Modeling: Slow n Steady

It would be interesting to plant one of those band-aid sized anxiety meter monitors on my temple next time I go to the grocery store. As the person ahead of me is processing his or her transaction, and my goods are on the checkout belt waiting to get scanned, I begin to note the faintest hint of agitation growing within me. I watch the preceding customer's interaction carefully, and usually there is some mishap- one of the few remaining newbies swipes his card backwards; the woman's savings card number doesn't work; but the sign said that the artichokes were on sale!...etc. Though infuriating to most, I exalt in the confusion because it gives me time to assess the clerk and to strategize my move. Speed is of the essence. I must thrust my canvas totebags on the counter at the exact right moment or my plans will be (momentarily) foiled. Oh dear! Suddenly they are finished and it's my turn but the person ahead hasn't moved forward and in a time factor that can be measured in tenths of seconds my broccolini is already being pitched into the open plastic bag. "No that's OK!" I cry out. "I've got some bags," holding them up with unappreciated triumph, and begin rebagging my food.

You see, I've moved temporarily to the mountain town of Truckee, CA, up in the mountains near Lake Tahoe - far from the coast, and far from my small local grocery store where I supposed they have become used to more of us bringing in our own tote bags. It seems the plastic bag bans and BYO awareness that we see popping up predominantly around coastal U.S. cities have not made their way inland yet. The comments I've gotten from the grocery store checkout clerks here regarding my totes include:
"Look out, we've got a rebel!"
"Oh my, are we saving the planet today?"
"Boy, you must need that 5 cent discount pretty bad."

Hence the little anxiety meter, it would just be a blip I know, but it would probably register as I brace for the comments and conceive my response. The corresponding responses so far, always with a bright smile:
"Hopefully not for long! "
"Yep! Just doing my part, love the planet what can I say!"
"Not really! :)"

Then, molasses me sets in, one of my favorite modes. I slowly walk away, and slowly make my way down the store, and slowly walk down the parking lot. I hope somebody notices. In this situation, all I can do is model, is hope the food-full canvas totes over the shoulders catches the attention of a passerby and inspires them to do the same next time. I don't want to be a rebel. I don't want to need to save the planet. And I certainly don't want to be desperate for 5 cents. But, at the risk of sounding like a Clockwork Orange nutjob, I do want to contribute to behavior modification. Tiny little steps. Metamorphosis.

Be An Arrogant Bastard NOT An Ignorant One.

Stone Brewing Co. has been a long-time supporter of the Surfrider San Diego Chapter through their annual anniversary celebration and other efforts. They are also stewards of the environment by conserving water where possible at their Escondido CA brewery/restaurant/company store. Stone features local, organic and vegetarian/vegan food options at their World Bistro and Gardens and they installed solar panels at their brewery to help harness some of the abundant renewable solar energy.

I was recently over at the WB&G for lunch and would recommend the tempeh shepards pie, it was quite tasty and filling. After lunch I swung through the Stone Company Store and was stoked to see them selling reusable Chico bags with a classic Arrogant Bastard twist. In addition to potentially saving hundreds of single-use bags it's a good conversation piece as I have had more comments on this bag than any of my other reusable ones. While I usually prefer an organic cotton bag, it's tough to beat the convenience of a Chico bag that folds into itself and comes with a mini carabiner.

Cheers to Stone and Happy New Year to you!

Mexico's Plastic Bag Reformation Proposal

It looks as if the Distrito Federal de Mexico or Mexico City is considering a plastic bag ban in the city's mercantile production establishments! The reformation proposal was recently unanimously passed by the Commissions of Science, Technology and Environment and Ecological Protection of the Assembly.If this is truly the case and Mexico is able to implement the proposal as law, this would be a huge step for the country as a whole.

As one who has traveled many, many times from Brownsville, Texas to the Pacific Coast of the Mexican Mainland by bus and by car, the amount of plastic bags that can be seen blowing through the streets, air and down the mountainsides that line the side of the route down to my favorite surf spots blows my mind! Many times the bags can be seen in huge refuse piles in the villages along the coast breaking up in the sun's ultraviolet light and blowing down into the rivers and ocean.

I hope that this reformation proposal does become law and is the first step in the cleansing of a truly beautiful country!

Click here to read the "Prensa Latina" article announcing the proposal!

