ShoreSweep

I was part of virtual environmental literacy conversation this morning through the California Writing Project and left the meeting feeling inspired by colleagues from across the state who are engaging students in meaningful climate change discussions. As I was thinking through my next steps, I decided to revisit my old posts like Making to Make a Difference below. Pandemic restrictions have limited much of the hands-on plastic pollution education work I enjoy, but I am looking forward to new opportunities as in-person activities resume, and the following reminds me of why providing opportunities for young people to create and write is at the forefront of my work as an educator, artist, and activist.

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July 30, 2016

As I set out my containers filled with colorful beach plastic in preparation for the activity I had planned for the 3rd through 8th graders attending San Diego Area Writing Project’s Young Writers’ Camp in Cardiff, I stopped and noticed how beautiful it looked and reflected on the incongruity of the marine debris lined up in an elementary school corridor that would soon be filled with eager summer campers.

As the kids arrived, they noticed the colorful plastics and had questions before they even settled in. I introduced myself and shared what I do to make a difference as a teacher, avid beach cleaner, photographer, writer, and maker. I showed examples of my work and asked everyone to theorize about how some of the items could have ended up on the beach.

We discussed balloon bits, bucket handles, and bottle caps, and the wide-eyed campers expressed amazement while sharing their insights and observations. They were excited when they found something they recognized, and they even identified an object on my All Caps piece for me. “It’s a water gun plug!” one of the campers exclaimed, and I was grateful to finally know. (I find them often but couldn’t figure out what they were.)

After I showed them my Instagram account and my blog, I shared the work of my sister and her husband, Judith Selby Lang and Richard Lang who are renowned beach plastic artists—and my inspiration. I shared their plastic arrays arranged by hue and included an image from their  Plastic Forever blog to highlight the point that making art and writing go hand-in-hand.

From there, we segued into a deeper discussion about marine debris, and I played a video from Ocean Today’s Trash Talk series to enhance their understanding. Living in coastal San Diego, most were already aware of the problem of ocean pollution, and by a show of hands, a few had participated in beach clean-up events in the past. In addition, many have attended environmental assemblies at their schools where they may have seen the iconic image of a decomposing albatross with a stomach full of plastic or the picture of the turtle whose shell became deformed as it grew into the plastic six-pack ring wrapped around its middle.

Those images are shocking and cause one to think about the damage we are doing to the planet and its inhabitants, but research has shown that scare tactics aren’t the best way to inspire people to effect positive change. In an Environment360 interview about his book, What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming, psychologist Per Espen Stoknes explains: “What we know from psychological studies is that if you overuse fear-inducing imagery, what you get is fear and guilt in people, and this makes people more passive, which counteracts engagement.”

Knowing that scary images aren’t effective in motivating people, I want to engage students by sharing poignantly beautiful photographs and objects that draw them in and allow them to develop connections.

By providing opportunities for students to talk about, work with, and write about the plastic debris, their connections grow even deeper. As their interest and insight develops, I am confident that they will find their own ways to make a difference based on hope—not fear. (I discuss how I remain hopeful while cleaning the beach in my blog post entitled What Is Hope? )

My ultimate goal is it to have an even greater positive impact by empowering young people to use their creativity to inform and inspire others. I want them to know that their classroom teachers aren’t the only people who are educators. They too can teach through their words and actions and through what they create and share with a wider audience.

To lead campers into writing and making, I shared examples from Young Writers and Photography Camp that I co-taught earlier in the summer. (A 25-minute center activity that I did with campers during that program was the seed that grew into this more fully developed presentation.)

After we discussed the endless possibilities for writing, I demonstrated the hands-on work they would be doing. I dumped a tub of plastic out on the floor and explained the connection between writing and making by sharing that just as one might revise a piece of writing one can revise a piece of art that’s in process too. Objects in a collage and words/phrases/sentences on a page can be added, deleted, and moved around as the artist/author develops and works to improves the piece.

Finally, campers headed outside and began arranging the plastic into pleasing compositions that they captured with the devices/cameras they brought from home. It probably goes without saying that they had fun working in pairs to lay out their designs.

