Santa Barbara Channelkeeper

Keeping Watch for Clean Water

Education

Connecting Kids with Nature to Spark Wonder and Inspire Environmental Sensitivity

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If you’ve ever followed a hermit crab’s footprints across a tidepool, built a fort in the wilderness, or listened closely to a bird’s song, you understand the sense of wonder and quiet joy that activities in the wild can inspire. For kids, the natural world can be a place of curiosity, creative play, and discovery. 

A growing number of studies suggest that connection with nature has significant physical, psychological, and academic benefits for kids. Time in the wild can also inspire greater sensitivity to the surrounding world, a deeper understanding of environmental issues, and real-life opportunities to practice problem-solving. 

Channelkeeper’s education programs aim to nurture environmental awareness and stewardship in young people with the understanding that today’s youth are the decision-makers of tomorrow. Their environmental ethics are critical to our planet’s future. By fostering a connection between young people and the natural world, we hope to inspire the next generation of clean water leaders. 

To extend our discovery-driven curriculum beyond field trips and classroom visits, we’ve gathered a few fun, hands-on educational activities for young explorers and families to experience together. Learn about how water moves through a watershed and the ways in which it can become contaminated. Discover the fluid dynamics of the water cycle. In addition, we’ve included some special places to explore with activities such as rock hopping in Mission Creek at Rocky Nook Park, tidepooling at Coal Oil Point, bird watching at the Goleta Slough, and reading inspiring stories in the shade of a tree.

We hope that you share these activities with a special child in your life and enjoy a moment in nature together.

Activities:

Make a Watershed 

Have you ever wondered where water goes when it rains? In this simple activity you can make a model watershed and watch how the water flows over the land.

  • Crumple up a piece of plain office paper and then smooth it back out most of the way- it should remain a bit crumpled, showing small ridges (high points) and valleys (low points). 
  • Imagine that this paper is a section of land. Find the ridgelines (the tops of the fold-lines). 
  • Use a washable blue marker (not permanent) to color along the ridgelines on your land. The blue color from the marker will help you follow the path of the precipitation.
  • Use a spray bottle of water to create a rainstorm over your land. The goal is to create gentle sprays of mist. 
  • Spray the bottle once, and observe the precipitation. Has the water begun to move in your watershed? If not, then lightly mist again, until the precipitation starts traveling on your watershed. 
  • As your rainfall accumulates, observe the pathways where the excess rainfall travels.

Explore your watershed. With your finger, trace your stream (the path of the blue marker) all the way back up to where it starts at the top of the ridge. When you reach the top, this is the edge of the watershed for your stream and lake. Trace the entire edge of the watershed with your finger by following the ridgeline.  Everything inside, the downward-sloping area you have just outlined is the watershed for your stream or lake.

Find the Solution to Pollution 

  • Gather up 4-5 clean glass jars, masking tape, paper coffee filters, and a magnifying glass. 
  • Collect water from different sources including tap water, a creek or lake, or even the ocean making sure to label each jar with the water source.
  • Fit the coffee filters just inside the mouths of additional large, wide-mouthed jars. 
  • Take one of the water samples, and slowly pour the water through the filter into the other jar. Repeat for each water sample, pouring it into a new jar with a fresh coffee filter. 
  • Open each filter and examine it through the magnifying glass. 
  • Analyze the filters. Which filter is the most discolored? Which filter caught the most particles? Did any of the samples leave a colored residue on the filter? 
  • Discuss how the water in creeks, rivers, and the ocean can become polluted. Where do pollutants come from? 
  • A major cause of water pollution in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties is nonpoint source pollution, or contamination that comes from more than one source. As water runoff moves over land, it picks up and carries natural and human-made pollutants into our creeks and rivers, which eventually drain into the ocean. What steps can we take to reduce water pollution in our area?

