Planet versus Plastic-Earth Day 2024

The first Earth Day was celebrated 54 years ago, on April 22, 1970, and has its roots in Santa Barbara. Gaylord Nelson, a US Senator from Wisconsin, founded it after witnessing the impact of a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. At that time, it was the largest oil spill in US history and still ranks at number three, behind only the Deepwater Horizon and Exxon Valdez oil spills. Mr. Gaylord’s vision was to have a “national teach-in on the environment” and energize the public to protect the environment by addressing water and air pollution concerns. Over 20 million Americans participated in that first Earth Day celebration, uniting many in a common cause that had been previously fragmented over several specific environmental concerns.  

This year, Earth Day celebrations are scheduled several days through the month of April and focus on how we can reduce plastic use and demand a 60% reduction in plastic production by 2040.  It is the 60x40 pledge that challenges us to educate ourselves on our choices and the consequences of plastic use, make lifestyle changes, find innovative solutions, and demand change not just as individuals but also from businesses and governments.  The celebrations scheduled provide opportunities to learn about climate change and how it impacts countless species of animals, the health risks plastics pose to us as individuals, how to phase out single-use plastics, the UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution, and other topics.  

Earth Day is also an opportunity to begin having discussions with our family, friends, and neighbors and come together in cooperation. To discuss ideas of how change might look for everyone and how it can happen, even if only one step at a time. Some of these discussions may be challenging, and some choices difficult, but it is necessary to make the time to have the conversations, become educated and make the choices. The reality is we have been blessed to live in a world we have been gifted with its many natural wonders and incredible resources. With that gift, we have also been given a responsibility. The responsibility to take care of it so that our grandchildren’s great-grandchildren will have a place to call home. No matter where you are, we ask you to join us in this effort because you can make a difference with your choices, and together, we can save our beautiful home we call Earth.

Here are a few of the local opportunities to celebrate and learn. On Wednesday, April 17, Cabrillo High School Aquarium will have activities from 6PM-8PM, showcasing how each of us can make our home a better place for all living things. On Saturday, April 20, from 9AM-12PM, join others and help beautify Lompoc’s Drought Tolerant Garden, no experience necessary, or celebrate with the SLO County Earth Day Fair at Laguna Lake Park from 11AM-4PM.  On Sunday, April 21, visit the Santa Barbara Zoo from 10AM-2PM to learn how climate change is impacting so many beloved wild animals.  Additionally, Santa Barbara’s Earth Day Festival returns to Alameda Park on April 27 and 28, honoring its 54-year commitment to engage the community and foster a deeper connection with nature and the environment.  Details for all these events may be found in the links below or visit www.earthday.org to see what is happening worldwide.  We invite you to attend at least one of these many opportunities to learn how you can make a difference for Mother Earth every day because together we can.  

Sources-

https://www.cabrillohighschoolaquarium.org/open-house-dates

https://allevents.in/lompoc/lompocs-drought-tolerant-garden-care-day/200026317979416

http://earthdayalliance.com/earth-day-slo/ 

https://www.edhat.com/news/santa-barbara-earth-day-festival-returns-to-alameda-park-on-april-27-28-2024/

https://www.sbzoo.org/event/earth-day-celebration/ 

https://sbearthday.org

https://www.earthday.org

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969_Santa_Barbara_oil_spill

Make Earth Day Every Day in 2023

The first Earth Day was celebrated 53 years ago, on April 22, 1970, and has its roots in Santa Barbara. Gaylord Nelson, a US Senator from Wisconsin, founded it after witnessing the impact of a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. At that time, it was the largest oil spill in US history and still ranks at number three, behind only the Deepwater Horizon and Exxon Valdez oil spills. Mr. Gaylord’s vision was to have a “national teach-in on the environment” and energize the public to protect the environment by addressing water and air pollution concerns. Over 20 million Americans participated in that first Earth Day celebration, uniting many in a common cause that had been previously fragmented over several specific environmental concerns.  

