More Moore!

The more that I read, the more that I realize that recycling is not the answer but reduction in consumption is. What is already out there in our oceans can never be cleaned up and the only course of action is to stop using the single use plastic. Stop using throw away utensils, plates, shopping bags, water, soft-drink and sport-drink bottles.

To quote a friend of mine, "It is like bailing out a sinking ship with a teacup!".

Quite honestly, I still flub up here and there, but if you do not think that we as individuals need to change our consumption and disposal habits then please watch the following presentation from TED by Captain Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation.

Captain Charles Moore
February 2009

Watch The Story of Inky

RAP on TV

KOCT - the local Oceanside news station provided some excellent coverage of our Day Without a Bag event this past December. To check it out, click the link below and select the Day Without a Bag story.


http://www.koct.org/KOCT_vod_insideoceanside.html

Finally Coming Around...?

We hammer away on this plastics issue, hoping to sway common thought and here-to-fore accepted practices, and through our incremental outreach, we see that people are beginning to understand the problem... But it's always a nice surprise to see community writers come to our logical realizations on the issue and take the next step of relating it to their often-wider gallery of listeners/readers.

The on-line-only tome, San Diego Newsroom, advocates for our local pending bag ban issue, not only with bravura, but with it's sensible feet firmly placed in the most recent stimulus package - briefly showing the substantial costs of these bags on municipalities.

The article ( check it out here ) has already generated one comment, click over to it and make an appropriate comment yourself! Awright!

Precycling, You Doin' It?

This tidbit from the Cape Cod Times made me think about something I've been doing but didn't have a clever name for: Precycling! 

I hope you are recycling, but have you ever thought about precycling? Precycling is making buying decisions based in part on the amount of packing you will have to dispose of once you get the items home. Make sure plastic containers are recyclable and that there aren't layers and layers of plastic on items that will end up in the landfill. It's all about paying attention.

Some cool articles and tips on Precycling:

EDF Article: Precycling: Shopping for Future Generations
Everybody shops. But not everybody realizes how environmentally important it is to shop consciously...

Consumer Reports Blog: Buzzword: Precycle
What it means. Precycling represents the next generation in residential-waste management...

Indiana Recycling Coalition: Precycle

Precycling -- think of it as the choices you can easily make before you recycle or discard packaging or almost any household item. [This piece has some great helpful links]

New York State Department of Conservation: Let's Precycle
Hey, New York!...PREvent waste before you reCYCLE!

Are you precycling? What sort of things are you doing to reduce waste and Rise Above Plastics?

Graphic courtesy of Indiana Recycling Coalition

South Texas Chapter Scores Plastics Victory

The newest of the Surfrider Foundation's Texas Chapter Network, the South Texas Chapter, has scored a victory in the fight against the littering of our ocean with plastics, coastal armoring and enforcing the Texas Open Beaches Act.

Since the 2005 tropical season events of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf of Mexico, the La Quinta Hotel on South Padre Island, Texas has been doing everything it could think of to keep the Gulf back. The La Quinta was, depending on who you ask, knowingly or unknowingly built past the critical dune line and in an erosional hot spot. Even though the 2005 hurricanes made landfall far north of South Padre, the barrier island experienced strong storm surges which resulted in the acceleration of erosion of the beach in front of the La Quinta.


The owner's response was to illegally start stacking thousands of polypropylene sandbags in front if his retaining wall, cover them with sand, plant some vegetation and call it a sand dune. This was done without the required beach construction permits that the Texas General Land Office and Town's Beach and Dune Task Force required to do so. Not to mention that the placement of plastics onto the beach is considered an illegal landfill by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.


Complaints were made with initially very little response or action by the GLO or the Town. However after the surge by Hurricane Ike caused the dune to wash out and spill the whole, partial and sun-rotted plastic sandbags into the public beach easement and Gulf of Mexico complaints increased and the GLO and TCEQ took notice.