Create a Water Cycle Model

  • Use a permanent marker to draw the water cycle on a Ziplock bag (if possible, reuse a plastic bag for this activity). You can create your own interpretation of water collection, evaporation, condensation, and precipitation or follow this easy video.
  • Pour about ⅓ cup of water into the bag. You can add one or two drops of blue food coloring to the water if you choose, but it’s not essential.
  • Find a sunny window and tape the bag to the glass.
  • Check in on the water cycle bag at different times throughout the next few days. Do you see water droplets form along the bag from the condensation? Eventually, you may see streaks along the side of the bag as the droplets grow and drop down the side, representing precipitation. From there, the water will recollect and pool at the bottom, mimicking the water cycle we experience on Earth.
  • Rinse out the plastic bag and reuse it for other household needs!

Outdoor Adventures:

Visit Mission Creek in Rocky Nook Park
Rocky Nook Park is not only free to visit, its creek area is a special place to connect with nature. Practice your rock hopping skills and get to know Mission Creek’s pools while looking for tadpoles. How many different kinds of water bugs can you find? Pick up 5 pieces of trash to leave the park a little cleaner than you found it.

Low Tide Beach Walk
Check the tides and head to the beach to explore during low tide! How many creatures can you count? Can you find the wrack line, the horizontal line on the beach where kelp, driftwood, and insects collect? This accumulation area plays an important role in beach ecology. How many hermit crabs can you find in a tidepool? Can you find a sea star? Their populations are just starting to recover following a wasting disease. Be sure to leave them on the rock where you observed them! Check for low tides at Tide Predictions – NOAA Tides & Currents

Some of our favorite tidepools to explore include Tarpits Beach in Carpinteria, Leadbetter Beach in Santa Barbara, and in the Campus Point Marine Protected Area at Coal Oil Point in Isla Vista.

Watch the Birds
We’re so lucky! The Santa Barbara area has so many great opportunities to observe birds, including many species that pass through seasonally. Have you ever spotted a red tail hawk? How about a snowy egret? We challenge you to find your favorite bird! What sort of habitat does it prefer? What does it like to eat? What sounds does it make?

Visit the Goleta Slough, Lake Los Carneros, and Santa Barbara Bird Refuge for some excellent birding and check out the free ebird app for help with bird identification and cool facts!

Read books outside!

Have you ever read a book with your feet in a creek? How about under a tree? Borrow a few books from your local library or find them online and head outdoors! Some of our favorites include:

  • Once Upon a Watershed by Dianne Bennett
  • The Big Book of the Blue by Yuval Zommer
  • Deep in the Ocean by Lucie Brunelliere
  • All the Way to the Ocean by Joel Harper
  • The Little Creek that Could by Marc Angelo
  • The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
  • The Watcher: Jane Goodall’s Life with the Chimps by Jeanette Winter

Knowledge is Power for Meaningful Plastic Reduction

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If you look around your living space, you’ll likely notice that nearly everything involves plastic, from the furniture and electronics to your favorite shirt and the packaging that keeps your salad fresh.

Plastic is composed of polymers—typically made from fossil fuels—that allow it to be malleable or rigid, flimsy or durable. These qualities make plastic useful for a variety of purposes but also allow it to persist in the environment. Instead of biodegrading, plastic breaks into smaller pieces that can leach chemicals and contaminate water sources.

An estimated 50% of plastic used daily is considered single-use, or disposable items that are designed for short-term functionality but will last in the environment for decades. Plastic pollution has significant impacts locally and globally, which is why reducing single-use plastic continues to be a major focus of Channelkeeper’s work. 

Reducing our reliance on single-use plastic on an individual level can have a real impact, but sometimes it’s hard to know where to begin. Doing a plastic audit is an excellent way to evaluate the amount of plastic you use and use this insight to pinpoint areas where you can reduce your reliance on plastic with zero-waste alternatives. 

How to Conduct a Plastic Audit:

  • Collect the waste you accumulate in one week.
  •  Separate trash by material, placing any plastic items in a separate pile.
  • Estimate the volume or percentage of waste in each pile and write down totals.
  • Make note of any frequently discarded plastic items and ways to avoid plastic waste. What swaps can you make?
  • Set goals to reduce your reliance on plastics. Reflect on these goals on a regular basis and track your progress.