They also enjoyed discussing the pieces of plastic as they placed them on their work surfaces. I heard exclamations of excitement as familiar objects were recognized, and I overheard a pair seriously negotiating the placement of a bottle cap. Someone held up a black cone-shaped object and was surprised by my explanation that it was an eel trap.

As they made their arrangements, I couldn’t help but think about the significance of their interactions with the material. The eye-catching plastic, as beautiful as it is, represents humanity’s failure to protect our natural resources; it exists in contrast to the fresh-faced innocence of the children who were creating with it—the embodiment of hope for a future in which we can and must do better.

Their final products were beautiful, intriguing…and fun! One of the creators of the “pink beach boy” and I discussed the fact that the image was both cool and not cool at the same time.  We laughed as we came to that realization, which reminded me that humor is another positive way to engage an audience when tackling difficult topics.

After campers finished collaborating on their designs, they grabbed their notebooks and began to write. Some drafted poems, while others crafted letters and stories. A couple of campers asked if they could write comic strips, and I exclaimed, ” Yes! A comic strip about marine debris. What a great idea!”

One of the campers in the 5th/6th group drafted a story about the life of one water bottle that eventually ends up in the recycling bin after going on quite an adventure, and an older camper in the 7th/8th grade group began working on a powerful piece about the urban jungle.

Two girls in the 3rd/4th grade group who worked together to create their plastic collages wrote very different pieces. While one wrote a letter to the “government,”the other developed a poem:

Sea turtles and sharks
Dolphins and whales
Clams and mussels
Jellyfish and sea snails
Their lives are endangered by marine debris
and humans need to find a solution
So I am asking you please
When you go to the beach
Pick up some trash
So the creatures of the sea
Can live happy lives in peace

We had a few minutes for sharing in author’s chair before I left the campers with some final thoughts on making to make a difference. I explained that not everyone is as passionate about marine debris and cleaning beaches as I am. I challenged them to discover what that they care deeply about and encouraged them to find ways to inform and inspire others through their own making and writing.

Before I had to say good-bye, I asked the campers two final questions, and I pose the same two questions to you: What do you care about? What will you do (or make) to make a difference?

Into the Current highlights the plastic pollution problem by showcasing photographs, 3-D objects, and sculptures created with plastic debris found on North County San Diego beaches. The installation is on display at the Hill Street Country Club gallery at 530 South Coast Highway (Oceanside) in the Linksoul building through October 16, 2021. Schedule a viewing appointment, check the events calendar, and/or email Janis at janis@surfidersd.org for additional information about Into the Current.

Introduction

As I walk along the beach in North County San Diego, I collect plastic debris that has washed up with the waves, was swept out with the run-off, or was left behind by beach-goers. Many aspects of modern culture are represented in the detritus: single-use straws, utensils, water bottles, bottle caps, grocery bags, balloons, toys, food wrappers, and much more are curated by the tides.

Each time I clean the beach, I notice the contrast between the man-made refuse and the beauty of the shore, the crashing waves, and the ever-changing sky out toward the horizon. I enjoy the challenge of making something out-of-place look visually pleasing as I seek to tell the story of our polluted planet. 

Into the Current references the ocean currents and the current health of the ocean. It also alludes to the current issue of environmental racism related to plastics, and the extraction, manufacturing, and waste disposal processes that impact the health and well-being of people living near facilities that emit pollutants. Finally, Into the Current speaks to the current lack of meaningful action on the part of corporations and political leaders at all levels. 

In spite of the current realities and despite the amount of plastic I find washed up on local beaches, I don’t get discouraged. Instead, I find hope in the inspiration provided by others. My hope comes from knowing that I am part of a world-wide community of activists who care about the environment and are taking action to protect both people and the planet.

Visit http://www.sandiegosurfrider.org for information about local, state, and federal campaigns and/or contact Janis directly at janis@surfridersd.org to find out how you can help.

Drowning in Plastic

Garbage Patches

Garbage Patches represents the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the North Pacific along with the other concentrations of marine debris, which are located in the South Pacific, the North and South Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean. Debris gathers in these five ocean zones due to surface winds and circular currents that act like giant whirlpools in which plastic detritus becomes trapped. 8 billion tons of plastic enters the ocean annually, and 80% of it is from land-based sources. If we don’t act now, by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by weight.

