January 25, 2011 – Team Marine

January 25, 2011February 12, 2012

>Goodbye Plastic Bag

>Message from a plastic bag:

“I’d like to thank Santa Monica for having me in the past decades. Although we had our differences, we seemed to work well together. I’m sad to say that it looks like we will be separated by law today, due to the fact that SM will get a restraining order against me. I will find ways to continue to enter the beautiful City of Santa Monica and its waters, through cities that have not yet gotten rid of me. Here’s some pictures of us through the years”

January 25, 2011February 12, 2012

>Santa Monica looks to Ban the Bag

Plastic Pollution in Santa Monica will take a major hit on January 25nd, 2011 if a city-wide ordinance banning single-use plastic bags passes. Team Marine has been waiting for a ban on the single-use plastic bag for many years, but one has always been put down or postponed by the Council members of the City of Santa Monica. There is positive speculation that Santa Monica’s Single-Use Carryout Bag Ordinance will pass through the Council and be enacted. With this ban, all businesses in Santa Monica will be prohibited from providing single-use plastic bags, and will have to put a fee on single-use paper bags. The goal is to encourage the residents and visitors of Santa Monica to convert to sustainable, reusable bags.

Join Team Marine and many other Eco-Beasts from all over Southern California at 5:30pm at:

CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS – 1685 MAIN STREET

Office of Sustainability and Environment:

Single-use plastic bags contribute to:

increased litter (including storm drain, marine and beach pollution), that persists in the environment for decades
green house gas emissions
Santa Monica’s residents and other taxpayers pay the clean-up costs and landfill fees

January 25, 2011February 12, 2012

>Team Marine x UCLA

Team Marine members, as well as Marine Biology students, and senior UCLA students met on Friday January 21st to collaborate on two different research projects. The UCLA students are led by Dr. Rebecca Shipe of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. The first group, named Group Microbes, will be studying the relationship between harmful algal blooms (HABs) and Enterococcus in the Santa Monica Bay. The second group, dubbed Group Runoff, will study the output of marine debris from the Ballona Creek into the Santa Monica Bay. We are very excited to begin working with these passionate students, and would like to thank Dr. Shipe for giving us this great opportunity.