BYO breakdown explained

For all who read last post about my BYO breakdown at WF, and are curious about the resolution of their sticky-note communication crisis, I stopped in today to get an espresso......

No luck. It appears that the issue has more to do with honesty than logistics: too many people get espresso drinks, then tell cashier at the main register to ring them up for a drip coffee.

So really, not much to do with the post-it sitch at all. Granted, I may get a new answer next week. Asked if they'd thought about having a separate reg at the coffee bar in the interest of promoting reuse, a "Whole Foodsy" value.....

"No, we don't really have plans to remodel anytime soon, so this isn't going to happen in the near future." Does it really require a remodel to stick a little cash box in?

In the vein of picking and choosing ones battles, prolly best to just move on from this one.

BYO breakdown at WF

In all my BYO years, I've never had the issues many friends have with someone refusing the cup, not being sure what to do with it, claiming they couldn't use it for hygenic reasons....

Till this morning at Whole Foods! The exchange was pretty absurd actually:

Barista: I'm sorry, we can't put any espresso drinks in your personal cup, only drip coffee, until we figure out a system for writing down your order to give to the cashier.

(uncaffeinated) Me: Couldn't you just write it down on a little sticky note to attach to my cup?

B: Yeah, so that's what were looking into, my manager is researching all the sticker options, but we want to make sure we don't leave sticky residue on your cup.

Me: (respectfully) How about just a little post-it note, I'm sure you guys have a thousand of them in your office, or even a piece of scrap paper?

B: Like I said, my manager is looking into all the different possibilities and trying to come up with the best system, in the meantime, we can't serve anything but drip coffee in your own cup.

Are you KIDDING me? Is this what happens when bureacracies gets over inflated, a total breakdown in reason? I wonder how long this "research" into the latest in sticky-technology will take......

"Mermaid Tears"

Mermaid tears.

Has a sort of tragically beautiful, poetic ring to it, much nicer than, say, "potentially poisonous plastic particles phouling up the ocean"

Phew, that was a wee bit too much on the alliteration, got carried away....

These so called tears, or plastic pellets, seem to be taking over our marine environment.

So this is not news to us who obsess about disposable plastics and their cursed longevity, but seems to finally be catching fire in the media.

To recap: petroleum plastics last a gazillion years, they wind up in the ocean by the boatload, where they attract toxic chemicals (PCBs, DDTs, etc.), and pose a sinister synthetic threat to our seas. Read more about it here.......

For the ladies in the house.....

Men, warning you outright that this is a very femme-specific post. And a slight departure from my usual "kill plastic bags" tirade, but really, my vision is to address our disposables mania in general.....

Which includes tampons.

Check out the following stats on the eco-impacts of these disposable "feminine hygenic products":

"*Over 12 BILLION pads and tampons are USED ONCE and disposed of annually.

*According to the Center for Marine Conservation, over 170,000 tampon applicators were collected along U.S. coastal areas between 1998 and 1999.

*6.5 billion tampons and 13.5 billion sanitary pads, PLUS their packaging, ended up in landfills or sewer systems in 1998."

So what's a green girl to do?

Enter The Keeper, an "innovative feminine hygiene product worn internally, freeing women from dependency on cumbersome, uncomfortable, expensive, paper-based products."

I admit I've known about the keeper for some time, just haven't motivated to order one....yet. Its time though, if I'm going to take this anti-disposable thing to heart, gotta...make it close and personal?

Gettin' (e)wasted on "toxic hand me downs".

Just after my last Mirror column on E-waste, read about this major UN conference this week. 120 countries meeting for 5 days in Kenya to troubleshoot re: the copious amounts of highly toxic electronic garbage flooding into developing countries.

Often well-intentioned "donations" of old computers etc. to poor nations can end up being more hazard than help. According to this article, last year about 500 containers of old electronics arrive in Lagos every month.

Where then we can imagine they land in scenarios similar to the above.....

I especially love the e-ad here, perfect.

Speakin' Sunday at the Speakeasy!

I'll be airing my plastic obsession aloud next Sunday eve at a Speakeasy in Los Feliz, joining speakers from the LA County Bike Coalition, Treepeople, The Coffee Cellar, and others in panel for Sustainable LA - What Can I Do Today for a Green LA?"


Events being put on by Smargals Productions, a "non-profit arts organization dedicated to creating intriguing happenings and original theater in unlikely places throughout Los Angeles."