Alphabet Soup

Alphabet Soup is a compilation of letter-shaped plastic items found on North County San Diego beaches. The title references the fact that the concentration of plastics in the garbage patches are not islands of large pieces of floating debris. Rather, the accumulated plastics are more like a soup of swirling microplastics, some of which are so small they aren’t even visible. In fact, it’s possible to sail through one of the garbage patches and see very little plastic, but it’s there, floating on the surface and swirling throughout the water column. 

Sea-Enemies

When released, helium-filled balloons will eventually burst or deflate and will descend to Earth as harmful debris. Latex balloons often fragment into pieces that resemble sea anemones, and as ocean pollution, both latex and mylar balloons can harm shorebirds, marine mammals, and sea turtles. 

Fortunately, there are innumerable ways to replace helium-filled balloons with other fun options. Try making prayer flags out of scrap fabric or decorate with recycled paper flowers—and if balloons are a must, air-filled stick balloons are a safer option because they won’t float away if accidentally released. For more information, including additional ideas for balloon-free celebrations, please visit balloonsblow.org, and to find out how you can support the San Diego County balloon campaign, email RAP@surfridersd.org.

Calamity Clown

A calamity is a disaster “marked by great harm and lasting distress and suffering.” Calamity Clown represents the harmful impact that plastic pollution has on the environment and the distress and suffering it causes people living in fence-line zones near facilities that emit pollutants. 

Calamity Clown also signifies the urgency of the problem and the fact that there is no time for clowning around. Individuals can help stop the plastic pollution calamity by refusing single-use items such as plastic bags, water bottles, straws, stirrers, utensils, and take-away cups and containers.

All Caps

Billions of plastic drink bottles are sold every day around the world, and all too often the bottle caps end up as litter only to get swept into a storm drain where they can be carried to the ocean when it rains. In fact, bottle caps are the third most commonly found item on International Coastal Clean-Up Day. How can you ensure that your next bottle cap doesn’t end up polluting the ocean?

Shovel Stars

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There are close to 2,000 species of sea stars (starfish) living in the ocean. Most have five arms, but there are sea stars with as many as forty arms. Plastic sand shovels are also ubiquitous. Everyone enjoys watching children as they play in the sand at the beach, but when broken beach toys are left behind, they become plastic pollution. 

Litterpress 

Letterpress trays were once used to store moveable letters for typesetting. This Litterpress displays pieces of marine debris that were found on beaches in North County San Diego. Some of the items are recognizable as the objects they once were, and others are unidentifiable. Look closely at each block. Can you find the contact lens case, cigar tip, snack pack cheese spreader, Lego wig, or tooth flosser? What else can you identify?

Unmasked

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To unmask something is to expose the hidden truth about it, and Unmasked reveals truths about plastic pollution. The marine plastic used to create Unmasked was cleaned up off of North County San Diego beaches, evidence that the problem is pervasive. What can you do to raise awareness and unmask truths about the harmful impacts of unnecessary plastics? 

Love Getting Lost With You

Cairns (stacked stones) are often used to mark wilderness trails as a way to help hikers navigate. Stacking beach stones can be considered a meditative practice, which can also help people stay on the right path. Have we lost our way when the convenience of single-use plastics is valued over protecting the environment? Have we gone astray when we don’t consider the people whose health and well-being  are impacted by the pollution that our convenience creates?                                                                      

Petrol-glyphs

Prehistoric people created petroglyphs by carving or incising into rock. According to scholars, the etchings were created for a variety of reasons, many of which are not well understood today. Even though our understanding is limited, petroglyphs remain “powerful cultural symbols that reflect the complex societies and religions of the surrounding tribes.” These petrol-glyphs were created by arranging petroleum-based marine debris on a background of plastic detritus. How will the scholars of the future interpret the single-use symbols that we will leave behind? What story will our discarded plastics tell about our daily lives and modern culture?

