Who is Team Marine?

Team Marine is a group of Santa Monica High School students who participated in The QuikSCience Challenge 2008 and won the State Championships. We advocate for the protection of our oceans and the marine ecosystem by raising awareness through various community service projects.

What are we doing to stop global warming?

Team Marine worked on a project that revolves around how our community can rethink their plastic use, particularily their plastic bag use and to conserve more energy and to decrease greenhouse gases. Through our efforts, we advocated the ban of plastic bags in Santa Monica by encouraging the advertisement and use of reusable bags and got plastic bags banned. This was the most comprehensive bag ban in history, thereby prohibiting the use of both plastic bags and biodegradable bags and placing a tax on papaer bags.

Plastic Bag Drive-Collected 111 pounds of plastic bags within our Marine Biology classes.
Two Marches Against Plastic Bags-We gathered sometimes up to 40 students, faculty, and environmental organization members and marched through the streets of Santa Monica selling reusable bags and promoting sustainability and the banning of plastic bags. We even made home-made signs and carried the 111 pounds of plastic bags.
City Council Testimonies -Through out our journey, Team Marine collaborated with Heal the Bay, and SAGE, both organizations promoted at Santa Monica High School. If you search True Shields, you can see his student testimony, and once again realize why we were so successful in banning plastic bags. ...Check us out at http://santamonica.granicus.com/ViewSearchResults.php?view_id=2&keywords=true%20shields
Newspaper Attention
__Santa Monica Mirror__ -Time to Ban Bags! This was the Santa Monica Mirror article after we went to city hall to ban plastic bags. Team Marine got their influence from San Fransisco, seeing that they banned plastic bags, and it made such a huge improvement in their community. Santa Monica Ban Plastic Bags, and put a tax on paper bags.
__Santa Monica Mirror...AGAIN!__ -The Santa Monica Daily Press Covered us too. They wrote about our trip to city hall, and how city hall asked for more time to make a decision. Although Team Marine appeared at city hall once, we had to go back a second time, because the court board could not make an exact decision.
__Santa Monica Mirror...YET AGAIN!__ -This article from the Santa Monica Daily Press was released after Team Marine made their second appearance at the Santa Monica City Hall, and successfully banned plastic bags with the help of many Santa Monica activists, and friends.

 __Daily Press__- After much media attention to the issue of plastic bags, the Daily Press acknowledges Team Marine's involvment with the environment and the potential plastic bag ban in Santa Monica.

__Daily Press... AGAIN!__ - Once again, this is another article, celebrating the success of banning plastic bags. Team Marine was so proud of their success, and were so happy to have the honor of helping their city, and community out in the way they did. We saw this as such a great success, and it is an event we will never forget.
Media Attention
__Team Marine Video__ -Our Youtube production: Danny Going Green! Danny, initially a plastic bag lover, switches to reusable bags after seeing Team Marine's involvement and the plastics damage in the ocean. Perfect for kids to adults!
__Whole Generation Earth Podcast__ -The Whole Food Coorporation contacted our team, and they came to Mr. Kay’s classroom, and we were one of many guinie pigs for this project. The idea of the Whole Foods podcast was to educate the youth about what all is going on with Global Warming, and showing people that
if we can do it, you can too!�
__CBS News__ -The CBS 2 News featured Team Marine, and had a little chapter in their evening news, asking the public if it is Time To Ban Bags?�. By going to City Hall, and working so hard for the Ban of Plastic Bags, Team Marine gained much publicity, and this was one of our many news appearances.
__KNBC News__- Team Marine coach, Benjamin Kay, is interviewed about the detrimental effects of plastics on the ocean and how you can help!
Attended Conferences-Team Marine attended a variety of conferences to understand the different types of environmental issues and to learn about activists' success stories!
Participated in Beach Clean-Ups-Team Marine noticed the amount of plastic waste on the popular, yet polluted, tourist attraction: the Santa Monica beach. The statistics are true: nearly 90% of the trash was plastic!
Conducted a Transect Before and After a Storm-Before and after one of the biggest storms in 2008, Team Marine counted the plastic waste particles in a 500 squared meter area at the Pico Blvd. storm drain. The number of plastic particles after the storm more than doubled!
Investigated Local Grocery Stores About Their "Greeness"-Team Marine went to every single local grocery store in Santa Monica and asked about how eco-minded they were. We found only one grocery store that sold biodegradable bags: Co-Opportunity! Go Co-Opp!!!
Hosted Focus the Nation at Santa Monica High School-Focus the Nation is a environmental event which occurs every January 31st. This event is dedicated to teach the community about sustainablity. Team Marine hosted a "Lights Out, SAMO!", an assembly with Paul Scott from "Who Killed the Electric Car?", and had eight environmental organizations come promote their cause during lunch.
Organized a Water Pollution Prevention Workshop with Generation Earth-Team Marine hosted a worskshop teaching about the effects of storm drains, polluted precipitation, and the watershed within our community and school.
Environmental Presentations at Grant Elementary School, Santa Monica High School, Malibu High School, and the Santa Monica Aquarium- Team Marine educated their peers about the harmful effects of plastics, sustainability, and recycling. This included our Team Marine video, "Danny Going Green", a skit, a power point presentation, a sustainability quiz, and take-home activities such as games and recycled pencils.
__WON THE STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS OF THE 2008 QUIKSCIENCE CHALLENGE- Team Marine won 1st place in the presitigious marine stewardship competition thereby winning an all-expenses paid trip to Cozumel, Mexico.

