How to make your Halloween ocean friendly

Halloween is right around the corner! It's fun, fun, fun!
Have you decided what costumes you are going to wear this year?

Halloween is the first exciting event to start the holiday season. We can't miss it. However, we produce so much trash every holiday party, especially plastic trash. Candy wrappers, candy bags, ornaments, plates, and utensils are mostly plastic. You use them once and toss them away. What a waste that is! Then, those small plastic trash can easily go to the ocean!

How do you make your Halloween ocean friendly? Just give up all? No. You still can have so much fun with trick or treat if you think outside of the candy box!

1.  Don't do last minute shopping and buy bags of candy wrapped in plastic. 

Make or bake fresh snack and put it in a bowl or a plate. Have kids pick/scoop it and put it in a paper bag. If you are too busy to make, buy sweet in bulk, or buy from a bakery. Some candy is in a paper box or wrapped in paper. Buy fruits and soda cans. Fruit comes with biodegradable skin and soda cans are recyclable.

2.  Carry a cloth/canvas reusable bag instead of a plastic shopping bag. Kids (and you) will be having too much fan and forget to recycle the plastic bag after the party. Most of Halloween bags are made of thin plastic and won't last long. Buy a durable reusable bag so that you can use it again and again. How about a pillow case? It did a great job when we were kids, didn't it? That's more traditional and give kids (and you) joy.

3.  If you are thinking about buying one of those molded plastic jack o lanterns and candy jars, remember that these specialty items are not recyclable, and require fossil fuels to make and transport. Use a real pumpkin, and Autumn flowers and leaves to decorate your house. After carving the pumpkin, you can eat, give it to animals/birds, or compose it.

4.  Don't use Silly String. I know it's fun. But it is made from plastic resin and is not biodegradable. It clogs up sewer system if it goes into a storm drain. If it reaches to the ocean, fish and marine animals most likely eat it, mistaking it for food.

5.  Use recycled costumes. You just wear only one day a year but you don't want to wear the same thing every year. So why not exchange with your friends and neighbors? Be creative and make your own. How about a Plastic Trash Zombie? Put all the "guilty" non-recyclable plastics from the past onto your clothes and have fun! Make sure that you DO NOT buy candy in plastic in order to make your costumes!

The 3 R's - Reduce Reuse Recycle,

Last Saturday was the Coastal Cleanup Day. To give applause to volunteers, we danced to my favorite song, Jack Johnson's "The 3 R's - Reduce Reuse Recycle" at Santa Monica beach. It is a fun song and always makes me smile.
While dancing, I was thinking about the lyrics.

If you're going to the market to buy some juice
You've got to bring your own bags and you learn to reduce your waste
And if your brother or your sister's got some cool clothes
You could try them on before you buy some more of those
Reuse, we've got to learn to reuse
And if the first two R's don't work out
And if you've got to make some trash
Don't throw it out
Recycle

When I talk to someone about plastic pollution, about a half of people would proudly say, "I cut 6-pack rings before toss them.", "I buy/use biodegradable plastic", or "Oh, I always recycle." Yes, thank you, people. Those are nice. At least, it's nice to know that some people are conscious about plastic pollution. However, those actions are not enough to save the ocean, believe or not.

Cutting 6-pack rings prevent small animals from getting stuck in the rings. This information came out in the late 1970s when the environmentalists started to raise awareness of marine debris. It is true that birds and turtles can get caught in them and die, but between 1988 and 1998, U.S. cleanups uncovered 1,089 instances of animal entanglement, and only 72 (7 percent) involved six-pack rings. The rest, of course, was cause by other plastic debris.

Since 1989, under federal law, six-pack rings have been 100% photo-degradable(Photo-degradable plastics have a sun-sensitive component added that triggers a physical disintegration when exposed to sunlight). So, it is not really necessary to cut the 6-pack rings because they will break down to pieces in a few month anyway. (See Hi-Cone)

Does it mean that 6-pack rings are safe? No.
When plastic breaks down to pieces, it becomes more problematic. The small pieces of plastic mimic food. Those colorful plastic pieces look like krill, jellyfish, or fish eggs to birds, fish, and marine mammals. Plastic can suffocate them or block their digestive track. Plastic also absorbs toxic chemical materials such as PCB and DDT in the water and transfer them to animals.

If photo-degradable plastic is not good, is biodegradable plastic good? No.
Many people recently use biodegradable plastic bags, dog poop bags, food containers, or even diapers. But unless it is taken to a composting facility, biodegradable plastic will not biodegrade easily. If you toss your biodegradable plastic in a non-biodegradable plastic trash bag, it will be carried to a regular landfill and stay for 100s of years without breaking down.

So, the best thing is to recycle, right? No.
The carbon-footprint study, titled "PET’s carbon footprint: to recycle or not to recycle" found that in communities with limited infrastructure, recycling a plastic bottle can actually result in a bigger carbon footprint than simply throwing it in a landfill. The study concludes that the curbside take-back systems are no better than landfill. From a carbon-emissions standpoint, it would be just as well to bury used bottles as to recycle them. However, when plastic are buried, it leach harmful chemicals into the ground and potentially polluting the soil and water.