Event info here in case you're inclined to work off some tofurkey and ride on over -- bikers get a two for one entry! Tix are $7 general, $5 members.

More on the oceanic garbage dump

The "texas sized garbage patch" in our oceans, that haunting image of a waterlogged landfill, is all over the news these days. And its only growing, in direct proportion to our appetite for plastics.

Last week, a new report from Greenpeace, and yesterday an excellent news clip on on KTVU San Francisco, on the increasing strain plastic waste places on our oceans.

The quantity of garbage out there is truly astounding. And though it may well be "out of sight, out of mind" for us landlubbers, it is definitely not out of our lives.....

Petroleum plastics are built to last, forEVER. And as plastics continue spilling from our hands into the ocean, the sea life casualties continue piling up. Plastic packaging is designed to attract us with its shiny, alluring colors. This deadly appeal extends to sea life as well as our pocketbooks - millions of birds, fish, and marine mammals die every year, mistaking bright, colorful plastic bits for food.

As J. Nichols, senior scientist at The Ocean Conservancy and Ocean Revolutionary extraordinaire notes, "We live and die by the ocean. If the oceans in trouble, WE are in trouble."

Perhaps with our recent shift in political momentum, we might finally hope for a bit of leadership. Hold our breath and wait we must NOT do however, we'll need all the grassroots, business, and innovative local leadership we can get to tackle this one.

In the meantime, its up to each and every one of us to keep kickin' plASStic.

Introducing: Zero Waste Girl!

I've written a few posts about the zero emissions traveler - now I introduce another new hero, zero waste girl!

She has a name (Yolanda) and wears a few other capes besides waste crusader, (biker babe, graphic design guru) but for now, we're going to get close and personal with her garbage.

Yolanda is on a quest to produce as little trash as possible, and share her results with the world on film - the good, the bad, and the downright stinky. Her vision: to show people how they too can travel down the trash-lite path.....


She started this past Sunday at the farmers market - perfect location, as the market went "zero waste" this year. Participating food vendors have switched from sinister sytrofoam and plastic to biodegradable plates and utensils. Which is a tremendous start, now we just need to work on the copious quantities of plastic bags being used at the market - beautiful organic produce and petroleum plastics are NOT a good mix.

Well be checking in with Yolanda periodically, to hear how her experiment is progressing, what's inspiring her desire to purchase pet worms and carry her garbage around, and pick up some practical tips on low-waste living.

Like Orikaso, a reusable, foldable picnic set she used (below) to grab tamales at the market, eliminating the need for the (disposable) biodegradables altogether.

Haunted by ghost nets

Long before learning about plastics in the ocean, what first inspired an interest in marine issues was reading Song for the Blue Ocean by Carl Safina. An absolutely beautiful, poetic epic that illustrates just how much were losing from our seas.

Founder of the Blue Ocean Institute Safina recently wrote another oceanic hymn, Voyage of the Turtle: In Pursuit of the Earth's Last Dinosaur. And is currently at sea, studying leatherbacks and loggerheads, and preparing for an upcoming west coast book tour.

I've been reading Safina's voyage accounts, and recently asked if he'd been seeing much evidence of plastic waste at sea. A rhetorical question really, as we know its out there.....

"Lots of plastics evident in plankton tows near coasts, less farther offshore. This varies according to where current and convergences pile up the plastics. Laysan Island for instance, absolute mid-Pacific, is loaded w/ plastics."

Photos from his recent trip show a ghost net with billfish bones hundreds of miles from land. Ghost nets - fishing line "abandonded" at sea - can float for months, entangling and strangling all sorts of marine life. Gives me an idea for a very scary halloween costume.

Carl Safina will be speaking here in LA on November 7th, at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach! Details and RSVP info on the website, wanna join me?

Plastics and the small penis effect

Apologies for the shock value, but talk about an issue hitting where it hurts.....



Yet another reason to eschew plastic products: they just might damage your child's potential manhood.

Exposure to phthalates, an additive used in many plastics and personal care products, has been linked to abnormalities in childrens' reproductive development, including smaller penis size.

Granted, the world is overpopulated - we certainly don't need more casanovas, BUT.......

Good news: there are safer alternatives, you just need to know what to look for. Start with avoiding the # 3 or letter V on the so-called recycling symbol on the bottom of plastic products.

And check out this entertaining little short, "Sam Suds the case of PVC - The Poison Plastic". Even phlalates can be phunny.