Flotsam Army

Toy soldiers are prized finds by beach cleaners around the world so much so that there is a popular #flotsamarmy hashtag. Flotsam Army is a reminder that we must fight for the health of the planet. In fact, Veterans for Peace has developed a Climate Crisis steering committee that focuses on the following areas: “The unequal burden of both climate change and militarism on people of color and the poor; The carbon footprint of the US military, which is larger than that of many countries; How wars for oil and other resources support the fossil fuel-based status quo.”

Sad Ball and Angry Bird

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Sad Ball is one of the first photos I ever took of something unnatural that I found on the shoreline. It represents the beginning of my journey. My sister and her husband are my inspiration. They are artists who started using beach plastic in their work over 20 years ago. When they first told me about the problem, I wasn’t seeing it on my beach walks here in North County, but about 8 years ago that changed, and I began finding more and more debris on our beaches. I started documenting the things I was finding by taking photographs in situ, and I began posting images like these to social media as a way to raise awareness about plastic pollution. Sad Ball and Angry Bird speak to the range of emotions one feels when facing the problem. 

First World

People in the United States often place the blame for plastic pollution on developing countries. However, a study conducted by oceanographer Dr. Kara Lavender Law found that the U.S. generates “the largest amount of plastic trash in the world, disposing of nearly 92.6 billion pounds of plastic in a single year. Using the most recent available data from 2016, researchers determined that the U.S. produces six to eight times more plastic waste per person than its counterparts in China and India, respectively.”

Law explained that “For years, so much of the plastic we have put into the blue bin has been exported for recycling to countries that struggle to manage their own waste, let alone the vast amounts delivered from the United States. And when you consider how much of our plastic waste isn’t actually recyclable because it is low-value, contaminated, or difficult to process, it’s not surprising that a lot of it ends up polluting the environment.”

Deer in the Headlights

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A deer will freeze in the road when encountering a car at night because the headlights are blinding. Research has shown that when inundated with frightening news about the environment, people react much like deer caught in the headlights. The overwhelming fear can be emotionally paralyzing and may cause some to experience inertia or apathy, but we must unfreeze ourselves and “turn our fears into motivated action to save our planet.”

Hill Street Country Club Gallery

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According to a study conducted in 2020, the prevalence of microplastics in the ocean has been significantly underestimated, and the number is at least double previous estimates. Professor Pennie Lundeque, who led the research, stated that “…microplastic concentrations could exceed 3,700 particles per cubic meter—that’s far more than the number of zooplankton you would find.”

Unfortunately, zooplankton ingest microplastics, and that’s one way that plastic enters the food web, moves up the food chain, and ends up on our plates, but the overall impacts are even more complex. Plankton are an essential part of the ocean’s carbon sink because they transport carbon dioxide to the seafloor where the carbon is then sequestered in sediments. Consequently, impacts to zooplankton may reduce the capacity of the ocean to absorb carbon and help “regulate global climate.”

As discouraging as the news may seem, there are simple things we can do to help. As individuals, we can refuse single-use plastic items, including plastic bags, take-away coffee cups, utensils, straws, polystyrene cups and clamshells, single-use water bottles, and all unnecessary plastic packaging.

Most importantly, we must hold the petrochemical industry and plastic producers to account, and we must insist that leaders at every level pass legislation to protect people, planet—and plankton!

(Join us in cities across North County San Diego to advocate for common-sense single-use plastic policies. Upcoming city council meetings during which plastics reduction measures will be discussed include Oceanside on August 4th, Carlsbad on August 14th, and San Marcos on September 14th. Please read the Surfrider San Diego blog post about the reluctant city council in Oceanside, and see the document linked HERE for details about all the upcoming meetings.)

Mylar balloons have really been blowing this week! In fact, I picked up six during my beach walk in North County on Wednesday.

By now, most people realize that when released, helium-filled balloons will eventually burst or deflate and will descend to Earth as harmful debris. As ocean pollution, they can injure or kill shorebirds, marine mammals, and sea turtles, but they can also be caught by westerly winds and be blown all the way to Anza-Borrego State Park where they may harm desert tortoises and other wildlife. 

