About

I have been cleaning North County San Diego beaches for many years. I take photographs of the trash I find and share the most interesting images on social media to raise awareness about marine debris and help others understand the seriousness of the plastic pollution problem.

My work, which primarily consists of a series of photographs and 3-D pieces created with marine debris, has been on exhibit at the Bay Model in Sausalito and at the Tides Thoreau Center in San Francisco. In addition, I have had installations on display at Carlsbad’s Dove Library and at The Hill Street Country Club Gallery in Oceanside, among others. Into the Current is a large-scale sculpture made with marine plastic.

As a teacher, I share my passion for the environment with students through hands-on marine debris classroom workshops that integrate making, photography, and writing.

I also enjoy hosting hands-on experiential booths at festivals around San Diego County and have participated in Oceanside’s Earth Festival, the Alley Art Festival in Vista, and I Love a Clean San Diego’s Zero Waste Fair held at the Farm Lab in Encinitas, among others.

I’m available for classroom presentations and assemblies that include hands-on art experiences. I also offer presentations for adult organizations. Past engagements include Oceanside LIFE (Learning is for Everyone), PEO International, MiraCosta College, University of San Diego, Rotary Club of La Mesa, the Unitarian Church in Encinitas, and the Policy Reseach Center for Tobacco and the Environment at SDSU, among others. If your school. group or organization is interested in a speaking engagement, I’d be happy to discuss possibilities.

For inquiries regarding festival participation, classroom presentations or speaking engagements, please contact me HERE.

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The links below will take you to a variety of articles/videos about my work and advocacy, including some featuring the Green Team student volunteers who helped with recycling and campus clean-ups at the school where I used to work.

• San Diego Union Tribune – Pairing her care for the planet with her love of creating art: Interview with Lia Strell
• The Vista Press – Alta Vista Botanical Garden’s 16th Earth Day Celebration A Success
• The Coast News – Oceanside’s single-use plastic, polystyrene ban in full effect
• Fox 5 KUSI News – Nurdles Appearing on San Diego County Beaches
• Spectrum News – Scientists create ‘living plastic’ with bacterial spores
• Senator Catherine Blakespear – Women Making Herstory
• The Coast News – Vista approves city’s first-ever environmental commission
• CBS8 News – Medical Waste Washes to Shore in Oceanside
• The Coast News – Carlsbad weighs options to move boulevard away from rising seas
• ABC 10News San Diego – Plan to Move Part of Carlsbad Boulevard
• The Daily Aztec – La Mesa Is Taking the Lead in the Fight Against Plastic Pollution
• Surfrider Foundation – Activist Spotlight
• CBS8 News – Celebrate Sustainable Living at Ecofest Encinitas
• North County Climate Change Alliance – Climate Connections: Plastic Pollution Impacts and Solutions
• CBS8 News – Encinitas becomes first city in San Diego County to ban ‘lighter than air’ balloons
• Encinitas Advocate – Encinitas to consider banning helium balloons
• The San Diego Union-Tribune – Carlsbad bans single-use plastic utensils
• Surfrider San Diego Blog Post – RAP Presents to Vista City Council
• Cambridge University Press – COVID Waste and Social Media as Methodology
• CNN Business – Used Masks and Gloves are Showing Up on Beaches and in Oceans
• Brill – The Effects of COVID-19 Litter on Animal Life
• Research Gate – COVID waste’ and social media as method: an archaeology of personal protective equipment and its contribution to policy
• The Nation – Byproducts of the Pandemic
• USC Annenberg Media – How “Ocean Friendly” initiatives in San Diego are combatting the rise of COVID-19 plastic pollution
• Beautiful-We
• There San Diego – Jimbo’s Del Mar Highlands Town Center Hosts Grand Opening Event And Opens Doors To New Store
• The Coast News – Oceanside comes down hard on plastic
• Surfrider San Diego – Volunteer Spotlight
• The Coast News – Plastic Straws Targeted by Carlsbad City Council
• The Coast News – Fight Against the Plastic Straw Goes to Oceanside
• The San Diego Union-Tribune – Citizen Effort to Clean Beach Kicks Off Investigation
• The San Diego Union-Tribune – Video featuring Janis Jones cleaning the beach 
• San Diego Reader – Article about my biofilter discovery 
• The Coast News – Article about my art work and the biofilters 
• The Coast News – Student presentation on marine debris for the Oceanside City Council
• The San Diego Union-Tribune – Del Rio Elementary School’s Zero Waste Program 
• Fox 5 News San Diego – Del Rio’s Green Team on Earth Day