Plastic Bags in Outer Space

Really, its true. This happened a while back, caught my interest again.....Plastic waste has now been spotted floating in space.

Astronauts on Space Shuttle Atlantis spotted a "mystery object" lurking near the ship, raising alarm that it might interfere with a safe return. And delayed their earth-coming a couple days to conduct thorough investigations of said object.

Which was likely a small piece of plastic, and "deemed non-threatening". THEN, a second object was spotted - you guessed it, the ubiquitous plastic bag.

On another, even more concerning note, studies by the US space agency showed that Earth's rapid warming has pushed temperatures to their hottest level in nearly 12,000 years and within a hairbreadth of a million years. Smokin'.

AB 2449 hijacked, call Arnold today!

Arnold has until Saturday to yeay or nay AB 2449. The bill, formerly-known-as-green, was "HIJACKED" by pro-plastic interests! I posted about this recently - the bill is now just days away from signage.

Which means you should call now, today, pronto. Phone: 916-445-2841

Don't take my word for it, read more about the implications this bill will have. The Earth Resource Foundation has been working hard to stay on top of this, and mobilize efforts to oppose the bill.

In a nutshell:

"The bill is unacceptable for 2 main reasons:
1. It inhibits the rights of local counties, cities and districts to make the best decisions for their own local area and for themselves. The amended bill now prohibits localities from imposing fees, bans, levies, and restrictions on plastic carryout bags. Local actions have often driven large, even global recycling improvements and innovations in the past, and it is critical to retain local power and flexibility so communities can control their own resource flows.

2. This bill, as written, will have very little discernable effect on the amount of plastic going onto the streets, into the oceans or into landfills. As stated above, stores already collect bags, but the vast majority (80%) is thrown away. The language of this bill is defeating environmental steps taken now and in the past to reduce, reuse, and recycle. The bill is now crafted to allow plastic bag manufacturers to continue to sell their polluting product without restraint or any form of responsibility for the environmental consequences."

Its 12:00 - do you know where your recycling is?

Trash here, recyclables here, end of story.

Wait, what REALLY happens to our urban waste once after the city carts it away? Do we recycle it here, or offshore? Who ends up using these recyclables once they're processed?

"Point of Return", a 17 minute video documentary, illustrates what happens to recyclables after they leave the curb and explores sustainable choices with regard to local, regional, and international consequences. Using Oakland, Northern California, and the Pacific Rim as a case study, Point of Return looks at economic policy and land use planning."

As this doc focuses on Oakland, I have no idea how applicable it is to our local Santa Monica recycling scene - something to look into. I'm guessing its pretty relevant.

And as the garbage gurus in the film suggest at the conclusion, recyling aside, we just gotta use less stuff, period......before the Texas-sized garbage patch in the ocean gets super-sized.

Oceans = Plastic Soup

Not sure how I missed this documentary - Alphabet Soup....documents a voyage with Captain Charles Moore to an area of the ocean so filled with plastic crap that its known as the "Eastern Garbage Patch". And in so doing, sheds some disturbing light on just how far reaching the impacts of our throwaway lifestyles are.....

As I've mentioned in previous posts, Captain Moore was my motivation to pursue the plastics crusade.

Much has been said about why plastics don't belong in the ocean - amongst other places. To reiterate:

*They attract toxic chemicals - PCBs, DDTs - at concentrations FAR greater than the seawater around them;

*Animals mistake plastic particles for food, filling their bellies with nutritionless nasties;

*Thousands upon thousands of marine creatures die from entanglement in plastic garbage/netting/etc.,

*Plastics LAST FOREVER.

Even if you're convinced, check out the film, and do your tiny but noble part by kickin' plASStic - just don't use the stuff whenever you can avoid it.

URGENT: Ask Governor to Veto AB2449

Forgive my long gap in BYO blogging - a time consuming business keeping two blogs active....

Apologies aside, there's some fairly urgent business in the recycling policy world: YOUR HELP IS NEEDED.

A while back, the “Plastic Bag Litter and Waste Reduction Bill” (AB2449) passed the California State Assembly. The bill requires larger grocery stores in the state to provide visible and accessible recycling bins for plastic bags, makes bag manufacturers work with stores to ensure that plastic bags are properly collected, transported and recycled, and requires grocery stores to offer reusable bags for purchase to their customers.

All of which sounds great, BUT, as often happens, some disturbing language was added, which would essentially prohibit any local county, city, or township from imposing any fee, ban, levy, or restriction on plastic bags. See new language here.

