In this E-Letter:
Celebrate the 4th with Kindness to Earth & Others
Love for the Ocean: Next Round of Summerland Oil Capping to Start
Maire Radis Joins HTO Advisory Board
Wendy Pelayo Graduates and Joins HTO Staff
Going Forward with Environmental and Social Justice
Please be Safe this Weekend
CELEBRATING THE 4TH WITH KINDNESS TO EARTH AND OTHERS
In the middle of a pandemic and extreme partisanship, it is difficult for many to feel positiveness and love, but at Heal the Ocean we believe we can get there by simple measures. Starting in our own back yards – let us not light firecrackers that might start fires and/or scare animals, let's look around to see if a neighbor (especially the elderly) could use some help, let us respect each other in practicing good-health, anti-virus-spreading behavior, and very importantly, let us be kind to our environment by packing out our trash this holiday.
On this last note, Heal the Ocean has produced and has posted “Pack Your Trash/Leave No Trace” posters at various Santa Barbara beach parks, to encourage beachgoers to please not overfill bins and to pack out what won’t fit in those bins. Thank you, Alison Thompson, for designing the poster! Thank you Maire Radis for getting them posted! Please, everyone, take care.
LOVE FOR THE OCEAN: NEXT ROUND OF SUMMERLAND OIL CAPPING TO START
North Star
Treadwell.
All images by Harry Rabin/On the Wave Productions
Some good and loving news for the ocean, and for all beachgoers who love Summerland Beach: the next round of construction work will begin this month (July/August) on capping more leaking oil wells.
When COVID required California Governor Gavin Newsom to slash the state budget, Heal the Ocean was worried about the fate of the $3-$4 million needed to continue the well-capping projects in Summerland. The good news came to us that the funding from SB44 (Hannah-Beth Jackson) is safe, and the next phase of work will begin. State Lands Commission has advised HTO that the contract has been awarded to InterAct contractors for the next 6 wells, with 1-3 wells capped each budget year. Next up: “North Star” – the awful oil mess coming from under the beach, mapped by InterAct with the help of HTO Advisory Board Harry Rabin, who has been assisting InterAct contractors with his sophisticated drone and underwater equipment from his company, On the Wave Productions. While the workboat is here for the North Star job, the hope is to also cap the notorious Treadwell Offshore well, which has been tackled before, but so far, not successfully.
MAIRE RADIS JOINS HTO ADVISORY BOARD
Maire Radis
Many might think “Trash Queen” is not such a wonderful title, but to HTO it is a most honorable crown, and we bestow it to Maire Radis, our newest Advisory Board member. Since COVID, there has been an inordinate amount of trash left on beaches, spilling out of designated trash cans, where birds and the wind pick all of it up and dispense it further. Despite Heal the Ocean enlisting MarBorg Industries for additional pickup, the mess continues. To combat this unabated problem, almost every weekend, Maire Radis, her husband Pat Radis, and the entire Radis family is on the beach at Santa Claus Lane, as well as the beaches of Padaro and Sandyland, picking up trash – sometimes to the tune of 200 to 300 pounds on any given day. Her daughter Corey Radis-Boyce was Heal the Ocean’s Operations Coordinator for 2.5 years, from 2015 to 2018, so Maire joining our Advisory Board keeps it all in the family. Thank you, Maire, for your dedication, your hands-on help to the environment, and welcome aboard!
WENDY PELAYO GRADUATES, JOINS HTO STAFF
Wendy Pelayo
In June 2020, former HTO intern Wendy Pelayo, a first-generation college student, graduated from UCSB with a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies, and with this graduation, she is now on the HTO staff full-time. Since March 2019, Wendy has managed our Facebook and Instagram pages, she has helped with outreach for our Styrofoam program, and she has kept track of pertinent news important to us. Wendy continues her work with HTO as our Outreach Associate. We feel fortunate to keep her!
GOING FORWARD WITH ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Plastic waste dumped in Malaysia. Image from Greenpeace (www.greenpeace.org/international/story/21792/plastic-waste-environmental-justice/)
As a 1% For the Planet Recipient, Heal the Ocean has been in conference with other environmental groups as to how we put environmental and social justice to work within the context of our mission of a clean, plastic-free, healthy ocean. Starting one step at a time, we see how a clean ocean benefits all people, but in particular, bypassing plastic for renewables helps lessen waste and waste disposal, which ends up in landfills next to low-income neighborhoods, and which also fills the ocean with the stuff that drifts to faraway islands, where indigenous people have to handle a problem they didn't produce. Heal the Ocean remains committed to lessening the pollution that hurts all people of all nations from freely enjoying the ocean.
This message from a recent 1% For the Planet Newsletter is particularly helpful for guiding all of us in the right direction as we move forward:
Nonprofits fighting for social & environmental justice
At 1% for the Planet, we state our purpose plainly and passionately: We exist to ensure that our planet and future generations thrive. Achieving this goal means addressing both environmental and racial justice.
We've outlined a list of nonprofit organizations working at the pivotal intersection of race and the environment. These partners tackle issues ranging from food insecurity and urban agriculture to inclusivity and leadership in the environment and climate advocacy.
We're committed to using our platform to amplify the voices and grassroots organizations combatting injustices. While the list of supported nonprofits in our network continues to grow, we encourage you to refer any organization that works on social and environmental justice to join.
Let’s rewrite our environmental story, together.
1% for the Planet is proof that when we all decide to do just a little bit more, those small collective actions add up to a world of difference. To date, our network has directed more than $253 million to the environment. That giving represents thousands of unique stories—from businesses, individuals, and nonprofits—making the world a better place.
We created our be 1% better site—an interactive, educational showcase of our network’s impact—to tell those stories and to inspire people to do more, take action and be 1% better. What’s your story?