>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

>Team Marine x UCLA

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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.

>Sea Pulse Films

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Team Marine This Weekend at the Lodge
with Sea Pulse!
 
 



Sea Pulse

Saturday January 22nd, 1:30-4:30

Discover  the beauty and the threats to the world ocean!
Presented by filmmaker Bill  MacDonald.
Join us for an afternoon of film, discussion, and a live performance by Dance4Oceans, concerning the health of our local wetlands and oceans everywhere.
 

$5-$10 Suggested donation
 

Electric Lodge
1416 Electric Avenue, Venice, CA 90291 (310) 306-1854
livearts@electriclodge.org

 

>Team Marine at the Electric Lodge

>

Come watch Team Marine’s 10 R’s video, as well as other environmentally friendly videos, at the Electric Lodge on January 22nd, 2011! Bill Macdonald’s Sea Pulse Films will be hosting the event from 1:30pm to 4:30pm. Other videos to be shown include The World Ocean “Trashed”The Majestic Plastic Bag, Whales Die, Zombies Dance (in protest).

Electric Lodge
1416 Electric Avenue
CA 90291-3734
(310) 306-1854

>HTBSC Water Quality Report

>

Zach Gold with sample tray and Safe to Surf? board

On December 23, 2010, Heal the Bay Surfrider Club’s Teach and Test Program conducted water quality tests in Santa Monica, after a long episode of rain. Their results were horrifying. Extremely high levels of fecal bacteria were visible in all samples. Zach Gold, Co-president of the club, recommended that all stay out of the water for the time being. Sites that were tested included the Pico-Kenter Drain, the Santa Monica Pier, and Lifeguard Station 26. Visit local surf shops in Santa Monica to check current bacteria levels.

Sample testing trays; glowing cells show high levels of fecal bacteria

>More Recycling. More LifeStraws.

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On December 17th, 2010 Team Marine and Heal the Bay/Surfrider Club worked through heavy rain to count and sort recyclable containers. These recyclables will be saved to trade in for LifeStraws to send to people around the world without clean water sources. The LifeStraw is a portable water filtration system that prevents common diarrhoeal diseases from causing sickness. We recycled 5400 containers, which will provide 48 LifeStraws, and potentially save 48 lives. A huge thanks to all those who volunteered to sort with us in the pouring rain!

110 recyclables = 1 LifeStraw

We recycled 5400 containers, which will provide 48-49 LifeStraws, and potentially save 48-49 lives. A huge thanks to all those who volunteered to sort with us in the pouring rain!

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