Encinitas Chant & O'side 2-Step

This video was shot a the Day w/o A Bag day press conference - and features Encinitas Mayor Maggie Houlihan chanting "Encinitas does not want the waste of single-use plastic bags!!" at Mrs. Bag Monster (Mrs. Monster was in town for the day). The short vid features local Surfrider RAP activist Shelly Kwik (blonde in initial frames of video) as well as Keri Conte (red shirt w/black sleeves, in crowd pan shot), the San Diego Surfrider RAP Program Manager. Niiiiice!



ALSO in attendance at this event, to receive awards for their support of the Day w/o A Bag day AND the upcoming bag "ban" proposal (now under construction), were representatives of all of the major grocery chains operating in Encinitas: Albertsons, Vons, Seaside Market, Trader Joes, etc. Thanks to them for understanding and "Rising" to the RAP effort.

After the Encinitas event, Keri and I shot up to the Oceanside Blvd Ralphs in Oceanside to distribute Surfrider's heavy-duty re-usable canvas bags to shoppers there - bags that were purchased with a GENEROUS donation from UPS/Mailboxes, Etc via their 1% For The Planet participation. Then it was off to Oceanside's Sunset Market outdoor farmer's market to exercise our new partnership with the City of Oceanside - where we engaged each other in a friendly competition to see who's canvas bags were the most "au populaire"...the numbers are still being totaled - stay tuned . . . .

Bottom Line: Bravo to all of the volunteers AND all of the commercial sponsors that understand the problem of plastics in our environment and for their support of our efforts to try to reverse that problem!

RAP is Easy With Day Without A Bag

It's holiday time and shopping is upon us. Woohoo and boohoo all wrapped up in one colorful, non-disposable bag, right? right! It's Wednesday, December 18 friends, translation: DAY WITHOUT A BAG, or DWAB. As Keri tells us below, DWAB focuses on raising consumer awareness about shopping bag choices. If you bring your own reusable tote instead of use a disposable plastic bag, then you've given an extra present- to the environment, pretty cool. Here's how Chapters around the country are promoting DWAB:

- WestLA/Malibu - handing out free usable bags at the Country Mart in Malibu from 10am-1pm; 3:45pm student-led march to City Hall with Santa Monica High School to encourage the City Council to act on a bag ban ordinance drafted 10 months ago
- Rhode Island - observing the day from 12-8 at the Village at South County Commons in South Kingstown, partnering with Save the Bay's Coastkeeper Program
- Santa Cruz - tabling at various locations throughout town, giving out resusable totes at Safeway stores
- Santa Barbara - tabling and giving our free reusable bags at various locations, partnering with the Ocean Futures Society
- South Orange County - press conference at Ralph's in Talega; tabling and giving out free reusable throughout the County, partnering with Earth Resource Foundation and San Clemente Green
- Washington - efforts through Chapter website and email blasts
- San Diego - press conference, bag giveaways at Ralph's, and much more, see details below.

A big Thank You to all these great Chapter efforts- and to you- for every single use plastic bag NOT used is one that won't end up as litter on our streets, beaches and oceans.

Day Without a Bag - Oceanside

December 18th’s "Day Without A Bag" public awareness campaign was initially developed in December of 2007 in the Los Angeles area to urge shoppers to give a present to the environment, in the spirit of the holiday season, by foregoing disposable plastic and paper bags in favor of reusable totes. This successful campaign has sprouted into an annual event celebrated throughout the Southern California region.

To celebrate this year’s December 18th "Day without a Bag" event, the City of Oceanside Solid Waste and Recycling Division is facilitating several efforts throughout the City with the support of the Parks and Recreation Division; Surfrider Foundation; Main Street Oceanside Sunset Market; Ralphs; and Trader Joes.

The San Diego Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation and the City of Oceanside Solid Waste and Recycling Division have donated a large quantity of reusable bags to the Sunset Market to make it a "Bagless Market" on December 18th. Customers of the Sunset Market will be provided a ticket by participating vendors when an item is sold rather than a plastic bag for their item. That ticket may then be redeemed at the City of Oceanside Solid Waste and Recycling/Surfrider booth for a free reusable bag while supplies last.

Ralphs has donated bags to the campaign in support of a distribution/ information booth at 1702 Oceanside Blvd from 10am to 2pm. Surfrider volunteers and Solid Waste and Recycling staff will be handing out reusable bags to customers during that time period.