Sicco Rood, UC Irvine staff research associate at the Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center, has seen the inland problem first-hand: “I find these balloons and their strings and ribbons littering and tangled up in cacti and other plants in pristine areas of desert on a daily basis.” To address the issue, Sicco started a Change.org petition seeking to Ban Harmful Helium Filled Mylar Balloons in San Diego County California. Sicco is also working with Surfrider Foundation San Diego Chapter volunteers to advocate for ordinances, and the campaign has recently been featured in the local news (links below).

Environmental impacts to San Diego’s coastal and desert regions aren’t the only reasons to consider banning helium-filled balloons. Mylar balloons conduct electricity, and when they contact power lines, they may cause power outages, and they can even spark wildfires. Sadly, Mylar balloons caused the 2013 Deer FIre which burned 11,429 acres and injured five people in Northern California. A startling video, taken by a resident of Long Beach who captured an explosion, highlights what can happen when Mylar balloons get caught on power lines.

Injuries to wildlife, explosions, power outages, and fires should be reason enough to ban mylar balloons, but we must also consider that helium is a non-renewable resource. Serious shortages have occurred in the past with potential impacts to healthcare, industry, science, and technology. Consequently, instead of filling party balloons with it, helium should be reserved for essential purposes such as MRIs, respiratory treatments, high speed internet, and telecommunications. 

In an article published by the BBC in 2012, Tom Welton, a professor of sustainable chemistry, stated “When you see that we’re literally just letting it float into the air, and then out into space inside those helium balloons, it’s just hugely frustrating. It is absolutely the wrong use of helium.”

Fortunately, there are innumerable ways to celebrate more sustainably (and creatively), including making prayer flags out of scrap fabric or decorating with recycled paper flowers—and if balloons are a must, air-filled stick balloons are still an option.

For more information, including additional ideas for balloon-free celebrations, please visit balloonsblow.org, and to find out how you can support the San Diego County campaign, email RAP@surfridersd.org.

I have picked up more than my fair share of plastic forks and spoons while cleaning the beach. In fact, I recently collected an assortment of eleven plastic utensils during one walk along the shoreline. Nevertheless, I was surprised by a recent headline in The Guardian: “Takeaway food and drink litter dominates ocean plastic, study shows.”

According to the study, which was published on June 10th in Nature Sustainability, plastic bags, beverage bottles, food containers, cutlery, and wrappers are “the top polluting products and accounted for almost half of all objects found.” In fact, lead researcher Carmen Morales-Caselles from the University of Cádiz in Spain, stated “We were not surprised about plastic being 80% of the litter, but the high proportion of takeaway items did surprise us,…” 

The researchers concluded that bans on single-use items are one of the best options for stopping plastic pollution. Unfortunately, council members in Oceanside rejected the Marine Debris Reduction Ordinance proposed by city staff and plan to enact a resolution instead. There is nothing inherently wrong with a resolution, but a resolution that does not require mandatory compliance is not an adequate response to the plastic pollution crisis. Needless to say, Oceanside’s leaders will no longer be able argue that single-use plastics are not a city-level responsibility, because this research makes the disposable takeaway problem undeniable and highlights the need to mitigate plastic pollution at all levels of government: local, state, and federal.

Even though the Oceanside City Council is being shortsighted, there is much to celebrate. Vista city officials have taken a proactive stance, and later this month, council members will vote on an ordinance that will require that service ware items (utensils, straws, stirrers, etc.) be provided only upon request starting on August 1, 2021. In addition, polystyrene (Styrofoam) containers will be phased out by July 1, 2023. (Read the Agenda Report here.) If passed, Vista will be the first city along the 78-highway corridor and the first inland city in San Diego County to enact a single-use plastics ordinance. 

With that said, we need support to ensure Vista’s ordinance passes. We also need help with urging the Oceanside City Council to direct staff to develop a comprehensive ordinance that will compliment and strengthen the proposed resolution.

For an eye-opening video about our dependence on convenience, watch The Story of a Spoon, and then, join me in taking action by participating in the upcoming city council meetings in Vista on June 22nd and in Oceanside on August 4th.

For general council meeting participation details and ideas, visit City Council Participation Tips and Fact Sheets, and for information on how you can contribute in North County, please leave a reply or email janis@surfridersd.org.