This year, Earth Day celebrations span the month of April and focus on how we can celebrate and protect our beautiful planet every day, making each day Earth Day. Earth Day can no longer be just a single day dedicated to cleaning up our oceans and reducing plastic use, but rather lifestyle changes that include educating ourselves on our choices. There are opportunities to learn about climate change, protecting public lands, as well as ongoing conservation and biodiversity projects. Or discover how everyday choices, including what we wear, eat, choose to throw away, and how we travel, affect our environment.  

Earth Day is also an opportunity to begin having discussions with our family, friends, and neighbors and come together in cooperation. To discuss ideas of how change might look for everyone and how it can happen, even if only one step at a time. Some of these discussions may be challenging, and some choices difficult, but it is necessary to make the time to have the conversations, become educated and make the choices. The reality is we have been blessed to live in a world we have been gifted with its many natural wonders and incredible resources. With that gift, we have also been given a responsibility. The responsibility to take care of it so that our grandchildren’s great-grandchildren will have a place to call home. No matter where you are, we ask you to join us in this effort because you can make a difference with your choices, and together we can save our beautiful home we call Earth.

Here are a few of the local opportunities to celebrate and learn. AAUW is hosting a conversation with Land Trust of Santa Barbara County Director, Meredith Hendricks, on Monday, 4/17/23, 7PM at the Lompoc Library Grossman Gallery, with plans to post a recording of the presentation for those not able to attend. On Wednesday, April 19, Cabrillo High School Aquarium will have activities from 6PM-8PM, showcasing how each of us can make our home a better place for all living things. Additionally, Saturday, April 22, from 2PM-8PM, Route One Farmers Market is sponsoring an Earth Day celebration at Cold Coast Brewing Company. You can also visit sbearthday.org to learn more about the events in Santa Barbara County, including the Earth Day Festival scheduled for 4/27/22 at Alameda Park in Santa Barbara, or earthday.org to see what is happening worldwide. We invite you to attend at least one of these many opportunities via the links below to learn how you can make a difference for Mother Earth every day because together, we can. 

Sources-

https://www.earthday.org

https://sbearthday.org

https://lompocvandenberg-ca.aauw.net

https://www.cabrillohighschoolaquarium.org/open-house-dates

https://healthylompoc.org/post/March-2023-Healthy-Happenings-Newsletter-exist

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969_Santa_Barbara_oil_spill

It's A Wrap!

With the reality of current environmental challenges, I have begun to make more mindful choices about purchases and how I do things, trying to mitigate my personal impact on our beloved planet as best I can.  With gift giving and all its embellishments now officially on the calendar, I began to wonder if there was a way I could diminish the pile of wrapping paper, gift boxes and ribbon that annually make the trek from my house to the landfill.  Here are some alternatives that I have either used in the past or came across in my research and daydreaming.

Holiday gift bags, for me, are a perfect way to reduce the amount of debris after a round of gift opening and also make for an easy wrap job.  I find I am able to reuse the bags for many years, preferring to use either unbleached or recycled tissue paper in the wrapping process instead of taping the top edges closed. Packaging peanuts and shredded paper that I have saved from other gifts are great alternatives to tissue paper or for filling out a large bag that conceals a much smaller gift.  Final benefit, the bags fold up and are easy to store for future use!

Newspaper, once upon a time, was an easy go to if something needed to be wrapped in a traditional box. Add some ribbon and a card and the appearance would rival any traditional wrap job. Now I may use old wrapping paper that I have recycled (not everyone impatiently rips wrapping paper off a gift, some us us savor the anticipation as we slowly peel the tape carefully up and literally unwrap the item), outdated maps and calendars or colorful magazine pictures.  Again, add some ribbon or a bow and you have a beautiful gift.  Bonus points to me if I am able to match the ‘wrapping’ paper to the gift or individual in some personal way, say tickets to an event wrapped in a map of the area.  

I don’t know about you, but I have an abundance of reusable totes.  Using one of these to wrap a gift in is akin to giving two gifts in one.  The hardest aspect of receiving a tote for me is remembering to take it with me when shopping, thus my overflowing inventory of reusable totes.  Along those same lines are the merchandise bags from some stores, particularly the plain white or brown paper ones.  Add some tissue paper, tie the handles together with a bit of ribbon and you have an instant gift bag.

