Point Break

Kudos to Hillary Hauser and Santa Barbara’s Heal the Ocean for their big win on pollution at Rincon. After a decade-long fight for clean water at the world famous Rincon surf spot, Heal the Ocean and a small group of beach homeowners entered into an agreement on replacing septics with a sewer system.

Evil Incarnate

UPDATE – July 23, 2009: In response to a proposed plastic bag fee in Seattle, the American Chemistry Council has invested more than $1 million dollars in opposition, the largest amount that an industry has ever spent on an initiative in the city. The election is August 18, 2009.

I have seen and heard pure evil, [...]

Pacific Protection

The state’s California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) today released its long-awaited comprehensive action plan to reduce marine debris and protect the $46 billion annual coastal economy.  The report makes many far-ranging recommendations, including banning plastic bags and Styrofoam food packaging, banning smoking on the beach, setting up fees for plastic trash, tackling the derelict fishing gear [...]

Industry Bag Man

Did you catch David Lazarus’ defense article for the plastic bag industry in the Sunday Los Angeles Times business section? What a joke. The whole piece took the side of the plastic industry, which argues that bags are harmless and that banning them will cost the public money and cause people to lose jobs. There [...]

Ready for Our Close-Up

In two decades at Heal the Bay, I’ve been fortunate to be part of numerous environmental victories. However, my 8-year-old daughter, Natalie, has a different perspective on success.

Delta Force

More than three hundred farmworkers and a bunch of Central Valley politicians rallied on the steps of the state Capitol Wednesday chanting, “Aqua es vida.”  I couldn’t agree more!!  Why do you think the Chinook salmon population has collapsed? Not enough H2O. That’s what the NRDC, the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations and other groups successfully claimed [...]

Bagging a Big Win

The Los Angeles City Council, spearheaded by Councilmembers Ed Reyes and Greig Smith, today unanimously approved a staff recommendation to adopt a citywide plastic bag ban by 2010 — if the state doesn’t enact a 25-cent per-bag fee by then. It also voted to support a Styrofoam ban on city property, including LAX, and at city-sponsored events. [...]

Water Day at the L.A. Times

It may have been a fluke, but the Sunday edition of the Los Angeles Times was seemingly all about water — and the coverage was pro environment. 
The stories included a strong editorial supporting L.A’s approach to California’s water scarcity paradigm and opposing billions for more dams (OK, I’m not a fan of replumbing the Delta, but the [...]

A Tern for the Better

One of the region’s unsung environmental heroes, Ruth Lansford, received deserved kudos Saturday night, July 19th, at the 30th Anniversary Dinner for the Friends of Ballona Wetlands. A few hundred supporters, including Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Assemblyman Mike Feuer and “California Gold’s” Huell Howser, came out to the marsh to celebrate Ruth’s incredible conservation efforts.
I’ve always looked [...]

L.A. to Shed Plastic Image

On Tuesday, July 22nd, the L.A. City Council will vote on a series of recommendations to reduce urban blight and marine debris.  If the measure passes, we’ll be seeing a lot fewer plastic bag trees lining the L.A. River and our beaches may even look like beaches instead of trash dumps after a rainstorm.