NPGP Compendium Infographic Anyone?

Good Magazine is a great place to while away your online time (even if you are addicted to FB) - lots of smart stuff for thinking people can be found there. Clicking on over there today, I can see that they added an intriguing "infographic" that hits the updated "high" points of the North Pacific Garbage Patch. Every scintillating talking point concerning the NPGP all in one place - including a nice alphabetical list of those nasty Persistent Organic Pollutants! Good mag is da bomb!

So, again Compendium Infographic anyone?

Cigarette Butts: Fish Buzz-Kill

Well, the facts are now out: second-hand butts can kill. This revelation made the rounds in the news about a week ago, but is certainly worth mentioning on our blog.

Guess what, fish dont even have to smoke to join in on the buzz-kill (emphasis on the "kill") phenomenon that is sweeping our oceans. Aside from cigarette butts being the NUMBER ONE most-littered item today, they are also composed of plastic (yep, taking forever to decompose in the environment), and they resemble yummy fish-food morsels (yep, they get stuck in sea animals' bowels, eventually killing them) - well now the experts are telling us that they also leach toxic chemicals, which can harm fish, into the ocean environment...one expert has shown that "Even one butt in a liter of water can kill the fish in a period of 96 hours.". That is pretty crazy.

You can read (and listen to) the article here. You can also Google a gaggle of related articles as well.

...and while you're out there Googling, go to YouTube and search for "Hold Onto Your Butt" to see some vids of our local anti-butt-litter campaign, which attempts to address this very issue.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em...(fish, that is)

The Joke's On Us... :(

...But it lacks the "haha" part of a joke that we all expect...

Part and parcel of all of the other bad things about bottled water is the ugly privatization issue that's also built in. Our local San Diego Food & Water Watch rep, Corie Lopez, describes some of the hidden costs of our nation's addiction to bottled water in a recently published article. (F&WW has built the "Take Back The Tap" program to address these issues.)

The article is in the form of a "PDF" file (requires a PDF-reader program) and you can find it here.

Thank you Corie!

Plastic Wave By Kathleen Egan

Thanks to Jim for making us aware of this awesome video!



The Plastic Wave from Mark Lukach on Vimeo.

Boss Bag Vid

Our friends in San Fran ( www.savesfbay.org ) have developed a neat-o anti-bag video that you just HAVE TO SEE...

Edmonds, WA the next Bag Ban Leader

Check this news clip out. Edmonds, WA city leaders voted unanimously to direct staff to draft a ban on plastic bags within city limits. Who seems to be the only opposition? The ever-present American Chemistry Council. Even store owners support the ban. It makes economic and environmental sense... way to go Edmonds.

Here's the cool thing - the city leaders voted on this after a 20 minute presentation from Algalita Marine Research Foundation's Anna Cummins and Dr. Marcus Eriksen who have just begun their JUNKRIDE. Giving away 100 samples of the plastics riddled N Pacific Gyre to educators and organizations, they are cycling from Vancouver to Tijuana giving talks to raise awareness about the problem of plastic pollution.



And clearly, it's working... Ride on Anna and Marcus!

RAP Style Line - Tattoo U!

We thank Vickie McMurchie (left) for being the first progressive soul to sport a custom RAP tattoo... The tattoo was created by Surfrider CEO/Closet Artist Jim Moriarty. His bio says he's an "innovator" and well, ya gotta admit - it's a good look!

Vickie is the Community & Events Manager at Surfrider Global Headquarters in San Clemente, and I bet this accessory has only added to her innate ability to engage and entertain anyone within a 30 meter radius. She's got that gift - and now wears her RAP colors on her sleeve...literally.

Next on the catwalk (right) we have Stéphane Latxague, the "Directeur"/CEO of Surfrider Foundation Europe, sporting the Franco-Euro version of the now-popular RAP skull & cross botts - note the 'au courant' chapeau touch! This design also floated out of the active mind of Mr. Moriarty. Fantastique!

Get yours today (or use a Sharpie like JM) and Rise Above! [...and however you'd say that in Francais...!]

So Dang Clever...but missing the point.

Put your finger in the dike and the water/brain-belches squirts out somewhere else. File this one in the "Half-as-clever-as-they-see-themselves" circular bin... So we've established that plastics are bad - bad for you and bad for the environment, so the near-clever product specialists at bottled water companies are finding new and comical ways to sell you something (water) that you can get otherwise for free...

Aquafina has plans to produce bottles with 50% less plastic - will that make them 50% less visible as they sit in my local gutters or float around in the North Pacific Garbage Patch? Another company is so semi-clever that they have outsmarted us all by selling water in cartons! Dang, finally someone has created the ultimate product...which I believe is conventionally un-recyclable...and features one of my plastic pet peeves, an instant-trash plastic cap where a foldable top will work juuuust fine. Back to the drawing board, Einsteins!

Read about this amazing progress here!

Bottled-Water Zombies - OUT'D!

BOTTLE SHOCK: Just finished my garbanzo (excellent word - I wish ma woulda named me that) bean soup lunch, so it's time to POST! This article is a couple of weeks old, but anything from GOOD mag is, well, good if not just plain extra-special - and it can serve as kind of a FAQ for those of us that are trying to understand the appeal of the gotta-have-a-single-use-plastic-bottle-on-me-at-all-times trend/phenom/addiction/attack-on-the-environment. See item #4 for an idea for a business contraption that might land you some stimulus bux...then see item #10 for the reason that you are too smart to fall into lockstep with the SUP bottle brigade.

The answers are all here - it's "Bottle Shock", so CHECK IT OUT!

YUKK: Another oddball thing I found out on the internet(s) is a new bottled water called YUKK. Cant wait to choke me down some of that tasty stuff - mmmm, good! Now maybe I'm misunderstanding this or maybe it's some sort of sick (not the good kind of 'sick') Aussie April Fools prank - and I'm still trying to reconcile the limited product line of organic coffee and bottled water, but Mom always did say that I've had "too much to think", so I'll leave it to you to figure out...

So, have at it and do your YUKK-y figuring here.

Have a great weekend!

Nerd Alert! (Water & Wastewater News Article)

So it's Sunday and what does a good shut-in do? Read Water & Wastewater News! ...and look what pops up: an article about the Ocean Conservancy's annual Marine Debris Index - hooray!

For us insiders, the news ain't that revelatory, but repeatedly pounding home the fact that the oceans are being pumped full of our plastic detritus helps drive the RAP message out to the hoi polloi - now, to the point that the pen-protector set at W&WN are taking notice AND feeding it out to their readers, by making note of the OC's findings. The nerdosphere in action!

This year's report is titled "A Rising Tide of Ocean Debris and What We Can Do About It", so doesnt just report stats, but suggests changes that we can make to stop the problem - one of the original tenets of RAP. ...Speaking of the stats tho: Cigarette butts continue to be the top performer (see Surfrider's Hold On To Your Butt campaign), with the old stand-by plastic bag holding fast in second place.

Check out the short article at Water & Wastewater News.

Download the full report from the Ocean Conservancy.