The Earth Resource Foundation (ERF) has been working actively with other groups to give some teeth to the bill, and find this new turn devastating. In addition to the ban restriction part, there are other problems with the amendments, full list following.

Read on, and take action: ASK THE GOVERNOR TO VETO AB2449. It is important to let the Governor know the environmentally community and recyclers do not support AB2449, particularly its pre-emption of local government authority to impose any fee, ban, levy, or restrictions on plastic bags.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-445-4633
Or send an Email

Why recycling advocates/environmentalists/concerned citizens oppose AB2449:

1) Opening paragraph suggests there will be some type of recycled content in the plastic bags comparing it to the trash bag bill. Yet this is just about collecting bags;

2) This requires only plastic carryout bags, yet most stores collect carryout, dry cleaning, produce, newspapers, etc.

3) There is no requirement for plastic bags to be made out of recycled content;

4) There is no requirement for the store to reduce their plastic bag usage as was done in San Francisco;

5) There is no requirement to provide incentives for people who use
reusable bags or any requirement that so many consumers use reusable bags;

6) There is no money for enforcement, education, etc.;

7) The "store" requirement is for very large stores and doesn't even use the CIWMB definition for stores based on revenues, which would include more stores (we would like to include malls, 7-11, 99cent stores, etc.);

8) States that the manufacturer must develop educational materials and make available stores yet, doesn't require that stores put up the materials;

9) Doesn't include any education of clerks, managers and other staff on the harms of plastic, bag packing, or the economic/ecological benefits of using reusable bags.

Hope thats convincing enough......

Save the oceans, use less plastic.

Last weeks LA Times series" on the sad state of our oceans was pretty grim. So what to do about it all?

Check out David Helvarg's response, "How You Can Turn The Tide" for some everyday tips on preserving our seas.

No need to become the next Cousteau to make waves - turns out just about everything we do affects the ocean. From the foods we choose - local organic vs. petroleum-intensive conventional, to our transportation choices - it's all connected....

#3 on Helvarg's list: Use less plastic:

"Plastic objects make up about 60% of the trash found on the beaches and about 90% of the debris found floating in the oceans worldwide. If you take plastic to the beach, take it home with you. Buy from bulk bins and reuse containers. Use canvas tote bags instead of shopping bags."

Right on.

LA times on the plastic plague

Today's LA times article, Plague of Plastic Chokes our Seas gets to the heart of what first inspired my fascination with plastic waste:

The stuff is slowly but surely filling our vast, "unspoilable" oceans.

The article mentions Captain Charles Moore, one of the leading experts/activists on oceanic plastics. I first heard Charles speak at the 2002 World Oceans Conference in Santa Barbara, and saw his chilling documentary "Our Synthetic Sea", detailing the devastating impacts plastic pollution has on marine ecosystems.

For weeks, I was haunted by his presentation, especially his findings of ratios of 6 to 1, plastic to plankton in various ocean regions. Thats 6 times more plastic than plankton - the critical base of the entire marine foodchain....

I had to see for myself.

So I joined Captain Moore on a 2 week research trip to Guadalupe Island, to collect stomach samples from juvenile Laysan Albatross - the Captain and part of the femme crew in photo to the right.

Which entailed traipsing around this remote island looking for "boluses", the undigested material regurgitated by the chicks - normally squid beaks and such. This photo here shows the remains of a bolus - the dark material is squid bits, the rest - bits of plastic......

These boluses are excellent indicators of humans impact on natural food chains. Every last one of the samples we collected contained anywhere from 30-60% plastic.

This image from the Shifting Baselines website lays it out very clearly.

It's difficult to avoid cliche when talking about how "the little stuff adds up", but here, truly the case - a single lighter, pen cap, balloon, or plastic gadget can spell disaster for a hungry creature with an unrefined palette.

All fairly depressing, but nice to see the issue is beginning to get the coverage it warrants.....

Whole Foods: Plastic vs.....Plastic?

The paper or plastic question is a doozy. A quick google search on the topic yields 13,900,000 results. Anyone looking for a definitive answer has their work cut out for them.....of course, we know the real answer: neither, bring your own.

Both paper and plastic require raw materials and energy (fossil fuels) to produce and transport, both processes emit water and air pollution, and both need to be "dealt" with after their ever-so-brief lifespans. Which means they either go to the landfill, are recycled, or somehow wind up on the sides of freeways, in local surf spots, etc.

