Don't be a sucker.

Strawwars.org from Myoo on Vimeo.

Visiting London, England? Check out this list of London bars and restaurants participating in the Straw Wars campaign. The idea is simple – either get rid of straws completely or provide a straw only when requested by a customer. If they want one, all they have to do is ask. It’s that easy. Now is your opportunity to be part of the solution. We are extending this invitation to all bars and restaurants. Join us in the movement to eradicate plastic drinking straws.

Thanks to Surfrider San Francisco Chapter member Rachel Kippen for tweeting the UK Guardian article that taught me about Straw Wars!

@RachelKippenRachel Kippen

Hopefully SF will follow suit and eliminate plastic strawsguardian.co.uk/environment/20…

2 hours ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply

Our Plastic Lives. Not Just Ours.

note from the videographer: Thankfully, this guy was able to free himself after he disappeared. I found the bag, floating in the water, 15 minutes later. This could have ended very differently. 


@jimmoriarty What was the first plastic item you touched this year? disq.us/4u17nx @surfrider

Ten-year old boy asks: Do you need that straw?

I just learned that plastic bag manufacturers use animal fat to make the bags slippery. As a vegan, that is another good reason for me to skip plastic bags. But what about another ubiquitous plastic good - drinking straws.

According to the Ban The Bag! blog plastic drinking straws have been around since the 1960’s. Americans use 500+ million plastic straws each day. McDonald’s alone uses 60+ million plastic straws worldwide each day. Plastic straws are one of the top ten items collected by volunteers at the annual International Coastal Cleanup.

Several years ago I started asking restaurant servers to bring out my ordered drinks without plastic straws. A friend who bartends recently went an entire Friday night without distributing a single straw. My friend decided not to serve a drink with a straw in it unless the customer had specifically requested a straw - and no one asked for a straw! In fact, one woman specifically said that she did not want a straw when she ordered her drink.

Ten-year old Vermonter Milo Cress is having an even bigger impact on the issue. Milo started the campaign Each One Reach One to encourage people to order their drinks without straws, and to help people convince their local restaurants to serve straws only upon request from the customer. In response to a letter from Milo in May 2011 Vermont Mayor Bob Kiss issued an official proclamation declaring Offer-First as a Best Practice in Burlington, Vermont. In effect the proclamation asks restaurants city-wide adopt the practice of offering straws to customers rather than putting one in every drink.

For more check out this short TV news story featuring Milo, his September 2011 CNN video interview, or explore Milo's website Be Straw Free. You can also help promote the campaign by using reusable glass and stainless steel plastic straw alternatives while out enjoying beverages with friends!

New: Surfrider San Diego's Personal Ashtrays

The Surfrider Foundation San Diego Chapter & Hold On To Your Butt (HOTYB) Committee is excited to introduce ... Surfrider pocket ashtrays! The ashtrays are made out of tin - Rise Above Plastics!

It's important to responsibly dispose of your butts because the filters are made out of plastic. As a result, the cigarette butts are not biodegradable. They also contain chemicals, which are released into the environment when dropped down a storm drain or flicked onto the sidewalk.

Look for these personal ashtrays at San Diego Chapter events or contact the San Diego Chapter at HOTYB(@)surfridersd.org to order ashtrays! You can place a personal order for just one ashtray, or if you are a Surfrider Foundation Chapter then you can order in bulk for your chapter's use.

Not a smoker myself but love the concept and the design!

Jordan Howard inspires me.

Thanks to Surfrider CEO Jim Moriarty for posting this on his blog, Oceans, Waves and Beaches. I stole it from there:)

"Let's Hear it for ..." Los Angeles

Congratulations to the City of Los Angeles, which approved bag legislation today:

From the New York Times: Los Angeles County supervisors approved a measure on Tuesday that bars stores in the unincorporated parts of the county from handing out single-use plastic bags. An estimated 1.1. million people live in those areas. The ordinance, which does not include Los Angeles and other cities in the county, also requires stores to charge 10 cents for each paper bag given to customers. It goes into effect next year.



This video will launch tomorrow - perfect!



