Today’s the day: Help Ban the Bag!

This afternoon is the Vote on California Plastic Ban AB 1998!

You can still help!!

Call Senator Steinberg (916) 651-4006 and (916) 651-1529 and thank him for being a leader that will support AB 1998!
Best chance is to call before noon

Ocean Night, this Thursday, Sept. 2

Come out to our monthly Ocean Night Film Screening at Arcata Theatre Lounge! This Thursday, Sept. 2, we feature September Sessions, A Sheltered Sea – The Journey of The Marine Life Protection Act and The Seagull’s Dream, an Arcata Elementary School documentary about the Pacific Garbage Patch.

Co-sponsored by Ocean Conservancy, Humboldt Baykeeper and the Northcoast Environmental Center.

Doors at 6:30 p.m., movies at 7 p.m. All ages! Free to members, otherwise donation of $3 requested.

More on the movies…

Call and Email NOW to Ban the Bag!

Check this new PSA from the South OC chapter in support of the BAN THE BAG campaign…

California stands ready this week to pass a law –AB 1998–that would ban the distribution of wasteful single-use plastic bags.

Click here to send a message in support of the ban to your State Senator.

Here in Humboldt we can still put pressure on our Senator Pat Wiggins-(445-6508) and the Pres Pro Tem Steinberg-(916-651-4006)

Then please call any/all on the below list and URGE them we want to ban single-use plastic bags. Share them with your friends and family!!

1. Gloria Romero (Azuza, Baldwin Park, Covina, Duarte, El Monte, Irwindale, La Puente, LA, Monterey Park, Rosemead, West Covina)
916-651-4024

2. Lois Wolk (Davis, Fairfield, Manteca, Stockton, Tracy, Vacaville, West Sacramento)
916-651-4005

Ocean news, 8-24-10

Oil Spill News

BP oil spill disaster could end up working in favor of coastal restoration

New Orleans Times-Picayune, August 22, 2010

Samantha Joye

Defender of the deep: The oil’s not gone

CNN, August 24

BP must pay to restore nation’s confidence in Louisiana’s seafood: An editorial

New Orleans Times-Picayune, August 23, 2010

The oil that lies beneath: An editorial

New Orleans Times-Picayune, August 23, 2010

For Gulf tourism, problem is perception, not oil

New Orleans Times-Picayune, August 23, 2010

First catch from the Gulf: Is the seafood safe?

USA Today, August 24

Other News

Oil from the Arctic: a price worth paying?

CityWire UK, August

Things are looking scup

NY Post, August 22

Google Earth Adds Ocean Exploration to Android App

TreeHugger.com, August 24

Surfers overlooked in Marine and Coastal Policy: Call for a Federal ‘Minister for Coasts’

Surfers, the largest user contact group of the marine environment in Australia, have been continuously disregarded by government policy makers. Considered to be at the frontline of the coasts, more so than recreational fishers and divers, the opinions of millions of surfers across thousands of beaches in Australia, were being undervalued – and in WA Marine Park policy in particular, concerns go largely ignored.

“It’s a great shame and a slight to the very culture which has come to symbolize so much of our national identity”, said one of Australia’s leading coastal advocates.

Brad Farmer, founder of the Surfrider Foundation, Ocean Care Day and National Surfing Reserves made the comments in Perth today.

“Just this week, we see the Mr Abbott weakening Marine Parks, while in WA, surfers are simply not consulted by DEC when it comes to coasts and marine issues.

The Majestic Plastic Bag

Thanks to Pete!

This week in ocean news

BP Oil Spill

Thad Allen preparing to leave oil spill response post

Mobile Press-Register, August 11

http://blog.al.com/live/2010/08/thad_allen_preparing_to_leave.html

Attention turns from BP well to coastal restoration

Houston Chronicle, August 12

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/deepwaterhorizon/7149792.html

BP cleanup efforts missed thousands of tar balls, USF researchers say

St Petersburg Times, August 7

http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/bp-cleanup-efforts-missed-thousands-of-tar-balls-usf-researchers-say/1113562

Gulf leaders wary over wavering on final plug

AP, August 12

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gIXWYBTpLtSayJtg41LKXpxSxVPAD9HHVFP80

Along a wary coast, wildlife remains the face of recovery

E&E News, August 11

http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/2010/08/11/5/

Transocean charts the depths, heights and ironies of drilling

E&E News, August 11

http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/2010/08/11/1/

The Gulf spill: America’s worst environmental disaster?

CNN, August 10

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/08/05/gulf.worst.disaster/index.html?iref=allsearch

In La., signs of regrowth seen in oiled marshes

Business Week, August 12

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9HHTKI80.htm

Other News

The line on linesiders

ESPN, August 11

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/saltwater/columns/story?columnist=brown_david&id=5455236

Fisherman versus Fisherman: Reopen or roll over snapper?

Destin Log, August 11

http://www.thedestinlog.com/news/fisherman-14873-versus-mugs.html

Massive ice island will probably break up, but it could still be a threat

Canadian Press, August 11

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gtJuH1RNxDa73VLQtV4chQLPr3Qw

AB 1998 update

This is from the Californians Against Waste site:

1. AB 1998 is currently pending on the Senate Appropriations ‘suspense file’. It’s expected to be released on August 13, and available for a floor vote as early as August 17.
2. If the bill gets the necessary 21 votes in the State Senate, it will return to the Assembly for a concurrence vote (41 votes). The Assembly must pass the bill before September.
3. If AB 1998 passes the Senate and Assembly, it goes to Governor Schwarzenegger. The Governor has until September 30 to sign or veto the bill,

If all goes as planned, AB 1998 will be voted out of Senate Appropriations and head to the Senate floor later this week. Be sure to send in a support letter to your senator.

Here is the history of the bill, hopefully we will see some information as it becomes available.

It’s never too early to start getting support! Don’t forget online petitions, too, to email out to family and friends in other parts of Cali….their votes may be even important than ours up here in Humboldt.

(Thanks to Bean, Humboldt Surfrider RAP coordinator, for the hard work and keeping up on all things plastic!)

A long paddle: Canoeist seeks to raise ocean awareness with 3,500-mile trek

Josh Jackson/The Times-Standard

Posted: 08/10/2010 01:15:31 AM PDT

Margo Pellegrino arrived in Eureka Monday afternoon after paddling from Crescent City in her 21-foot carbon-fiber outrigger canoe as a part of her 3,500-mile paddle from Seattle to San Diego.

Pellegrino is making the trip to raise awareness about the plight of the ocean.

”Number one on my hit list is fish farms,” Pellegrino said, “also the growing and scary plastic problem.”

Pellegrino mentioned spotting a large amount of plastic in the coastal waters, and more that had washed ashore along the entire coast.

Gratitude

Thanks to everyone who made our August Rise Above Plastics-themed Ocean Night a great success! What a fabulous evening. “Bag It” packed the theater and we got a lot of postcards signed in support of AB 1998. Pictures to be posted soon.

In the meantime, here are some pictures that make me feel so grateful about living on the North Coast!

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