Santa Barbara Channelkeeper

Welcome Aboard, Ted!

July 21, 2021 by Santa Barbara Channelkeeper

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].

Knowledge is Power for Meaningful Plastic Reduction

July 6, 2021 by Santa Barbara Channelkeeper

If you look around your living space, you’ll likely notice that nearly everything involves plastic, from the furniture and electronics to your favorite shirt and the packaging that keeps your salad fresh.

Plastic is composed of polymers—typically made from fossil fuels—that allow it to be malleable or rigid, flimsy or durable. These qualities make plastic useful for a variety of purposes but also allow it to persist in the environment. Instead of biodegrading, plastic breaks into smaller pieces that can leach chemicals and contaminate water sources.

An estimated 50% of plastic used daily is considered single-use, or disposable items that are designed for short-term functionality but will last in the environment for decades. Plastic pollution has significant impacts locally and globally, which is why reducing single-use plastic continues to be a major focus of Channelkeeper’s work.

Reducing our reliance on single-use plastic on an individual level can have a real impact, but sometimes it’s hard to know where to begin. Doing a plastic audit is an excellent way to evaluate the amount of plastic you use and use this insight to pinpoint areas where you can reduce your reliance on plastic with zero-waste alternatives.

How to Conduct a Plastic Audit:

Collect the waste you accumulate in one week.
Separate trash by material, placing any plastic items in a separate pile.
Estimate the volume or percentage of waste in each pile and write down totals.
Make note of any frequently discarded plastic items and ways to avoid plastic waste. What swaps can you make?
Set goals to reduce your reliance on plastics. Reflect on these goals on a regular basis and track your progress.

Arianna’s Path to Plastic Reduction

In honor of Plastic Free July, Channelkeeper communications volunteer Arianna McDonald conducted her own week-long plastic audit. Along the way, she learned about her individual plastic usage and found areas where she could reduce her reliance on plastics. We’re grateful for her hard work and her willingness to share these valuable insights from her experience.

Hi, I’m Arianna, a fourth-year university student at UCSB, majoring in political science. My studies at UCSB have inspired me to take personal responsibility for taking care of the environment and practice ways of living more sustainably. In preparation for Plastic Free July (my first one!) I decided to do a plastic audit in order to figure out where most of my plastic waste comes from and to find the best strategy for reducing my overall consumption. Follow along with me to see what I found!

Sunday

I went out for brunch with friends. After our meal, I still had half of my burrito left and chose to use the restaurant’s to-go container, even though it was made of plastic so that I didn’t waste food.

Monday

This morning I went to work out at the campus gym. We’re required to wipe down the equipment after we use it with disposable wipes, which contain plastic fibers. Afterward, I noticed that the oil in my car was low, so I bought a couple of quarts of oil from the gas station, and they came in plastic containers. I went to the library to do some schoolwork and was a bit hungry, so I decided to buy a smoothie. The bottle and label are made of plastic and can possibly be recycled. I had a pear after my dinner and found that the produce sticker was also made of plastic. Produce stickers are so frustrating because a piece of fruit should be the least harmful to the environment to eat, and yet those pesky stickers complicate things! I guess one way to avoid this would be to shop at the farmer’s market. Noted! Next week I’ll bring my own bag and my shopping will be as waste-free as it gets.

Tuesday

*Plastic is everywhere–even the label on this glass bottle is made of plastic.*

I went on campus to study and had a muffin for breakfast. The muffin came wrapped in plastic wrap inside a plastic bag. I bought a can of tea, which I recycled when I was finished, but the store receipt cannot be recycled or composted since it is coated in toxic materials called Bisphenol A or BPA. My housemates wanted to have a movie night, so we made some hot chocolate and popcorn. The hot chocolate packets and parmesan cheese packets were made out of non-recyclable plastic and plastic-covered paper.

Wednesday

This morning was gloomy, so I decided to make some muffins from a mix. The mix came sealed in a plastic bag. As a busy college student, I consume a lot of caffeine, and with a full day of work ahead, I decided to buy a tea. The drink came in a glass bottle (which I felt good about) but the label was made of plastic. I also kept the receipt because it can’t be recycled or composted.

