Think Beyond Plastics Southern Sail
Sea Studios Foundation announces the launch of the Think Beyond Plastics Southern California education tour, in partnership with Sealife Conservation from Watsonville, CA. The purpose of the tour is to raise awareness of the dangers of plastics as a main source of marine pollution. The tour will visit the coastal communities of Morro Bay, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Long Beach, Newport Beach, and San Diego and host a screening of the Sea Studios film Dirty Secrets and an educational sail aboard the marine research vessel Derek M. Baylis. The tour is a component of the Sea Studios outreach program Think Beyond Plastics, an ongoing collaborative effort to educate the public on the dangers plastic pollution, and to inspire people to eliminate single-use containers and plastic items. The Think Beyond Plastics campaign recently won Best 360 Campaign at the 2009 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival.

Morro Bay Voyage The Think Beyond Plastics Southern California education tour launched in Morro Bay on November 4. Speakers after the screening included Noah Smukler, Morro Bay City Councilmember and local caterer and Bill Worrell, Dan Cort, former Mayor of Pacific Grove, CA, and Dave Robinson of Sealife Conservation. Many thanks to the Morro Bay State Park Museum of Natural History for hosting the event at their terrific museum. And a very special thanks to our partner in this event, Shari Sullivan, Education and Outreach Coordinator Morro Bay National Estuary Program. A great launch for our program!

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Santa Barbara Voyage The Think Beyond Plastics Southern California education tour continued in Santa Barbara on November 11. Hosted by Surfrider Foundation, and taking place at the beautiful Santa Barbara Yacht Club, the screening of Dirty Secrets was followed by a presentation by Dr. Andrea Neal, principal science investigator for Project Kaisei, a non-profit organization based in San Francisco and Hong Kong, established to increase the understanding and scale of marine debris, its impact on our ocean environment, and how we can introduce solutions for both prevention and clean-up. Dr. Neal showed photographs taken by a team of leading marine scientists and experts in marine debris capture, aboard the 174 foot research vessel New Horizon. Following Dr. Neal's presentation, a variety of Santa Barbara-based environmental organizations gave brief presentations with regard to their grass-roots activities related to plastic pollution. The groups represented included Surfers Without Borders, Fair Fish Campaign, and the Ocean Futures Society. Dave Robinson of Sealife Conservation, and former Pacific Grove Mayor Dan Cort spoke as well. Sea Studios thanks Sandy Lejeune, the Surfrider Santa Barbara Chapter, and most especially Sonja Narens, for organizing the program in Santa Barbara!

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Long Beach Voyage The Think Beyond Plastics Southern California education tour visited Long Beach on November 13. Hosted by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, and taking place at Khoury's at the Long Beach's Alamitos Bay Landing, we were honored to have as our featured speaker Algalita Founder and Research Coordinator Charles Moore. Captain Moore is widely credited with discovering the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch, and bringing the issue of plastic pollution to the attention of the public and the scientific community. His 1999 study shocked the scientific world when it found 6 times more plastic fragments by weight in the central Pacific than the associated zooplankton. His second paper found that plastic outweighs plankton by a factor of 2.5 in the surface waters of Southern California. Captain Moore spoke before the screening, and participatrd in a panel discssion after the screening. Also on the panel were Gwen Lattin, Research Lab Directory, Algalita Marine Research Foundation; Kirsten James, Water Quality Director, Heal the Bay; Kristen Ruffell, Supervising Engineer, Los Angeles Sanitation Districts; and Beth Barnes, Surfrider, local Long Beach chapter. The screening and sail were covered by KNX radio reporter Ron Kilgore. Our thanks to Marieta Francis and Jeanne Gallagher, of Algalita, for hosting and organizing this very successful event!

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San Diego Voyage The Think Beyond Tour convened in San Diego on Wednesday November 18, at the Forum Hall in University Towne Center. Over sixty people attended the screening of Dirty Secrets, which was shown as part of the San Diego Surfrider Chapter meeting, and supports Surfrider's Rise Above Plastics campaign. Dave Robinson of Sealife Conservation spoke about the Think Beyond Plastics Voyage and also featured a plastics survey map of San Pedro Bay. The following Thursday morning eleven Surfrider chapter members joined the crew aboard the Derek M. Baylis for a six hour plastics survey of the Tijuana river mouth. Sea Studios Foundation thanks Bill Hickman and Scott Harrision of Surfrider for their assistance and support in making the Think Beyond Plastics Voyage in San Diego a success!

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