Why are plastics bad for the environemnt?

The petroleum used to make fourteen plastic bags can drive a car for one mile, and by not using plastic bags, we can help stop the continuous emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

The manufacture of plastic bags puts off an enormous amount of carbon dioxide gases and clogs up our oceans in areas sometimes as big as the entire state of Texas!

Less than 5% of plastics are recycled.

Plastics make up 90% of marine debris.

Plastics kill more than 100,000 marine mammals annually.

Your 15 minute use for a plastic bag will last 1, 000 years in the ocean.

In some part of the ocean, there are 6 times more plastic as there are plankton.

The best recycling program only recycles 2/3 of plastic bags, therefore still leaving billions of plastic bags in the ocean.

Plastic grocery, dry cleaning, & newspaper bags - Bring them to your local grocer or pharmacy
Water and beverage containers- Toss them in your recycling bin
Milk Jugs- Rinse them out, flatten them and toss them in your recycling bin
Plastic food bottles- Recycle those labeled with a 1 or 2 recycling symbol
Household laundry & cleanser bottles- Clean out and place in the recycling bin-look for 1 or 2
Shopping bags-Recycle bags you get from the mall at your local grocery store or pharmacy
Plastic pallet or stretch wrap-Can be recycled into composite lumber decking
Rigid plastic containers-Recyclable in some programs-especially those marked 2,4 or 5
Electronics-Should not go in recycling bins, go to eRecycle.org to find the nearest e-Recycler
Many film plastics- Check your bin, those made from 4 can be recycled

How can you help?

GET INVOLVED!!!! You can volunteer at your local aquarium, set up a recycling system at your school, start your own community service project, or begin a club at school. Mission impossible?... not really. You can also help by following Team Marine's Little Things Commitment. Even by just changing little things in your daily life to increase sustainability like turning off your lights or taking shorter showers and telling others to recycle will lead to a better world and healthier environment. Or, visit our Student Eco-Links Page where you will find volunteer/job opportunities in your area! You can Contact Us at anytime with questions and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Reusable bags- Take REUSABLE bags with you when you go to the grocery store to REDUCE the amount of plastic bags used
Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL)- install CFL’s in you home to REDUCE your electricity costs
Recycle batteries- batteries contain acid and should be RECYCLED in designated recycle bins found in local grocery and lumber stores
Ride local bus for transportation- REDUCE your emissions by riding public transportation
Use bio bags- to REDUCE the amount of trash that otherwise would never biodegradable
Turn off power strip when not in use- To REDUCE electricity costs unplug and turn off your power strips
Turn off water- to REDUCE the amounts of water used turn it off while you are brushing your teeth
Buy an electric car- Electric cars REDUCE your emissions because they do not emit at all in the first place
Recycling container separate from trash can- this way you can RECYCLE and not just throw everything out
What is recyclable- aluminum and tin cans, plastic containers, magazines, newspapers, cardboard boxes such as the ones from your cereal boxes and anything with the recycle symbol

Sustainable development marries two important themes: environmental protection does not preclude economic development and economic development must be ecologically viable now and in the long run. Common use of the term "sustainability" began with the 1987 publication of the World Commission on Environment and Development report, "Our Common Future". Also known as the Brundtland Report, this document defines sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." This concept of sustainability encompasses ideas, aspirations and values that continue to inspire public and private organizations to become better stewards of the environment and that promote positive economic growth and social objectives. The principles of sustainability can stimulate technological innovation, advance competitiveness, and improve our quality of life.
-USEPA