Thursday

I sipped some tea this morning, and the bag came in a plastic sleeve. Since it was a Thursday and the last day I had class, I decided that I would go visit a brewery downtown with my boyfriend. They gave us wristbands, which are made of a plastic-y paper material. It was a colder night than usual, and we were craving soup, so afterward we went to a restaurant for some ramen. I was unable to finish mine so had to ask for a to-go container to take the rest home. Leftovers 2, me 0.

Friday

Today I finally decided to get rid of my ratty toothbrush and switch it out for a new one. I bought them in a pack so I still have another plastic one, but I decided that after this I am going to get a brush with a bamboo handle that can be composted.

I had a headache while I was at work, so I bought some aspirin from the store, which came in a little plastic sachet. Although this worked in a pinch, I get headaches pretty frequently so in the future I will remember to buy painkillers in bulk and keep them in my car to reduce my single-use plastic use.

Saturday

I went out for brunch for my friend’s birthday. This time, however, I remembered my own container! I felt a little silly whipping it out (especially after I’d finished my entire meal), but my friends were really supportive and commented on what a good idea it was to bring one along. They decided to start bringing their own containers too. Maybe I am finally starting to get the hang of this! Last week I ordered a new bathing suit for summer. It arrived today, shipped in plastic packaging. The tags also had a plastic coating, and the sizing stickers were made of plastic. I purchased the swimsuit from a Black-owned company that uses sustainable practices, which I value and felt was worth the tradeoff. I also received some mail from the city, and they used those envelopes with a little plastic window to display my address. Although these are accepted in recycling facilities, I decided to count it as plastic waste because I am uncertain as to whether or not these items are actually being recycled.

Key Takeaways

As I finish out the week, I am beginning to notice a few themes in my plastic consumption. My busy schedule and hectic days often lead me to be unprepared, and therefore I find myself turning to plastic products for convenience. I found that most of my plastic consumption comes from food and drink packaging since I am on the go and eat out pretty frequently. If I can remember to keep a reusable to-go container with me in my bag, and maybe pack some of my snacks/meals at home to take with me, I could use less plastic and packaging.

Overall, the plastic audit was really helpful. The insights that I gathered by evaluating my usage will help guide my plastic reduction strategy in the coming months. I look forward to making choices that will benefit the environment and might even save me money in the long run.

Santa Barbara Channelkeeper’s Plastic Film Festival

May 20, 2021 by Santa Barbara Channelkeeper

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.

California Can Lead the Fight for Clean Water

April 29, 2021 by Santa Barbara Channelkeeper

It’s been 50 years since an ember from a passing rail car ignited contamination on the surface of the Cuyahoga River. In the 1960’s, the waterway flowed through Cleveland past steel mills, manufacturing plants, and a paint factory, taking in their waste streams. Over the years, the oily debris caught fire a total of 13 times, but on June 22, 1969, it burned for the last time—and the image of a burning river became iconic of a movement.

When the Clean Water Act became law in 1972, it established the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the US and regulating quality standards for surface waters. The Clean Water Act set a goal to restore and maintain clean water across the nation by 1985.

But in the nearly 50 years since, we have failed to fulfill the promise of clean water. Across the US, lakes and streams languish under toxic levels of pollutants, while groundwater and drinking water supplies are threatened.

In California, a state that takes pride in upholding some of the strongest water laws in the country, 95% of all waters remain too polluted to swim, fish, or drink. Underserved communities, including many along our own Central Coast, are hit the hardest, where local water is disproportionately likely to be contaminated and undrinkable.

In Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, polluted runoff and agricultural discharges continue to pollute our coastal waters. In some areas, stormwater, carrying pollutants, pathogens, pesticides, fertilizers, trash, sediment, and heavy metals continues to flow directly to our creeks and ocean, affecting water quality, endangering wildlife, and making recreation unsafe.

After half a century with the Clean Water Act in place, why does toxic contamination continue to threaten our water resources? Loopholes in permits that allow polluted discharges to continue unabated, a lack of strong enforcement of clean water laws that prevent them from meeting their goals, and insufficient resources dedicated toward cleaning up our waterways.