Arianna’s Path to Plastic Reduction

In honor of Plastic Free July, Channelkeeper communications volunteer Arianna McDonald conducted her own week-long plastic audit. Along the way, she learned about her individual plastic usage and found areas where she could reduce her reliance on plastics. We’re grateful for her hard work and her willingness to share these valuable insights from her experience.

Hi, I’m Arianna, a fourth-year university student at UCSB, majoring in political science. My studies at UCSB have inspired me to take personal responsibility for taking care of the environment and practice ways of living more sustainably. In preparation for Plastic Free July (my first one!) I decided to do a plastic audit in order to figure out where most of my plastic waste comes from and to find the best strategy for reducing my overall consumption. Follow along with me to see what I found!

Sunday

I went out for brunch with friends. After our meal, I still had half of my burrito left and chose to use the restaurant’s to-go container, even though it was made of plastic so that I didn’t waste food.

Monday

This morning I went to work out at the campus gym. We’re required to wipe down the equipment after we use it with disposable wipes, which contain plastic fibers. Afterward, I noticed that the oil in my car was low, so I bought a couple of quarts of oil from the gas station, and they came in plastic containers. I went to the library to do some schoolwork and was a bit hungry, so I decided to buy a smoothie. The bottle and label are made of plastic and can possibly be recycled. I had a pear after my dinner and found that the produce sticker was also made of plastic. Produce stickers are so frustrating because a piece of fruit should be the least harmful to the environment to eat, and yet those pesky stickers complicate things! I guess one way to avoid this would be to shop at the farmer’s market. Noted! Next week I’ll bring my own bag and my shopping will be as waste-free as it gets.

Tuesday

Plastic is everywhere–even the label on this glass bottle is made of plastic.

I went on campus to study and had a muffin for breakfast. The muffin came wrapped in plastic wrap inside a plastic bag. I bought a can of tea, which I recycled when I was finished, but the store receipt cannot be recycled or composted since it is coated in toxic materials called Bisphenol A or BPA. My housemates wanted to have a movie night, so we made some hot chocolate and popcorn. The hot chocolate packets and parmesan cheese packets were made out of non-recyclable plastic and plastic-covered paper.

Wednesday

This morning was gloomy, so I decided to make some muffins from a mix. The mix came sealed in a plastic bag. As a busy college student, I consume a lot of caffeine, and with a full day of work ahead, I decided to buy a tea. The drink came in a glass bottle (which I felt good about) but the label was made of plastic. I also kept the receipt because it can’t be recycled or composted.

Thursday

I sipped some tea this morning, and the bag came in a plastic sleeve. Since it was a Thursday and the last day I had class, I decided that I would go visit a brewery downtown with my boyfriend. They gave us wristbands, which are made of a plastic-y paper material. It was a colder night than usual, and we were craving soup, so afterward we went to a restaurant for some ramen. I was unable to finish mine so had to ask for a to-go container to take the rest home. Leftovers 2, me 0.

Friday

Today I finally decided to get rid of my ratty toothbrush and switch it out for a new one. I bought them in a pack so I still have another plastic one, but I decided that after this I am going to get a brush with a bamboo handle that can be composted.

I had a headache while I was at work, so I bought some aspirin from the store, which came in a little plastic sachet. Although this worked in a pinch, I get headaches pretty frequently so in the future I will remember to buy painkillers in bulk and keep them in my car to reduce my single-use plastic use.

Saturday

I went out for brunch for my friend’s birthday. This time, however, I remembered my own container! I felt a little silly whipping it out (especially after I’d finished my entire meal), but my friends were really supportive and commented on what a good idea it was to bring one along. They decided to start bringing their own containers too. Maybe I am finally starting to get the hang of this! Last week I ordered a new bathing suit for summer. It arrived today, shipped in plastic packaging. The tags also had a plastic coating, and the sizing stickers were made of plastic. I purchased the swimsuit from a Black-owned company that uses sustainable practices, which I value and felt was worth the tradeoff. I also received some mail from the city, and they used those envelopes with a little plastic window to display my address. Although these are accepted in recycling facilities, I decided to count it as plastic waste because I am uncertain as to whether or not these items are actually being recycled.