Trader Joes at 2570 Vista Way in Oceanside, is supporting a distribution/outreach booth in their breezeway from 10am to 2pm. City staff will be supporting the booth and providing reusable bags and informational items to customers of Trader Joes.

Don't Bring Home the Polystyrene Foam

At a beach cleanup recently, we spent about one third of our time picking up broken up bits of Styrofoam (expanded polystyrene foam)cups along the dunes. Those little pieces end up in the ocean and look like food to the critters, so we spend the time. As far as all of the various plastics go, Styrofoam is particularly heinous- food service Styro is totally unrecyclable, it's about as light as air so it blows around and breaks apart, it's made with Styrene and Benzene- a suspected carcinogen and known neurotoxin, it's about as single use as it gets. The argument: it insulates well. Agreed. But as with everything, it comes down to cost benefit, and I don't see, even for one slow second, how the benefit of bringing home one third of a leftover burrito in a Styrofoam clamshell container outweighs the long-term cost to marine life, the environment and public health. I took a picture of it to show at a city council meeting. In Monterey we are fighting for an ordinance requiring restaurants to use compostable or recyclable food containers.



I love this gift I received from a Surfrider WestLA/Malibu Chapter Activist, Laura Boccaletti, when I presented there a few months back. Well done! We use it to table at our beach cleanups now. If you do beach cleanups, this would be a great project to put a creative person in charge of, make one of these, bring it to cleanups, and talk about why...

Plastic Bag Ban Swirling in San Diego's Politics

News in San Diego is that a ban of plastic bags may be considered by the City Council. Although it still has a long road to go before becoming an actual ordinance, it has been creating heated debate of the issue of using one-time use products.

I have been interviewed by media and talking to several people about the issue and as the conversation develops I have found it very productive to hear the issue on all sides. I can sympathize with some of the reasons not to ban the bag. They are being re-used for purposes that people have to use bags for, such as garbage and pet waste collection. They are convenient. They can be recycled into other things. I understand why people like the bags. Unfortunately I don't agree with the reasoning. The harm these bags do does not justify the convenience.

What I use as the point to end the argument is that the disposable plastic bag is a symbol of the unsustainable and irresponsible lifestyle that we have become complacent living. That symbol should viewed as a catastrophe.. not a convenience.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20081203-1314-bag-ban.html

I hope one day people will understand that the choice to have a disposable lifestyle should not be taken. Paper or plastic?... Neither.

A Whole New Way of Thinking

Not exactly all-about-plastics, but closely related...and as with every manufactured "thing" these days...plastic is involved somewhere in the chain. The following is a trailer for Manufactured Landscapes, a film about the backside of our consumption - where does all that stuff go when we're "finished" with it? What struck me about this and what made me want to post it on the RAP blog is the very heart of the Rise Above Plastics message - the closing line of the trailer says, "It's not a simple 'right' or 'wrong' - it needs a whole new way of thinking."

Rise. Above. Conventional. "Wisdom".

'nuff said!

Helping Barney Take Care of His Pelagic Bretheren!

I find that a reason that many people use to keep plastic shopping bags around is that they are needed to dispose of their pet waste. When they leave the house or apartment they grab a couple of "old" plastic grocery bags and take Barney out to get some exercise and do his business. Well how exactly are Barney, his poo and you affecting our earth and oceans?

• Estimates vary, but between 500 BILLION and 1 TRILLION plastic bags are consumed annually worldwide.
• According to the Wall Street Journal, the United States consumes 100 billion plastic shopping bags which take an estimated 12 million barrels of oil to produce.
• Plastic bags contribute to the deaths of an estimated 100,000 plus sea turtles, seals, whales and dolphins every year and an estimated 1 million seabirds! Refer to the previous posting to see just how big of an impact this has made in Manhattan Beach, California
• Plastic bags are among the 12 most common things found in Marine Debris

So what if Barney doesn't want to do damage to our oceans every time nature calls? Don't worry there is hope for you and Barney! Yes, there is an alternative for using plastic bags to dispose of pet waste. There are now pet waste bags that are made out of water soluble PVA film. This allows you to take Barney for his walk, let him do his business, pick up after him and then flush the waste down YOUR toilet, NOT the local storm drain. The bag dissolves in the water in less than a minute and the fecal matter is sent to your local water treatment plant where it can be properly handled and treated!

A company that I have recently started buying these bags from is ECOmmitted and the bags are called "Flush Puppies"!