The video was created by Oakland, CA based Green Sangha.

Credits:
Ben Zolno - Writer/Lyricist/Director/Bag Boy/Editor
Glenn Sauber - Shopper
AshEl Eldridge - Rapper
Jenni Perez - Singer
Bex Kanengiser - Cashier
Many Green Sangha volunteers - Shoppers

Amy English - Production Coordinator, AD
David Nakabayashi - DP
Harrison Pierce - Consultant, Animatic, AC
Bo Cox - Camera Op
Working Music Track - Colin Menzies
Final Music Track and Mastering - Amurai http://www.amurai-music.com/

Sponsored by:
Good Earth Organic
To-Go Ware
Chico Bag
People Towels

The above video is a parody of Jay-Z & Alicia Keys' "Empire State of Mind":

"Plastics Are Forever" Youth Summit. Long Beach, CA. March 11 - 13, 2011 :: Apps Due Nov 30.

The Plastics Are Forever summit, held by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation and sponsored by Disney and Boeing, will bring 100 High School students and their teacher together for a 2 day leadership/training summit, pairing students up with scientists, filmmakers, and media experts to develop action oriented solutions to reduce the problem of plastic waste flowing into our oceans.

In order to come to the summit, students must:
1.) Learn about plastics by watching the educational videos on Plastics Are Forever website, featuring MTV's Buried Life crew, and students from the Environmental Charter School giving the Rise Above Plastics presentation.

Here's MTV's Buried Life crew, doing a promo for the Summit:



2.) Submit an idea for an action oriented solution on the Plastics Are Forever website. Projects must be submitted by November 30th.

The top 20 teams will be chosen to attend the summit. At the summit students will further refine and improve their projects, get trained in public speaking/presentation skills, and develop PSAs with expert filmmakers and actors. While transportation to Long Beach, CA isn't covered, the organizers are providing the top 20 teams with accommodations, food, and local transport.

Teams who are not selected to attend the summit will be able to participate via web chat/teleconferencing. Fabulous! :)

Jack Johnson sings about Plastics

World Water Day 2010 was March 22 but it's not too late to take the pledge that Jack sang about.

Just go to the left hand side of this page and click on "Sign the Declaration" in order to take the pledge.

TEDxGreatPacificGarbagePatch :: Sat Nov 6

photo: Alec Loorz

The event will take place in Santa Monica, CA at the Annenberg Community Beach House, but will be streamed online.

Dr. Sylvia Earle, Captain Charles Moore, David de Rothschild, Jackson Browne, Alec Loorz, Fran Drescher and Ed Begley Jr. are just some of the presenters scheduled to speak at the forum. As additional presenters are finalized, they will be added to the event website.

You can also get the updates via Facebook.

Hosted by the Plastic Pollution Coalition.

Take a Look. How much Plastic is inside YOUR kitchen trash can?

80% of the plastic in the ocean comes from LAND BASED sources - your kitchen trash can, etc.

To put this video into context, check out this prior post.

Chris Jordan - update from the Midway Atoll

Brace yourself for this short video of the horrifying contents of the stomach of a dead baby albatross on Midway Atoll. The island will soon be covered with tens of thousands of carcasses like this, as the plastic-filled birds die from starvation, dehydration, and choking.



Video by: Jan Vozenilek

Imagine living your life trapped inside of a plastic container, floating in the Atlantic Ocean

This was filmed in the ATLANTIC Ocean. (The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is in the ... well, Pacific Ocean:) Plastic garbage patches exist in every ocean in the world. We just haven't collected as much data about the other oceans' garbage patches, yet. Explorations like this one are doing just that.

Think we can escape this by recycling our plastic? Not really.

Forever. Diamonds & Plastics.

If you're still with me, then check out this news story about the latest whale rescue.

Guardians of the Pacific - have you seen their stickers yet?

From today's Surfrider Foundation e-newsletter SOUP:

Devastated by the amount of plastics in our oceans, a bunch of Australian surfers have started a sticker campaign that aims to eliminate the use of single use plastics. The group, who calls themselves the Guardians of the Pacific, have targeted billboards, grocery stores, and vending machines encouraging shoppers to choose an ocean-friendly beverage. Visit their site to check out their guerrilla activity, or to download some stickers/glue-ons of your own!

