Santa Barbara Channelkeeper

Keeping Watch for Clean Water

Outreach

Welcome Aboard, Ted!

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We’re thrilled to welcome Ted Morton as Channelkeeper’s new Executive Director. 

Ted brings an impressive list of professional accomplishments and skills, as well as 25 years of experience in ocean conservation. 

Ted joins Channelkeeper from The Pew Charitable Trusts, where he directed the organization’s oceans’ programmatic work at the federal level. Prior to that, he directed a campaign to improve the international trade of coral reef wildlife at the Environmental Defense Fund and served as the vice president of organizational effectiveness and operations at SeaWeb. He’s extremely knowledgeable and passionate about environmental conservation and we’re thrilled to work with him to protect our coastal waters.

We took a moment recently to ask Ted a few questions about his interests, his background, and his enthusiasm for preserving the rich wildlife, ecosystems, and water quality in and around the Santa Barbara Channel.

1.       What makes you excited to work in our area?

Santa Barbara is such a special place. On a personal level, being involved in protecting the richness of the area–the waters, wildlife, the habitats–is very exciting to me. I’ve worked in ocean conservation for more than 25 years, but primarily in Washington D.C. on efforts to influence policy in agencies and on Capitol Hill. I’ve never had a daily, direct connection to what I was working to protect. It was distant. So being able to work in a community where I can see and appreciate what makes the area so special and the results of protection are really exciting to me. I look forward to helping monitor Goleta streams, joining public education efforts on the Channelkeeper’s boat, and advocating for a healthy, clean Channel, in addition to working with community members who are passionate about the place where we live and work. Channelkeeper does amazing work. I cannot wait to settle in, get started, and build on its record of accomplishments.

2. What are you most proud of? Is there an environmental accomplishment that stands out?

That would probably be the passage of the National Beach Bill. When I first started working at American Oceans Campaign in 1993, it was one of the first projects that were handed to me. It was, go out and build cosponsors. Get members of Congress to sign on saying that they support the bill and would like to see it move. It took time. We made changes. There was a significant public education effort and it involved leading a lot of advocates throughout the country and in Washington D.C. I was persistent in building up support for it and eventually, it did pass with solid bipartisan support in 2000. It was modeled on what California was doing, but took it to a national level. That’s the accomplishment that I’m most proud of because the passage of the National Beach Bill set federal standards for beach water testing protocols and practices.

3.       What’s your favorite aquatic pastime?

 I love to swim, kayak, snorkel and I enjoy walking along the beach early in the morning or late in the evening. I hope that I’ll find time to take on some new activities in the upcoming year like paddleboarding.

4.       Was there a defining moment in your childhood that led you to environmental work?

Yes. It was in college, actually, when I helped form the environmental club at Furman University. I also did an internship during my junior year with the National Audubon Society. I spent 10 weeks in Washington D.C. My supervisor was moving from Utah and didn’t give me enough work to do during the first two weeks so I went up and down the hall and gathered assignments from many different programs, from grassroots volunteer initiatives and endangered species policy to data input on ancient forests in the Pacific Northwest. That was a defining moment that launched me into environmental policy as a career path.

But if you asked my mother, she would tell you that I’ve always been an environmental advocate and that I was really into recycling when I was in elementary school. 

5.       If you were a marine organism what would you be and why?

I would be a large pelagic fish like a bluefin tuna or a swordfish because they travel long distances and I really enjoy travel. They are also pretty charismatic, fast swimmers, and high up on the food chain.

6.       Do you believe that local actions can have a larger global impact?

Absolutely. Local actions show that change is possible and they can inspire people in other places as well. Today, with the internet and social media, we have platforms that allow us to learn about what people are doing all across the world. A local initiative can create meaningful change that can have far-reaching influence. And when other communities implement the same change, it can help inform policy, so that changes can become standard in other areas throughout a county, region, or nation.

If you would like to connect with Ted to personally welcome him, you can reach him at [email protected].

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. 

The 411 on Film Plastic Recycling in Santa Barbara

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Plastic film – also known as plastic film packaging – is soft, lightweight polyethylene packaging used for grocery, bread, zip-lock, and dry-cleaning bags. It’s also used as a wrapper around products such as paper plates, napkins, bathroom tissue, and diapers.

Many recyclers don’t accept film plastics because the material is often contaminated or torn in the recycling bin, thereby losing its value. Film plastics such as plastic bags also tend to jam up sorting conveyor belts at recycling facilities, causing the machines to be shut down.