Should we reuse plastic items? No, not always.
You can reuse it as long as you don't put food in it. But if you put food or water, unless you wash and dry it properly, it may grow bacteria. You definitely do not want to heat plastic because it leach toxic chemicals.

Oh my. Is there any bright side of this story? Unfortunately, no.
Plastic will stay almost forever and keep harming animals and humans.
What we should do is to "Refuse" to buy/get single-use plastic.
Next time when I dance to "The 3R's", I would switch "Reuse" to "Refuse" for the 3 R's for plastic pollution since the 4 R's don't go with the rhythm.

We've got to learn to
Refuse, Reduce, Recycle
Refuse, Reduce, Recycle
Refuse, Reduce, Recycle
Refuse, Reduce, Recycle
Because three it's a magic number
Yes it is, it's a magic number

It's still such a fun song to dance! I love it!
Thanks to Jack Johnson for making this song!

The Majestic Plastic Bag - Support the AB 1998!

I posted a short film, "Plastic Bag" by Ramin Bahrani a while ago. It was an excellent documentary (sort of) film of "Life of a Plastic Bag".
Heal the Bay has just released a shorter version of "Mockumentary" video to show more people how plastic bags end up in the ocean.

AB 1998 is now in the Senate for a floor vote, which is the last critical step before it becomes law, as the Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has already committed to signing it once it passes the Senate, making these next two weeks in the Senate critical to making this landmark bill law.

Please pick up the phone or send a letter via this link, A CALL TO ACTION. It takes only a minute or two! Be a part of the change!!!

A CALL TO ACTION!

Saving the Planet with George Carlin

Yes, I worry about everything. I worry about our oceans, rain-forests, endangered species, animals rights, foods and water, our future, our children's future, and our green planet Earth. I believe that we can make a change little by little to correct ourselves if we realize and act now. It's not too late. Let's be optimistic.

However, I can have a break from the worries for a little while with the late genius comedian, George Carlin. His wisdom and irony are outstanding and incomparable.

His rant was celebrated by many conservatives. But don't get him wrong. Listen carefully. He was not a global-warming denier. He was not conservative on the environmental issues. He was overly disappointed and a little more pessimistic about what human beings have done to this planet than us. In fact, he was a very much naturalist and almost suggesting Gaia thesis. He clearly saw the problem is humanity not a planet. He was criticizing those Hippocrates who have no learning curve.

He said, “People are selfish,” during the interview in the TV show "The View". “These people with the fires and the floods and everything, they overbuild and they put nature to the test, and they get what’s coming to them, that’s what I say. People think nature is outside of them. They don’t take into them the idea that nature is a part of them. Nature is in here (pointing his chest), and if you’re in tune with it, like the Indians, the balance of life, the harmony of nature, if you understand that, you don’t overbuild. You don’t do all this moron stuff.” He continued, "They want toys. Everybody wants the newest gizmo. We are slaves to gizmo and toys."

I see this all around me. You know, those who want to be in the safe natural environment while cutting trees and building homes in the nature and driving SUVs to get a pack of cigarettes or those who tell their kids to love animals and eat right while filling their refrigerators with hormone-loaded frozen dead animals.

Anyway, I just want to enjoy this legendary routine for a little while and go back to worry about everything to save the planet.

Fight plastic pollution by supporting AB 1998!

Heal the Bay is sponsoring legislation this year that would significantly reduce plastic bag litter in our communities, on our beaches and in our oceans. With your help, California could be the first state in the country to adopt an aggressive policy to ban plastic carryout bags an large grocery stores, pharmacies and conveniences stores. Your immediate support is needed in helping to pass Assembly Bill 1998. Plastic pollution costs California taxpayers millions of dollars to clean-up, blights communities and threatens wildlife.

Your voice can make an incredible impact. Please help Heal the Bay by making a quick phone call to your District’s Assemblymember with the following message: “I am a member of your district and urge you to support AB 1998, the plastic bag ban bill.”

To find your Assemblymember, click here on the following link and enter your 5 digit zip code: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html

The 2 minutes you take to call could help protect our environment for generations to come!

You can also send a letter to Assemblymember Brownley expressing your support for AB 1998 by clicking here:
http://www.healthebay.org/actionalerts/ab1998/sendletter.asp

San Francisco, Malibu, Fairfax, and Palo Alto have banned plastic bags and at least 20 more cities in California are considering bans. AB 1998 will create one uniform policy for addressing all types of single-use bags to encourage consumers to use reusable bags, the most sustainable alternative.

If passed, AB 1998 would:

Ban single-use plastic bags at supermarkets, convenience stores and large retail establishments with pharmacies. The ban would not apply to bags used to carry bulk items, produce or raw meat to the checkout.
Limit the distribution of paper bags at these stores to encourage consumers to use reusable bags.
Require reusable bags to be available for purchase at these stores instead of using single-use carryout bags.