So to make life easier for us, Whole Foods is eliminating the choice, and going all plastic, at least in the Southern region......

More to come about this.

Win TJ's raffle when you BYO!

Just learned about this one: every time you bring your own bag to Trader Joe's, you enter to win a raffle for a $25 shopping spree! They have drawings twice a month, so the odds are pretty good.....especially since it doesn't seem like a ton of peeps are responding....yet.

Same old same old, this great store promotion, yet not alot of signage, save this little reminder up at the register. Of course, if you didn't bring your own bag, the reg. sign is a wee bit too late. Maybe keychains would work? Something you look at before leaving the house? I've been eyeing these great ones made out of recycled bike chains for when I have some $ to put into BYO goods.

In any event, the TJ's raffle is awesome - $25 at TJ's could fetch some pretty nice loot. So take advantage!

Wild Oats Wooden Nickel Program

Not only do you cut back on unrecyclable disposable nasties when you Bring Your Own, you often get a little discount from cafes or markets - usually only 5 or 10 cents, but it all adds up in the grand scheme of things.

Even better, Wild Oats has a program where you can either opt for the 5 cents off, OR donate to a local charity through their Wooden Nickel Program. In return for your mindfullness, the cashier will hand you a little wooden nickel that you deposit in a slot, choosing between 3 local non-profits, who likely need the 5 cents more than your average Wild Oats shopper.

What suprises me is how few people I see responding to this - I'm a regular at Wild Oats, and rarely see people bringing their own bags. I wonder what percentage of people remember, and how we might work to up the numbers......will hafta look into this one. Any ideas from anyone?

City of Santa Monica bans styrofoam

Kudos to the City of Santa Monica! Our City Council just took a bold, proactive step in addressing contamination by styrofoam disposables: ban the stuff altogether.


Council member Kevin McKeown championed a more expansive ban, including non-recyclable plastics in addition to styrofoam. Key to the discussion is styrofoam and plastics' impacts on our marine environment - these nasty synthetics stick around for an eternity, endangering wildlife, choking ecosytems, and spoiling our surf sessions.

How will this affect businesses? What sort of price tag will this carry? And might there be an opportunity to encourage more people to bring their own containers for carry out?

Writings

Keeping Styrofoam out of Santa Monica Sushi

Planned Obsolescence: Gift Gadgets Turned Toxic

Two Wheels, Zero Emissions, Zero Guilt

Greening Their Bottom Line

A Red Line Connects Us

New Roads for Old Glory

The Flavor of Fairness

New Years Resolution '06: More Grease In My (Car's) Diet

WATTS UP at Samohi

It's the Local Economy Genuius

Tired of Trashy Trysts? Bring Your Own

Anna Cummins

Anna Cummins would much rather be riding around Los Angeles on her Xtracycle than sitting in front of a computer, however she recognizes the power of the Internet to communicate, motivate, and inspire.

Anna's interest in all things green began with an early gravitation towards compost and worms. She has since gone on to work in environmental non-profits, with a focus on marine conservation, environmental education, and sustainable living.

An avid bike enthusiast, Anna joins the Worldchanging Team to write about two wheeled matters. She hopes to encourage others to ditch their petromobiles and join the fossil-fuel free velorution. When not writing or thinking about bikes, she teaches organic/vegetarian cooking to high school kids, runs a local Bring Your Own campaign, and dreams of travel to beautiful places.

the coffee cup landscape

A typical day in front of.....a coffee shop on Montana. Not to single this coffee shop out, as a) I LOVE their coffee and b) you'd find the same image at just about any java joint in town.

Granted, vendors of disposables are just the providers, and ultimately we consumers must make the right choices.

I just see such an opportunity for them - markets, coffee shops, "to go" restaurants, etc. - to play a leadership role in helping the busy, forgetfull consumer with some signage. Will post next an awesome sign my super creative friend wendy made.

BYO kits here

My sassy cousins Audrey Eamer and Ash Adams modeling new BYO cups and bags.

Bags are organic cotton totes - thanks to Patagonia for the generous donation, as well as all the other ways they support eco causes. Printing by Homeboy Industries, downtown (LA) company that trains and employs former gang members.

Cups and bags will be available for purchase soon on website - meantime you can ask me directly and I'll send you a kit - $8/bag, $10/cups, or $15 for both.







"Stop being a ?@#$%^! and Bring Your Own."
- Ash Adams, writer/filmmaker

Gotta pay your (water bottle) antimony??