However, Santa Barbara has a vibrant film plastics recycling program that was launched by Sasha Ablitt, owner of Ablitt’s Fine Cleaners. After taking over her family’s dry-cleaning business, Ablitt noticed the mounting plastic waste that the company was generating from single-use garment bags, and she was determined  to find a more environmentally friendly solution. She discovered a handful of companies that accept bags and convert them into plastic pellets. She began gathering film plastic and purchased a machine to bale and compress it before sending on for recycling. The film plastic is picked up by a company called Trex, that melts it down and mixes it with virgin plastic to create home and garden products, including outdoor decking materials.

In 2018, after several years of recycling her business’s film plastic, Ablitt realized the program could also serve as a collection site for the public. Santa Barbara Channelkeeper and the Community Environmental Council (CEC) partnered with Ablitt’s Fine Cleaners to provide additional support and create more public drop off centers. Channelkeeper and CEC—with the help of volunteers—hand-sort the plastic and perform quality control checks to ensure that the materials are high-quality and able to be recycled.  Since this program became open to the public, 12,000 pounds of film plastic have been recycled.

At the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak, the film plastic recycling project was temporarily suspended.  However, as businesses began to re-open so did the film plastic project, but on an appointment-only basis. Drop off centers at Santa Barbara Channelkeeper and CEC offices as well as at Ablitt’s Fine Cleaners are again accepting film plastic for recycling. Ablitt’s is hosting film plastic drop off events that you can register for by signing up to be on their film plastic email list. CEC and Channelkeeper serve as additional drop off locations and are available by appointment only. More information for CEC and Ablitt’s drop offs is available on their websites. To set up an appointment for drop off at Channelkeeper’s office send us an email at [email protected].

From now on, there will also be training requirements to participate in the program, in order to avoid sorting errors and contamination issues. Community members will now have to sort their own film plastic with a trained volunteer or staff person, and will have to take home any plastic waste that is not accepted for recycling. We greatly appreciate everyone’s efforts to recycle and your commitment to doing it properly.

What you can recycle:

  • Retail, carryout, newspaper, dry cleaning bags (clean, dry, and free of receipts and clothes hangers)
  • Bread bags or tortilla bags turned INSIDE OUT and shaken free of crumbs
  • Plastic shipping envelopes (remove labels/tape as best you can), bubble wrap, and air pillows (deflate)
  • Product wrap on cases of water/soda bottles, paper towels, napkins, disposable cups, bathroom tissue, diapers, and female sanitary products
  • Furniture and electronic wrap
  • Film plastics with a recycle number 2 and 4
  • White Amazon mailers
  • Clean ziplock bags (remove zipper tabs)

    PRO TIP: If the plastic stretches with your thumb and rips in a jagged edge, it is recyclable. If it crinkles and rips straight, it is not recyclable.

Another tip that a community member shared with us that has helped with the sorting is to keep plastic that you weren’t sure if it is accepted in a separate bag from all the good clean and dry film plastic.

**April 2021** Channelkeeper has resumed film plastic collection at our office.

Please note that all drop off locations are now available by appointment only. Please email [email protected] if you would like to schedule a drop-off at Channelkeeper’s office. To sign up to receive info about film plastic collection events at Ablitt’s, please visit https://ablitts.com/filmplastic/. We are also asking community members to come prepared to sort their own film plastic with a staff or trained volunteer and to take home any plastic not accepted.


Environmental Actions You Can Take While Social Distancing

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[En Español]

The Santa Barbara Channelkeeper team sincerely hopes you are healthy and safe in the face of this unprecedented moment in our history. As our community navigates these uncertain times, Channelkeeper is continuing our work to protect the health of our environment and our community by advocating for clean water, combatting pollution, monitoring water quality, and advancing climate-smart water supply strategies for the South Coast—all while practicing social distancing. And you can too.

The weeks ahead may be tumultuous, but they may also provide additional opportunities to observe nature closely and notice the miracles amid the mundane. We encourage you to take time to connect with your waterways and take positive actions to protect them. We’ve put together some easy ways for you to do just that while also observing social distancing and keeping yourself and others safe. Please join us!

1) Review your household water use with a water audit to see where you can effectively implement conservation measures.

2) Take a tour of your yard to determine how much water your landscaping really needs, where you can capture rain, disconnect downspouts, and reduce imperviousness. Use the CA Water Budget Program and check your sprinkler system for leaks to stay on track with your water savings. Contact Channelkeeper to get a beautiful 60-gallon oak barrel repurposed from aging wine into a rain barrel and start harvesting the rain!