This must change, and California has the means to do it. This year, California Coastkeeper Alliance and Assemblymember Robert Rivas introduced the California Clean Water Act (Assembly Bill 377), which restores the original intent of the national Clean Water Act from 1972. The bill will put our state on track to eliminate polluted waterways and make all California waters drinkable, swimmable, and fishable by 2050. It achieves this by closing permit loopholes, ensuring proper enforcement of clean water laws, and dedicating more resources toward restoring impaired waters.

Santa Barbara Channelkeeper is proud to support this bill. We stand with fellow members of the California Coastkeeper Alliance in advocating for stronger, more enforceable policies to protect our water resources.

We believe that it’s time to make good on our nation’s promise of clean water, and that 36 years past the original deadline, California can lead the way.

Tracing the Path of Trash

March 11, 2021 by Santa Barbara Channelkeeper

Text by Arianna McDonald

On a morning walk last week, I picked up a half-buried candy wrapper on the beach. The plastic film and blue lettering seemed so out of place against the sand. I wondered: how had it ended up here?

I imagined that someone was hungry and bought a convenience store snack. They may have put the wrapper in their pocket, intending to throw it away later. Perhaps it fell out before they could. Blown by the wind, it found its way into a gutter or storm drain, and rainwater carried it through the network of storm pipes into streams. Eventually, the wrapper ended up in the ocean.

Santa Barbara has an elaborate network of storm drains that carries water away from urban areas (page 8), but the stormwater it conveys is not filtered for debris or treated before it enters the ocean. Runoff from irrigation, residential car washing, and sidewalk and parking lot washing can pick up pollutants and carry them through storm drains and waterways to the ocean.

In 2011 the City of Santa Barbara installed screens in front of storm drains in order to catch trash and other debris from finding their way into the water system. However, these screens retract during times of rainfall to prevent flooding, allowing debris that has collected to enter the drains.

Each year, 5 to 14 million tons of debris flows into the ocean from coastal areas. Not only can it be toxic to aquatic wildlife and humans, this pollution degrades the water quality and also destroys the beauty of our oceans and beaches that we swim and play in.

Plastic doesn’t biodegrade in the ocean like natural materials do. Once in the ocean, UV exposure, weather, and heat cause the plastic debris to break down into smaller and smaller pieces, known as microplastics. These microplastics cannot be easily removed because they become so small. Fish and other marine life may ingest the plastic pieces, blocking their digestive tracts and changing their eating habits, which can influence their growth and reproduction.

Toxins and pollutants can bind to the surfaces of microplastics. When these tiny pieces are ingested, they can spread toxic chemicals throughout the food chain. Researchers have also found that smaller particles, or nanoplastics, can permeate tissues and organs, and affect a variety of species when small creatures are consumed by bigger fish and mammals, including people.

A recent study revealed that the rate of plastic consumed by fish has doubled within the last decade and is increasing by more than 2% each year. Two-thirds of the species that had ingested plastic were species that are commercially fished, indicating that human consumption will likely increase in parallel.

These microplastics can be found all over the ocean, including in the deep sea, and frozen in Arctic sea ice. It’s estimated that 269 thousand tons of plastic are floating in the ocean, with more being added every day.

Statistics such as these underscore the importance of responsible litter disposal. They serve as a reminder that each of us can take steps to help keep plastic waste out of storm drains and prevent it from entering our oceans. We can choose to be part of the solution–one candy wrapper at a time.

How you can help:

Refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle. Choose reusable items and use fewer disposable ones (e.g., bring your own reusable bags).
Make sure any waste you produce (plastics, technology, etc) is disposed of properly, whether that be sending them to landfill, recycling, or e-waste drop-off sites. Being diligent about discarding your garbage properly is key to keeping it out of our oceans.
Stop the flow of trash to the sea by helping keep streets, sidewalks, parking lots, and storm drains free of garbage. Learn more about how the path trash takes to the ocean and download our Watershed Wise poster here.
Get involved! Join Channelkeeper’s Watershed Brigade! Conduct clean-ups in your neighborhood, at a creek, beach, or anywhere and invite others to help keep the beaches and oceans clean.