lawns. Forty percent of water use in L.A. occurs outdoors.

And, as we prepare for the dry season, James McDaniel, senior assistant general manager of LADWP’s water system, points out:  “We need to find ways to save precious potable water for indoor uses.”

There are some innovative and appealing ways to enhance a landscape with non-vegetative groundcover or paving materials like decomposed granite, pea gravel, rocks, pebbles, mulch and wood chips. A list of landscaping options is available at bewaterwise.org. 

All customers must pre-apply for a rebate and receive LADWP approval before starting the turf replacement. LADWP will also inspect the lawn before and after the project. To get started, visit LADWP.com/CF. 

Read more about low impact development.

Of all of the things I thought I would do in this job, going to South Korea never crossed my mind. But three shots in the arm, several orientation meetings, and a pretty solid syllabus down, I’m one week out from joining with 150 students from the Pacific American Volunteer Association (PAVA) on a 12-day environmental expedition to learn about how different cultures live around  water.

Around the world and throughout history, cities have had to figure how to live with water and the ecosystems around them. New settlements build irrigation systems to support agriculture, cities engineer flood control systems to manage storm water, and communities celebrate the vitality of water through volunteerism or ritual. Los Angeles has its own very interesting tale to tell with local water, and my work here has been about trying to tell that story to students and our community partners.

One community partner that has responded to our water story in a big way is PAVA, whose students have joined me to explore the Los Angeles River for the past couple of years. Building on that experience, and always in search of a way to connect with their Korean heritage, PAVA came to us this past spring to present the idea of an expedition abroad.

South Korea too has had its share of water problems, from disappearing freshwater sources, to development encroaching upon natural space, to flooding problems in rural and urban areas. But beginning in the late 90’s and continuing today, their government has decided to turn the issue around, investing billions of dollars into revitalization and restoration, and bringing community back to these spaces. And so it is that Korea, among a few other nations, are leaders in this area, reimagining and reinvesting the role that water has in the country in a big way.

And now PAVA will venture to South Korea this summer to continue their watershed journey, undertaking an expedition in search of bringing those hard fought lessons in environmental restoration and revitalization from their mother country back to Los Angeles. As cultural ambassadors, these students will ask questions on their journey about the process and success of the South Korean effort, returning to Los Angeles with answers that might better inform their work and ours. What lessons do we have to learn from our distant neighbors? Check back in when I return to find out!

— Edward Murphy
Heal the Bay’s Watershed Education Manager

Whether your students are kindergartners or prepping for college, Heal the Bay offers education programs tailored just for them.

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.