3) Plant a water-wise organic garden. Whether you plant veggies and herbs to feed your family, native shrubs, or a pollinator sanctuary, planting a garden will nourish your spirit.

4) Filter your fleece. Use the time at home to wash all of your favorite fuzzy clothing without sending micro-fibers down the drain and out to the ocean with the help of a micro-fiber filtering bag.

5) Clean up your beach or creek – After the recent rains there is a lot of trash littering our local creeks and beaches. Protect the ocean while also enjoying a healthy dose of fresh air. Grab a bucket, glove up, and head out!

6) Survey your kitchen, refrigerator, and pantry for single-use plastics. Find ways to reduce your plastic dependency and document your plastic reduction strategies on social media.

7) Sign a plastic reduction petition to support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, a bill that holds the plastics industry, beverage makers, and other companies financially responsible for dealing with the waste they create.

8) Educate yourself about important water issues facing our community. Read up on oil platform decommissioning or Channelkeeper’s efforts to restore flows to the Ventura River. Learn about ocean acidification, sea level rise, or other relevant local water topics on Channelkeeper’s website.

9) Explore your watershed. Go on a hike along a creek. Getting out in nature is good for the body and the soul. Walk on the beach and feel the texture of rain-spattered sand beneath your bare feet. Close your eyes and listen for the whistle of songbirds overhead or the gurgle of water. Maybe you’ll find a prism in a puddle.

10) Amazon Smile: If you’re shopping from home (hello hand sanitizer and toilet paper!), please use Amazon Smile and select Santa Barbara Channelkeeper as your beneficiary of choice. It costs you nothing but makes a difference for Channelkeeper and local water quality!

11) Connect and engage with us on social media. Talk to us on Facebook and Instagram. We want to hear about how you are keeping your spirits up, working for the environment, and finding community while practicing social distancing.

12) Peruse an ocean-inspired classic book like The Sea Around Us, Blue Hope: Exploring and Caring for the Earth’s Magnificent Ocean, of Log From the Sea of Cortez. Enjoy ocean poetry paired with paintings in Santa Barbara artist Mary Heebner’s On the Blue Shore of Silence.

13) Listen to a NOAA podcast to explore beneath the ocean’s surface without ever getting wet.

14) Check out this recent TV interview with Channelkeeper’s executive director Kira Redmond on TVSB’s 805 Focus.

15) Start a Facebook Fundraiser for Channelkeeper. Ask your friends to join you in supporting clean water! Whether they donate $5 or $500, every contribution makes an impact.

The coming months are likely going to test our health care system, our economy, and our society. That’s why it is so important that communities like ours face this challenge together and find ways to help and support one another. We’ll offer more community resources and opportunities to show your love for the ocean in the coming weeks, and we hope to hear from you! In the meantime, we hope you stay healthy and safe!

In solidarity,

The Channelkeeper team

[En Español]

Celebrating 20 Years of Clean Water and Community Impact

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For 20 years Santa Barbara Channelkeeper has served our community as a vigilant watchdog and tenacious advocate for the Santa Barbara Channel and its watersheds. We’ve successfully championed stronger policies to better protect our water resources, stopped scores of illegal discharges into the Santa Barbara Channel and its tributaries, removed tons of trash from local beaches and creeks, collected and leveraged much-needed scientific data on the health of our streams, beaches and Channel, engaged 4,500 volunteers in our programs, provided environmental education and exploration for 36,000 youth, and so much more.

None of these achievements would have been possible without the generous support of our community and the many partners we’ve worked with over the years. We are deeply grateful, honored and uplifted by the support and trust our community has invested in Channelkeeper over the past two decades to help us become such a powerful and effective force for clean water.

Channelkeeper will be celebrating our 20th anniversary throughout 2020, and I invite you to join the party, because we’ll also be celebrating you! Through a series of fun initiatives and events, we will reflect back on our clean water victories over the past two decades, provide opportunities for our community to explore and connect with the waterways we love and work so hard to protect, and honor and appreciate those who have helped us grow and succeed along the way.

For a sneak peek at what’s to come, in the next few weeks we’ll be unveiling a beautiful new website, launching a super fun new community engagement initiative called the Channelkeeper Challenge, and rolling out the first of a series of multi-media profiles recognizing and appreciating twenty Channelkeeper Heroes who have supported our organization and work over the past 20 years.

Stay tuned for other ways to join in the fun of Channelkeeper’s year-long celebration of making waves for two decades!

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