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 here
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.