THE GREAT PUMPKIN TO LAND IN SUMMERLAND – THE CURTIN BARGE!
Help Sea Birds: Please Cut your Mask Strings!
The Real Skinny on Plastic Recycling
PLEASE VOTE – Early and Safely
What do YOU vote for? (Jack’s I Vote For Video)
HTO's Imaginary Gala nearly sold out!
HTO Newsletter - coming to a mailbox near you!
A Trashy Great Pumpkin to Land in Summerland - A Curtin Maritime Barge!
Curtin Barge at the 2018 Becker Well capping. Photo by Harry Rabin/On the Wave Productions
Just in time for Halloween, a Curtin Maritime Barge is arriving off Summerland Beach between October 23-27, 2020, to begin the capping of two leaking oil wells – Treadwell Offshore and NorthStar (“The Ramp”). The California State Lands Commission (SLC) has booked the workboat for two weeks, for this work, which will be funded by $3-$4 million of Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson’s SB 44 money, which is earmarked for cleaning up leaking “legacy wells,” abandoned along the California coastline.
Since the successful capping of Becker Well in February 2018, HTO Advisory Board member Harry Rabin has been relentless in pushing forward this next round of cleanup. Working for over a year with SLC-contracted InterAct engineers Mike Giuliani & Eric Kroh, Harry helped mapped out the exact locations of these wells using sophisticated drone and diving equipment. NorthStar is leaking under the beach, while Treadwell is located in shallow water offshore, both wells often rendering the waters of this popular beach impossible to swim in.
Heal the Ocean loves sharing these glad tidings at a time there is so much hardship in the world. Cleaning up the ocean will proceed ahead, no matter what!
Ear Loops of Masks Tangling Seabirds
Photo: RSPCA Essex
Please cut the ear loops of your disposable masks before putting them in the trash! Heal the Ocean got the news from the U.K., that hundreds of tangled animals had to be rescued during the lockdown. While face masks have become part of our everyday lives, for animals they are a potential death trap.
HTO called Santa Barbara’s Wildlife Care Network (SBWCN) to check our local situation, and from Claire Gervais SBWCN Director of Communications we have learned that the problem hasn’t developed to a large degree – yet – but that ”… (SBWCN) certainly recommends snipping the ear loops of disposable masks to prevent these injuries.”
Gervais says her organization receives many animals that get tangled up in string, netting, hair, and fishing line. “These injuries are very debilitating and can result in unusable digits, tears in webbing, and deep wounds in legs. Anything an animal can get caught in should be snipped to prevent entanglement and properly disposed of,” Gervais says.
Photo/ Hillary Hauser
It’s Easy!
Plastic Recycling is Not What You Think It Is
Plastic being buried at a landfill. Photo by Laura Sullivan/NPR
Big Oil is promoting plastic recycling to encourage the buying of more plastic, which is made from oil, while plastic is no longer recycled in the U.S. for the most part, and instead, goes into a landfill. An expose by National Public Radio (NPR) airing September 11, 2020, exposed the awful news that almost all of the plastic we gather into our recycling bins goes into the landfill. Since China quit buying our recycled plastics, that purchasing source is gone, says the report, and China was a large purchaser. NPR reported that the oil industry spends millions telling people to recycle, because, as one former top industry insider told NPR, selling recycling sold plastic, even if it wasn't true.
"If the public thinks that recycling is working, then they are not going to be as concerned about the environment," Larry Thomas, former president of the Society of the Plastics Industry, known today as the Plastics Industry Association and one of the industry's most powerful trade groups in Washington, D.C., told NPR. The Answer? Don't buy anything in plastic!
AND THAT GOES FOR PLASTIC BAGS IN SANTA BARBARA, TOO
Heal the Ocean recently chirped the news that certain grocery stores in Santa Barbara had re-installed plastic bag recycling bins outside their stores, and we gave out a list of names and addresses of these stores. We have been lovingly corrected by Kathi King of Community Environmental Council (CEC), who has told us the bags in those recycling bins go into the landfill – what a bummer!
CEC advises all bags – as well as unsoiled wrappers, cleaner’s bags, (clean) bread bags, etc. be taken to Ablitt’s Fine Cleaners, 14 W. Gutierrez Street, Santa Barbara, which collects these items to send to a manufacturer of products made of these materials, products that resemble hardwood. They usually take drop-offs one day per week, but because of COVID, please call first to get a place in line, to avoid crowding - 805 963-6677. Thank you, Ablitts!
Hillary Hauser photo
Please Vote!
We at Heal the Ocean urge you to exercise your right to vote. Please VOTE in this most important election – ever! Election laws have changed for this election because of COVID. Absentee ballots will be processed AND COUNTED, so your vote will be included in Election Night tallying, as it develops. We thank Noozhawk for this interactive map that tells you where the Ballot Boxes are. Put your ballot into one of these boxes, instead of the U.S. Mail.
The candidates and propositions on the ballot are there to represent YOU, a citizen of the United States. It is hugely important you let your voice be heard through your ballot. Please cherish your right to speak up and speak out by voting in this year's election, because, your voice matters.
To register to vote in California or to check your voter registration status, click here.
To track your mail-in ballot please click here.
Jam with Jack
Click the image above to watch Jack’s “I Vote For” video!
From healthy oceans to racial justice and family farming... Jack Johnson reminds us there are so many reasons to vote in the November 3rd election. Check your voter registration status and enter to win a ukulele signed by Jack Johnson!
HTO Imaginary Gala Nearly Sold Out
Please be on the lookout for your invitation with the Flying Whale, which is coming your way! The response has been tremendous for the Party that Never Was and Never Will Be – but which has been so successful because of wonderful sponsorships. Please join us….and Thank you, Everyone!
HTO Newsletter is in the Mail!
Cover Painting (“Sailing West”) by Thomas Van Stein
After months of work, we are excited that our Newsletter will be mailed out this week!
To make sure you receive this beautiful publication, full of interesting and surprising news, please click here and fill out our address form.
Thank you!