Below is the letter addressing South Padre Island's Coastal Resources Manager, who has helped us with this issue, from the Texas General Land Office notifying La Quinta of its violations of the Texas Open Beaches Act, Dune Protection Act and South Padre Island's Beach and Dune Protection Plan and warning the Town to enforce its approved beach and dune plan by having the La Quinta remove all of the polypropylene sandbags or risk losing Coastal Erosion Planning and Response Act Funding.

January 26,2009

Via Electronic Mail

The General Land Office (GLO) received several complaints concerning the placement of sand bags on and adjacent to the public beach at 7000 Padre Blvd seaward of the La Quinta Hotel in the Town of South Padre Island (Town). The location of the sand bags are less than 1,000 feet landward of the mean high tide line and seaward of the Town's dune protection line adopted by the Town of South Padre Island Dune Protection and Beach Access Plan October 5, 1994 (1994 Plan). The placement of the sand bags, within the beachfront construction/dune protection area requires a Beachfront Construction Certificate and Dune Protection Permit. The GLO has no record of reviewing an application for a Beachfront Construction Certificate and Dune Protection Permit for the placement of the sand bags. If the Town issued a building permit for the construction of the sand bags without GLO review of a Beachfront Construction Certificate and a Dune Protection Permit (if required), it has violated the terms of the 1994 Plan certified as consistent with state law at 3 1 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) 5 15.30.

The placement of the sand bags on the public beach easement and construction of a shore protection project without a certificate or permit are direct violations of the Open Beaches Act ,Dune Protection Act, Beach/Dune Rules and the 1994 Plan. The Town of South Padre Island must enforce the provisions within the 1994 Plan or the GLO may make a determination of non-compliance with the local plan. If the Town does not address the issue of non-compliance, the GLO may determine that the town is not adequately administering its local plan, which could jeopardize the Town's ability to receive state funds from the Coastal Erosion Planning and Response Act (CEPRA). Our CEPRA project manager is currently looking at options to assist in the placement of sand in this area. The placement of beach quality sand is an acceptable erosion response project. Other options include the placement of a natural dune or a Town sponsored shore protection project in accordance with the Beach/Dune and Coastal Coordination Council Rules.

Sincerely,


Eddie Fisher
Director, Coastal Stewardship
Coastal Resources Division

Fish (and Human) Belly Contents

" The old saying goes, "One man's trash is another man's treasure." But what if one man's trash becomes another man's dinner? "

ABC News' Good Morning America presented an informative segment about the root problem of plastic marine debris: we are changing the very composition of the ocean to the point where fish cannot avoid eating plastic particles. ...And ya know what that means...yep...we humans end up closing that circle, and bringing that plastic back "home" by eating those fish and absorbing the toxins which accrete to the plastics while they wait to be eaten by those fish. Whew - complicated! Not.

Watch their video "Watery Waste On the Dinner Table", complete with a nice synopsis of the North Pacific Gyre and footage of Charles Moore on his boat out in "the patch".

Bon appetite!

Never too Early...

At the Sanderling Waldorf School in Encinitas, the children learn from an early age the importance of protecting the environment. This inspiring North County community is doing what they can to Rise Above Plastics! Sanderling not only participates in California Costal Cleanup Day, but the school as a whole is a plastic free zone. All of the toys and supplies are made from natural materials and the food that is prepared at the school is organic and served in glass bowls. In addition, the children compost their food waste and use it in the school's vegetable garden. The teachers and parents of this community know that these important lessons that the children learn now will stay with them throughout their lives. Watch this video and find out more!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq30DZkjcY0

Photos from Padang, Sumatra

A friend forwarded me these photos from the public beach located in Padang, Sumatra.

There is a neighboring surf break that foreigners and locals alikerefer to as "Cholera Creek"...for obvious reasons. Due to the lack of refuse programs, the Public Beach in Padang,Sumatra is dramatically littered with items including plastics of all sorts, rubber, clothing and glass. Children use washed up pieces of wood for boogie-boards in the surf onthis shore.

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.