Key Takeaways

As I finish out the week, I am beginning to notice a few themes in my plastic consumption. My busy schedule and hectic days often lead me to be unprepared, and therefore I find myself turning to plastic products for convenience. I found that most of my plastic consumption comes from food and drink packaging since I am on the go and eat out pretty frequently. If I can remember to keep a reusable to-go container with me in my bag, and maybe pack some of my snacks/meals at home to take with me, I could use less plastic and packaging.

Overall, the plastic audit was really helpful. The insights that I gathered by evaluating my usage will help guide my plastic reduction strategy in the coming months. I look forward to making choices that will benefit the environment and might even save me money in the long run.   

Santa Barbara Channelkeeper’s Plastic Film Festival

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Watch, Learn & Take Action

Plastic pollution is a mounting global concern, and it has significant impacts locally, which is why reducing single-use plastic continues to be a major focus of Channelkeeper’s work.  In an effort to help educate and inspire our community, we’ve compiled a list of seven informative films about plastic that are available to stream online. It’s the perfect opportunity to host a documentary film festival in the comfort of your home.

People often think of plastic pollution as litter. However, plastic pollution is more than the clutter of single-use items that wash down storm drains and collect on our beaches. Plastic has severe consequences throughout its lifecycle. From oil drilling and refining to plastic production and waste, every stage is detrimental to human health, and these harmful processes have created a social justice crisis, since the most vulnerable communities are often disproportionately affected.   

Plastics are poisoning our bodies through the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Recent studies show that on average, each of us consumes a credit-card-sized amount of microplastics every week, which can carry toxic chemicals such as carcinogens and endocrine disrupters.  

Plastic is also a contributor to climate change. More than 99% of plastic is made from fossil fuels. Today, about 4-8% of annual global oil consumption is associated with plastics, according to the World Economic Forum. Plastic production is expected to more than double over the next three decades. If this reliance on plastics persists, plastics will account for 20% of oil consumption by 2050.  

Channelkeeper continues to work locally to educate the community about the impacts of single-use plastic and ways to reduce its use, while also continuing to advocate for local policies to reduce single-use plastic and helping to set an example for the state. With studies predicting that plastic pollution in the ocean will likely triple over the next decade, we recognize the urgency of taking immediate action to address this crisis. 

We invite you to watch these films, discuss them–and then join us in taking action.

A Plastic Ocean  (1hr 42m)
Available on: Netflix or Amazon
This 2016 documentary follows a team of scientists and researchers as well as record-breaking freediver and activist Tanya Streeter, as they travel to 20 different locations across the globe. Directed by journalist Craig Leeson, the film juxtaposes beautiful shots of the ocean with contrasting views of polluted cities and landfills teeming with rubbish. The film reveals how plastic in the ocean gets mistaken for food by marine animals, and goes on to harm organisms all the way up the food chain, including humans. 

Frontline’s Plastic Wars (54m)
Stream on PBS
FRONTLINE and NPR team up to investigate the surge of plastic waste in the environment. Plastic Wars reveals how plastic makers have publicly promoted recycling for decades, despite privately expressing doubts that widespread plastic recycling would ever be economically viable.

Inside the Garbage of the World (54m)
Available on: Amazon Prime
This film explores the plastic island in the Pacific and reveals that the situation is actually more dire than anyone anticipated. Directors Philippe and Maxine Carillo evoke a sense of urgency in changing our behavior in order to preserve our planet and our way of life. 

Microplastic Madness  (1hr 16m)
Vimeo Trailer / Available on YouTube
Told from a child’s perspective, this film follows 56 fifth graders from Brooklyn as they investigate plastic pollution in their community. They collect data which they use to inform policy and set out to rid their cafeteria of all plastic.

Plastic China (1 hr, 22 m)
Available on: Amazon Prime
This film relates the story of people in China who live surrounded by plastic. Tons and tons of plastic are exported to China to be recycled and manufactured into something new. Yi-Jie is an 11-year-old girl whose family lives in one of these waste workshops. Plastic China shows the price that living and working under these circumstances has on their health and way of life.

