Activist Spotlight: Tom Jones

Tom Jones, an extreme athlete, has been paddling down the California Coastline since August 4th. An Extreme Endurance athlete and Environmental Activist, Tom hopes that by doing this, he will generate world-wide attention to Plastics in our oceans. Upon completion of his journey on November 4th at Imperial Beach, Ca, Tom will have become the first person in history to paddle all 1250 miles of California Coastline, on nothing more than a 14-ft. paddle board!!

For more information about this Historic Paddle, visit the California Paddle 2007 website.

Info on LA Plastic Bag Ban

LA County to Ban Plastic Carry Out Bags
The County of Los Angeles is considering a ban on plastic carryout bags. Plastic bags were first introduced into Department stores in the late 1970’s and then into Supermarket chains in the early 1980’s. While this has proved very convenient for us, that convenience has come at a cost. Plastic bags pose a threat to the planet by using up our natural resources to produce them, they add much waste to our already crowded landfills, some say up to 5 percent of landfill space, and they are very harmful to our marine environment. Many places in California and around the globe are starting to take action to alleviate this plastic bag problem. Let’s join in the movement here in Southern California.

Sign the Plastic Carryout Bag Ban Petition: ( http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Ban-Plastic-Bags-4-LA-County ) urging the County of Los Angeles to adopt a ban as soon as possible. Also, please share this with your colleagues, friends, and family – the goal is 10,000 signatures! Other Cities in California have taken the lead in banning plastic shopping bags. San Francisco was the first city to ban plastic shopping bags, next to follow in their steps were Oakland and Ventura. Check out Steve Lopez’s column on the plastic bag issue in LA Times ( http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez12sep12,1,2059191.column?coll=la-headlines-california&ctrack=3&cset=true ). For more information on plastics visit our website and Heal the Bay to learn more about the issue of plastics in our ocean.

Plastics in the Most Remote Pacific is Killing Wildlife

National Public Radio's All Things Considered recently had a piece about how plastics pollution is affecting wildlife in the waters and on the Midway Atoll, a remote part of the Pacific Ocean. The effects that plastics is having on wildlife is devastating and the pollution problem and has gotten worse since the landmark journey of the Odyssey in a "Sea of Plastic" in 2005.

Paper: Convenience of Plastics May Not Equal Cost

People all over the world and particularly up and down our Pacific Coast are waking up to the reality of the impact that plastics have on our ocean, The HeraldNet, out of Everett, Washington recently published an editorial with the above title,

" Recycling and sustainable living efforts continue to bump up against our throw-away society, but sometimes it's hard to know if we are making a dent in the nation's garbage dumps.

Facts and figures, such as: In 2005, U.S. residents, businesses and institutions produced more than 245 million tons of solid waste, which is approximately 4.5 pounds of waste per person per day, don't really register in our consciousness. Not the way, say, the price of gasoline does.

And that's the garbage that makes it to landfills. Pollution, particularly plastics, has been threatening the health of our oceans and wildlife for decades. Only 3.5 percent of plastics are recycled in any way throughout the world. Plastic debris, which do not biodegrade, cause widespread mortality of marine wildlife, according to marine researchers."

Read the entire editorial here.