| Save Our Shores News & Events | |
BaitTanks Decrease Cigarette Butt Litter Over 70%!
Recent da ta collected in Santa Cruz and Capitola only two months after the first BaitTanks were installed proves the BaitTanks are one of the most successful pollution prevention methods around. And with cigarette butts continually being the #1 littered item around the world, not to mention toxic and harmful to the marine environment, Save Our Shores is happy to report an impressive 77% decrease in cigarette butt litter near the BaitTanks on the Santa Cruz Wharf! In Capitola, a 60% decrease in cigarette butt litter has been reported near the BaitTanks. We are incredibly pleased with these results, to say the least!
Save some fish. Feed your cigarette butts to a BaitTank instead.
There are now 18 BaitTanks installed on the Santa Cruz Wharf, on Beach Street, at Capitola Beach, and along the Capitola Esplanade. Stay tuned to saveourshores.org for information on our No Butts About It Campaign.
Adopt-a-Beach Informational Meetings
When: Tues, Feb. 8th, 8-9am AND Thurs, Feb. 17th, 4:30-6pm
Where: Santa Cruz Harbor Community Room @ 365A Lake Dr. by SOS
Is your school or business interested in helping your community and the environment at the very same time? Have you heard about the Save Our Shores Adopt-a-Beach program and have always wanted to learn more?
Join Save Our Shores for an informational meeting about how your group can easily become the next Adopt-a-Beach group in our community. At the meeting you'll learn all about how to apply, run a beach cleanup, and hear about an option available to you to help offset Adopt-a-Beach fees through online fundraising. We hope to see you there!
An Update on Local Efforts to Ban Plastic Bags
Save Our Shores staff, volunteers, and one of our favorite Bag Monsters attended the County of Santa Cruz's Public Information Meeting on Jan. 26th to deliver letters and petition signatures in support of the Single-Use Bag Reduction Ordinance in Santa Cruz County.
The County Board of Supervisors for SC County states the final vote for this important environmental  ordinance will occur by April, where the ordinance would then be fully implemented into law within six months. But with bag bans swiftly passing around the nation nearly every week these days, we have to wonder - what's taking so long? Just last week, the County of Marin and the City of Santa Monica passed their own local bans on single-use plastic bags with ease, following the City of San Jose just last month and the County of Los Angeles the month before.
The Central Coast Sanctuary Alliance has now grown to 25 environmental groups strong, and is currently seeking Supporting Businesses to sign-on to the Alliance. If you are a business owner, or know a business owner who might be interested in signing onto the Alliance in support of local bans on single-use plastic bags around Monterey Bay, please contact lauren@saveourshores.org. Sign our petition to ban the bag today!
Last Call: Apply by Feb. 10th
to Become a Sanctuary Steward in 2011
The 2011 Steward course is almost full! Are you looking for a way to give back? Do you want to become a volunteer leader of Save Our Shores' beach cleanups, outreach efforts, and education programs? Our Stewards receive a dynamic spring training session that provide them with the knowledge and skills they need for an exciting year of leadership on behalf of our ocean & marine environment.
Today is World Wide Waste Reduction Day
As part of a project aimed at protecting and helping the environment, the 5th grade class of Mount Madonna School is asking everyone to do their part today, World Wide Waste Reduction Day, by holding your own personal cleanup outdoors, be it on the beach or on your street. The students request people to take a picture of their actions and email it to them at: mms.5th.grade@gmail.com.
From the students: "All of our world is part of a watershed. When trash is thrown outside it makes its way to a water source which eventually goes to the ocean. When trash is in the ocean, animals mistake it for food...it fills their stomach and they cannot eat, causing their death. They also get wrapped up in trash and die."
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| Save Our Shores Volunteers Needed! |
- February 1st, ALL DAY: Waste Reduction Day, inspired by the 5th Grade Class of Mount Madonna School (see story above). Hold your own cleanup at any outdoor space near you!
- February 12th, 10am-Noon: Monterey Monthly Beach Cleanup at Carmel Beach in Carmel-by-the-Sea.
- February 19th, 10am-Noon: Santa Cruz Monthly Beach Cleanup at Twin Lakes Beach.
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Take Action!
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Tell the FDA: Genetic Engineered Salmon Should NOT be Approved, and at the very least, it MUST be Labeled
TAKE ACTION Against GE Fish! Each year, millions of farmed salmon escape into the wild where they outcompete wild populations for food and resources. This creates a strain on wild salmon populations. Any approval of GE salmon would impose a serious threat to native and wild salmon populations, most of which have been in decline for decades.
The human health impacts of eating GE salmon are completely unknown, but scientific research into other GE/GMO foods show many health risks associated with consuming GE/GMO food products.
Help keep GE fish out of our oceans by signing the petition today!
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Award-Winning Play Ibsen Follies to Benefit Save Our Shores
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Save Our Shores is honored to be chosen as the charity organization for Ibsen Follies, playing this month at the West End Studio Theater at 402 Ingalls Street in Santa Cruz. Written by Santa Cruz playwright Skot Davis, the Ibsen Follies is a "farcical comedy of literary rivalry, thwarted love, and Norweigian brooding." The show runs from Feb. 11-27 on Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm. Get tickets to Ibsen Follies today!
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Put on by Walking Light Productions, whose mission is to walk in harmony with their community and environment.
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A BIG THANK YOU to Hula's Island Grille & Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing for your Support!
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 Hula's Island Grill in Santa Cruz donated a portion of proceeds from January's Mahalo Mondays to Save Our Shores! The staff, Board, and friends of Save Our Shores were happy to take part in this generous community giving event. Thanks, Hula's!
Beers for the Ocean at Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing also turned out to be a fantastic beer-drinking benefit for Save Our Shores this month. Turns out asking people to drink beer for a good cause in this town is a no brainer! Thanks, SC Mountain Brewing! | |
Become a Member of Save Our Shores
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Do you or someone you know want to help Save Our Shores keep oil drilling out of Monterey Bay, inform boaters on how to prevent small oil spills in local waters, educate the youth about plastic pollution AND help keep our beaches & rivers clean?
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Want to Help Equilibrium Massage Adopt Pleasure Point?
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 One of our newest Adopt-a-Beach groups, Equilibrium Massage, is getting creating in their efforts to adopt Pleasure Point/The Hook beach, see how here...
"Without clean oceans and beaches our earth cannot restore equilibrium."
-Equilibrium Massage
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Thank You Donors For Saving Our Shores |
We want to thank the following individuals for Saving Our Shores online during the month of January:
- Doug Abrams in honor of Eliana Abrams
- Sonya Newlyn
- Shawn Padilla in honor of Susie & Russ Wise
- Sheryl Schultz in honor of Zoey Upshur
- Martha Ture in honor of Jessica Nemire-Turey
- Doris & Bob Witte
- Mark Yaghmai
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Thank You
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| Save Our Shores
thanks our many volunteers, sponsors, partners, and contributors for
helping Save Our Shores continue our work of caring for the marine
environment through Ocean Awareness, Advocacy, and Citizen Action!
The ocean and its inhabitants thank you, too.
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SOS: Winner of Best Non-Profit of 2010!
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