Plastic Paradise (57m)
Available for rent on Amazon
This film takes us to Midway Atoll, an unincorporated territory of the US off Hawaii, and the site of the Battle of Midway during WWII. In the middle of the Pacific Ocean with no civilization nearby, the atoll has become a collection site for the waste of the world. Brought in by the currents and tides, the atoll is littered with a massive amount of plastic and garbage that is degrading the paradise which surrounds it, which has become the case all over the Pacific, leading it to be dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Journalist Angela Sun narrates, writes, and directs the film, interviewing a variety of ocean experts, scientists, and advocates.

The Story of Plastic (1hr 35m)
Available on: DiscoveryGo or for rent on Amazon 
With powerful insight, this eye-opening film provides a comprehensive look at the global plastic pollution crisis and the ways in which the oil and gas industry has manipulated the narrative around it. The film highlights the fact that, as consumers, our everyday choices add up. 

Tracing the Path of Trash

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Text by Arianna McDonald


On a morning walk last week, I picked up a half-buried candy wrapper on the beach. The plastic film and blue lettering seemed so out of place against the sand. I wondered: how had it ended up here? 

I imagined that someone was hungry and bought a convenience store snack. They may have put the wrapper in their pocket, intending to throw it away later. Perhaps it fell out before they could. Blown by the wind, it found its way into a gutter or storm drain, and rainwater carried it through the network of storm pipes into streams. Eventually, the wrapper ended up in the ocean.

Santa Barbara has an elaborate network of storm drains that carries water away from urban areas (page 8), but the stormwater it conveys is not filtered for debris or treated before it enters the ocean. Runoff from irrigation, residential car washing, and sidewalk and parking lot washing can pick up pollutants and carry them through storm drains and waterways to the ocean. 

In 2011 the City of Santa Barbara installed screens in front of storm drains in order to catch trash and other debris from finding their way into the water system. However, these screens retract during times of rainfall to prevent flooding, allowing debris that has collected to enter the drains.

Each year, 5 to 14 million tons of debris flows into the ocean from coastal areas. Not only can it be toxic to aquatic wildlife and humans, this pollution degrades the water quality and also destroys the beauty of our oceans and beaches that we swim and play in. 

Plastic doesn’t biodegrade in the ocean like natural materials do. Once in the ocean, UV exposure, weather, and heat cause the plastic debris to break down into smaller and smaller pieces, known as microplastics. These microplastics cannot be easily removed because they become so small. Fish and other marine life may ingest the plastic pieces, blocking their digestive tracts and changing their eating habits, which can influence their growth and reproduction.  

Toxins and pollutants can bind to the surfaces of microplastics. When these tiny pieces are ingested, they can spread toxic chemicals throughout the food chain. Researchers have also found that smaller particles, or nanoplastics, can permeate tissues and organs, and affect a variety of species when small creatures are consumed by bigger fish and mammals, including people.

A recent study revealed that the rate of plastic consumed by fish has doubled within the last decade and is increasing by more than 2% each year. Two-thirds of the species that had ingested plastic were species that are commercially fished, indicating that human consumption will likely increase in parallel. 

These microplastics can be found all over the ocean, including in the deep sea, and frozen in Arctic sea ice. It’s estimated that 269 thousand tons of plastic are floating in the ocean, with more being added every day. 

Statistics such as these underscore the importance of responsible litter disposal. They serve as a reminder that each of us can take steps to help keep plastic waste out of storm drains and prevent it from entering our oceans. We can choose to be part of the solution–one candy wrapper at a time.

How you can help:
  • Refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle. Choose reusable items and use fewer disposable ones (e.g., bring your own reusable bags).
  • Make sure any waste you produce (plastics, technology, etc) is disposed of properly, whether that be sending them to landfill, recycling, or e-waste drop-off sites. Being diligent about discarding your garbage properly is key to keeping it out of our oceans.
  • Stop the flow of trash to the sea by helping keep streets, sidewalks, parking lots, and storm drains free of garbage. Learn more about how the path trash takes to the ocean and download our Watershed Wise poster here.
  • Get involved! Join Channelkeeper’s Watershed Brigade! Conduct clean-ups in your neighborhood, at a creek, beach, or anywhere and invite others to help keep the beaches and oceans clean.