Other alternatives to gift wrap are bags made of fabric, mesh or hemp, as well as baskets and tins. I love the added texture and dimension the fabric gives to the appearance of the gift as well as how easy it is to use.  Most of the bags have drawstring openings and for those that don’t I use a bit of ribbon for the closure, gathering the material together at the opening and securing it.  In repurposing baskets and tins, just adding some ribbon or tissue paper makes for a unique and festive package. 

One suggestion I came across recently that I am looking forward to trying, is the use of clay flower pots.  Purchasing the basic terra cotta allows you to personalize the ‘wrapping’ with markers or paint as you wish.  Alternatively, simply purchasing a pot that is already glazed can make for a spectacular statement with little effort. Just invert the dish used to collect water on which the pot sits and use it as a lid, concealing the gift inside.  Secure with ribbon, twine or raffia. 

Finally, the icing on the gift.  Beautiful, colorful ribbon.  I had quit using it because of my concerns for the environment but missed the finished look it brings to a gift.  If you want to continue putting that final touch on your packages, fabric ribbon and/or old scarves are wonderful options and may be reused.  They can be tied in bows or wrapped around the package and, depending on the size of the package and width of the ribbon, may reduce the need to use tape.   

There are so many ways we impact the environment in our everyday actions and change is difficult.  I get it.  It is a challenge to do things differently, to not be on autopilot.  But I believe even small changes like how gifts are wrapped are important.  Start with one gift at Christmas this year if this seems overwhelming and challenge others to do the same.  Because the reality is if we each do a little, we all do a lot.  

We each do a little. We all do a lot.

Surf Beach and the Snowy Plover

Surf Beach, a beautifully untamed stretch of coastline, is our local beach and possesses a rather unique history. From race track, to train station, to city, and back to undeveloped sand dunes, it is home to many shore birds, including the Western Snowy Plover.  The impact this small seemingly insignificant bird has had on Surf Beach is almost as great as the train station that is again in existence above the dunes today.

A modest, tiny shore bird, The Western Snowy Plover is approximately six inches in length with grey, brown upper plumage and white under plumage.  It primarily forages for small invertebrates in wet or dry beach-sand and among tide-cast kelp.  The birds nest in the dunes with a breeding season March through September and nests typically host three small eggs.  The parents share in the incubation duties but unlike many other birds, within hours of the eggs hatching, the small fledglings will leave the nest in search of food.  

In 1993 this unassuming, small bird was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and has since become the fulcrum point for Surf Beach visitation seven months of the year.  As Surf Beach is on Federal property, strict interpretation and enforcement of the Endangered Species Act has been observed.  During the nesting season of March 1st to September 30th each year, only a 1/2 mile of the coastline at Surf Beach is open to the public.  No fishing, kite flying, dogs, bonfires or camping are allowed on the beach and the dunes are off limits during this time period as well.  The number of violations allowed each season before the beach is closed completely to the public is limited to 50 and can be as vague as a set of footprints in the off limit areas.  Thankfully beach closures and limitations are just one aspect of Vandenberg AFB’s management program for the recovery of this species.  Others include predator management and habitat restoration through the removal of nonnative plant species. 

With all this focus on the recovery program at Surf Beach some are surprised to find the Western Snowy Plover’s habitat extends along the West Coast from Washington through Baja Mexico and beyond.  Indeed, many contend the bird is not truly threatened and cite reliable sources, information and data.  An appeal has been submitted to USF&WS to delist the bird but to date no response has been received.  It is not, however, our position at this time to debate the fairness or accuracy of the listing or the measurements taken by VAFB mandated through the ESA.  Rather, we are asking everyone to observe the rules in place and help keep our beach open all year so that we may enjoy the beauty of this untamed area in its natural glory.  

Currently, after just a little over seven weeks, violations are listed at 15 of the 50 allowed for the season.  If they continue at this rate complete access to Surf Beach will be lost again prior to the end of the nesting season.  

Truly, whether you believe the bird is threatened or whether you agree with the restrictions, we strongly believe we should always strive to be better stewards of our incredible planet and work to live side by side with nature everyday, not just seven months of the year.