Chris & Keith Malloy on Surfing & Plastic

Take the pledge here.

6 High Schools Compete for Obama Graduation Speech :: Voting ends Wednesday!

photo: Jordan Howard, ECHS student and Green Ambassador.

The Environmental Charter High School - a school that has started the Surfrider Foundation's Rise Above Plastic Program - has been selected by the White House to compete with 5 other schools in Commencement Challenge to have President Obama give their graduation speech this year.

The school was selected to compete in Commencement Challenge based on this video submission:



The Environmental Charter High School with the support of Surfrider Foundation’s West LA/Malibu Chapter has delivered the Rise Above Plastics message to more than 8,000 people in Los Angeles as well as trained another group of youth in Pasadena to do the same.

After being one of 6 schools selected, it is now up to the public to vote on the top 3 schools - from which Obama will select one. Voting starts today and ends this Wednesday, April 29 at 9pm PST. Please vote. The Environmental Charter HS is on page 4.

NOAA Marine Debris Art Contest for Youth :: Apps Due June 1

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Marine Debris Program would like to know how marine debris impacts you and what you are doing about it.

The winning artwork will be showcased in a 2011 planner that will help in raising awareness about the global problem of marine debris. Additionally, the winners will be featured on the Program’s website and in their newsletter, reaching over 200,000 people each month!

All students in grades K-4 and 5-8 from all U.S. states and territories–recognized public, private, and home schools are eligible to participate. Rest of details and application info here.

A little Grease on the Beach

I was in the Suffern Junior High performance of "Grease" when I was in 7th grade ... this commercial currently airing on San Diego TV stations reminds me of it:)



While we're on this subject, thirsty people have replaced smokers as the top litterers on New Jersey’s beaches, according to a report released on April 15th by a coalition of environmental organizations.

Plastic bottle caps and lids accounted for 11% of the trash volunteers collected along the Jersey shoreline during two beach sweeps last year, overtaking cigarette butts as the leading type of litter collected at previous cleanups.

Surfrider DC helps the City "Rise Above Plastics"

photo: 2010 Surfrider Foundation Wavemaker Awards - Jim Moriarty (Surfrider CEO), Julie Lawson (Surfrider DC), Belinda Smith (Surfrider San Diego), Galen Lawson (Surfrider DC)

My good friend Julie Lawson, the Chair (President) of the Washington, DC Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, has been deeply involved with the effort to reduce the number of paper and plastic bags used in the Washington, DC area and improve the health of DC's Anacostia River and the Chesapeake Bay watershed.


photo: The Lawsons created this logo for use by the coalition that helped pass the DC bag bill.

As a result of all Surfrider DC's work, Washington, DC businesses that sell food items must now charge consumers 5 cents for each plastic or paper bag that a consumer accepts at the check-out counter, thereby encouraging consumers to use re-usable bags.

Check out this great interview that Julie did recently:


Find more videos like this on Planet Forward

Plastics Kill 1.5M Marine Animals Each Year

According to Jornal A Tribuna, six years ago, a Minke whale was found dead in Normandy, France, with 800 pounds of plastic bags in its stomach.

Check out this new PSA, which illustrates the problem:



This Surfrider Foundation Rise Above Plastics PSA was created by Portland-based creative agency Borders Perrin Norrander.

Creative Director Jeremy Boland developed the video concept after watching trash flow down a street sewer grate near a local playground in Portland, OR one rainy day.

“Walking into work one morning I saw a bunch of plastic, man-made waste filtering through a street drain and thought about how most people never think about its final resting place, our oceans,” said Boland. “The Freudian thing about trash for most people is that if it’s out-of-site then it’s out-of-mind. The juxtaposition of our future leaders playing in the school’s playground and plethora of plastic waste spurred me to think about how I could raise awareness of its negative effects on marine life. I knew the spot should have a stylistic appeal and a humanism that is easily communicated to all demographics through animation.”

For more info check out Surfrider's Rise Above Plastics website.