Yet another reason to avoid plastics. The chemical antimony present in possibly “unhealthy levels” in PET water and beverage bottles.

It's that confounded “possibly” part that continues to creep me out. I remember learning about the “precautionary principle” back in grad school, fancy way of saying, “if you’re not sure that it’ll harm you, assume it will till proven otherwise.”

While we're talking fair trade.....

My most recent column in the Santa Monica Mirror, on Fair Trade issues. This will be the first of two in the series, the next will feature some local Fair Trade activism - like the Starbucks Challenge, spearheaded by Green LA Girl and City Hippy.

Parlez vous?

Ah, the wonders of the cyber world…..

Check out the campaign Maya is kick starting in Antibes, France.

Through her lovely chalk written sign, I learned the French for “Fair Trade” :
Produits de commerce equitable.

Shows yet again that the disposables issue is universal....

Take one down, stitch it around, 120 plastic bags on the wall..

Melissa’s recent post on her LA Green Living blog about the # of plastic bags in her closet (43) reminded me of the scary, mounting pile I have in my own.

I’ve been saving them since I moved to L.A. last December (’04) with the intention of knitting them into a cool tote - one of those back burner projects. Maybe its time, given I have 140 of them...Majority of them in photo above. Spring cleaning?

Tried this once in Santa Cruz, went through laborious collecting, sorting, cutting, making into yarn process, got a ways in, and...it was awful - I'm not much of a knitter, so working w/ plastic yarn was tough. The result: super awkward shape, just off. So I abandoned the project.

Time to try again, and this time get some tips, maybe from someone with knitting skills. How cute is that knit cell phone case?

(anti) disposable divas unite!

Through the blog world, I'm meeting more and more people who share my anti-disposables mania.

Just yesterday discovered Melissa, of LA Green Living, exploring green lifestyles in Los Angeles. No, this is not an oxymoron.....In addition to her blog, Melissa started a guide for how to live without plastic bags, a wealth of information on the whys and hows of avoiding this ubiquitous offender.

Mentioned on Melissa's blog is fellow anti-waste champion Stephanie Bernstein, founder of To-Go Ware - an awesome, styley line of reusable lunch kits and wooden utensils.

And then last night found another kindrid spirit in Jasmin, who expresses how pissed off she is watching rampant negligence turn our urban environs into a dumping grounds....she has a few other things to be pissed off about here. And I couldn't agree more, time for a little outrage. Time to get riled up a bit! Too many of us are sleepwalking.

A few other environmensters who share my waste woes: Maya, Siel, Lauren.......looks like I need to meet some more (anti) disposable dudes to join the diva posse. Hombres, come forward!

Plastic in your coffee?

Just in from Treehugger, a new company MicroGreen working on plastic coffee cups made entirely from recycled beverage containers. Interesting, as there’s a need for more recycled plastic uses. I wonder though, are these still meant to be disposable? Fully recyclable? And how do they rate on the whole safety factor?

Not sure I'd want to drink hot liquid out of plastic. Theres been a slew of reports out in the last year about plastic possibly leaching toxic chemicals into our food and water. While some question this research, I personally would rather play it safe till someone proves otherwise.

I'll take stainless steel with my coffee for now.....

Sunshines gettin' wasted

As an alternative to the Sunshine Landfill just above Granada Hills, LA is looking into hauling trash elsewhere, to a near by city. Riverside? Avenal? Anyone want our Nimby nasties? We certainly don’t.

Worlds largest landfill...in the ocean?

Think Hawaii is far enough “away” to find pristine shores? Not so fast.....read this account of a massive aquatic trash heap washing up on the Islands, leaving a trail of plastic crap and fishing gear in its wicked wake.

Further supports the idea that “pristine” wilderness is a thing of the past, as shown here in this excellent slideshow by one of my favorite projects shifting baselines.

In the last few weeks, anecdotes from friends and supporters have encouraged me to revive this blog. Which, despite xtra time in front of computer, is a good venue for communication.

Like Maya for example, a blogger in France who happened upon BYO through Green LA Girl's wehsite. And several messages from well intentioned BYOers whove tried to bring personal cups to Coffee Bean, Starbucks, and others, to have valient efforts thwarted by baristas measuring java quantities in paper cups, pouring into their reusable mugs, and then tossing paper cup. Thus defeating the entire purpose.

More to say on this topic later. For now, just keep trying, and let me know how it works out for you.....