Watershed Hero: Joy Downing Riley

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Some people see a problem and wonder how others will solve it—but not Joy Downing Riley. When she noticed that litter was impacting marine life along one of her favorite coastal areas—the Rincon Parkway—she leaped into action, not only by picking up trash herself but by addressing the issue at its upstream source.

Joy believes in the power of individual action to create positive change and over the years she’s served the community in a variety of volunteer roles. Until last spring, she volunteered as a literacy coach. But when the pandemic made it too risky to meet in person, she looked for other ways to give back and joined Santa Barbara Channelkeeper’s Watershed Brigade to help remove trash from public places. In the past nine months, she’s become a star volunteer—and a true Watershed Hero.

The Rincon Parkway, the stretch of beach along the Pacific Coast Highway between Emma Wood State Beach and Mussel Shoals, is a special place to Joy. It’s a vantage point from which she enjoys watching wildlife while taking in the island views and the ever-changing light. She appreciates that the Parkway is accessible to all and loves seeing the happiness on people’s faces–from fishermen and surfers to families.

When stay-at-home orders went in to place in March of 2020 and people looked to outdoor areas for recreation, Joy noticed an increase in the use of this area and observed more trash along the road making its way to the beach. She felt it was important to be out there cleaning the area, educating the community, and doing something positive.

Her experience locating and assessing stranded California sea lions and seals as a volunteer for Channel Island Marine and Wildlife Institute has provided her with firsthand insight into the trash eco-system while also fostering a sense of personal responsibility for the marine life. She has observed the impact that our trash and human street waste have on sensitive areas along the coast as the flow of stormwater runoff carries litter to the ocean and notes the direct connection between the health of wildlife and humans.

“Sea lions are important to study. They are sentinel mammals, and their health can be indicative of a number of environmental concerns,” she explains. “The trash we tend drop on the ground or let blow from trash cans, ends up in our roadsides, culverts, barrancas, and eventually in the ocean. Our degrading debris is toxic to wildlife.”

During her time clearing trash and debris from the Parkway, she’s seen beer bottles strewn by visitors, she’s watched dump trucks unload heaps of dirt, people change their oil, discard Styrofoam to-go food containers, diapers, dog waste, tangled fishing line, and cigarette butts (she once collected 150 in a ¼ mile radius), but she believes that when people know better, they do better.

Beyond cleaning litter from the coastal roadway and beach areas, Joy has taken measures to address litter at the source by educating the public and connecting with companies and public agencies to ask for their help. She talks with people and shares her passion for keeping trash out of waterways and habitats clean.

“My sense is that if people had a better understanding of ecosystems—and the flow of trash to the sea—that they would be more cautious about litter.”

While doing clean-ups in the neighborhood near Telegraph Road and Ventura College, she regularly noticed 10-12 Starbucks cups in the storm drains on her mile and a half route. In Ventura and Santa Barbara open storm drains flow straight to the ocean. So, she made an appointment to talk with the Starbucks manager and together they outlined a strategy to keep cups out of the stormwater system. Their initiatives included new signs reminding customers to dispose of their trash responsibly. She was also able to voice her concerns to the regional Starbucks manager and open a dialogue with local city officials about more expansive litter-prevention actions they could take.

Joy’s enthusiasm is infectious and her presence along this special stretch of roadway has not only shown people that she cares deeply about the Rincon Parkway, it has inspired others to join in.

“It’s as if my presence there—seeing me in my gloves and mask picking up trash has given people permission to go out there and do something positive too. That feels good.”

Joy is living proof of the power of citizen action. By doing regular clean-ups, meeting with store managers and City agencies, and launching an educational campaign to increase public awareness of the path trash takes through storm drains and creeks to the ocean, she has contributed to a community-wide movement and has empowered others to take steps toward creating change.

We are profoundly grateful.

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