Day 25: June 23

Genea Foster writes:

Today, we went on a tour of Recology (San Francisco's large waste management company). They really impress me at the way they handle waste. They have a three bin system which collects compost, recyclables, and trash (things that go straight to landfill). They sell compost to local farmers and sell recyclables to countries like China. It really surprised me that there are not many recycling facilities in the US and that there is even a market for plastic. I still can't get my mind to accept the fact that it is less energy intensive to recycle goods by shipping them across the ocean. The trip to the Recology facilities put into perspective how much waste we produce as a community and the figure is disturbing. They process 850 tons of garbage a day and are open 24 hours in order to manage that load, 850 TONS! Also, everything that is put in those black landfill containers GOES STRAIGHT TO THE LANDFILL. If your thought we had fancy technology to separate recyclables out, think again! So please please please use the great three-bin system to its capacity San Franciscans! In New York we have nothing like this and I am disappointed and jealous. Once again, Go California! for being the progressive state you are.

Garbage being sent to the landfill.

"Earth Tear". Art made from recyclables, location: Recology Sculpture Garden.

Day 24: June 22

Kelli Stephens writes:

So today was a pretty quiet day in the office (…ho-hum). Alex was out all morning and afternoon volunteering with the South Beach Yacht Club Junior Sailing kids, and Pin and Genea went out with Lorraine to do their tow of the SF bay, so it was me and Jing in the office for most of the workday. Yet, if you think two economists would be at a loss for how to pass the time…you got another think coming (and yes, I did just use that wildly outdated line…90’s rule!) My work on the research project has lately been progressing more in the way of a literary report than a legitimate analysis, thus, I have been focusing more on locating scientific graphs, tables/figures that could supplement my project. To all my loyal fans, (hey, this is my blog, my fantasy) unfortunately I have no photos to post (partly because I have yet to recharge my camera and partly because I doubt photos of me working at my computer will be that riveting) so I promise to do better next time. Til’ [next] Tuesday. Have a great week!

Days 22-23: June 20-21

Jing Chen writes:

The webpage just crashed and all I have written disappeared :( Here is a summery of my disappeared post.

We went to summer sailstice last Saturday. It was held at Treasure Island and we arrived in the morning to set up the Hobie Cat as well as the booth. It was VERY windy. We spent much time tying everything to the boat stand so that they wouldn't fly away. Because of the weather, the turn out was much smaller than expected. Nonetheless, the people who showed up had given us great support either in the form of donation, buying our chocolate covered pretzels or simply talking to us. I am glad that we could spread some plastic pollution knowledge on the day.

Apart from promoting Sea Scavenger at the booth, we also have interns at trash stations, educating people about trash management. People were very cooperative when we tried to teach them what should be thrown in which bins.

Here is Genea at one of our trash stations :)

By the time we finished, we were freezing in the wind. As you can see from the picture, I borrowed Lorraine's huge and very warm jacket. Thanks Lorraine! There was a lot of food left and the organizing committee gave us a generous amount of chicken. Food for a few weeks!

Day 20: June 18

Pin Pravalprukskul writes:

Tomorrow is a big day - Summer Sailstice! (Get it? Sailstice, solstice...) Sailers worldwide celebrate the longest day of the year by spending the long, delightfully sunny hours on the water, and sailors in the Bay Area are no different. Having lived among sailing enthusiasts for the past three weeks, we've had the importance of this event pretty much hammered into our heads. This year they're holding the fair at Treasure Island for Bay Area sailors, and Sea Scavenger has a booth there! We'll be fund-raising and telling people know about our organization. Today is therefore focused mostly on prep-work for the fair. We're making chocolate-covered pretzels and sorting trash from one of our beach clean-ups for the booth display.

Jing and Alex making chocolate-covered pretzels

Day 19: June 17

Genea Foster writes:

Today at work I finally got through all of the research papers laying on my desktop only to download 5 more. There is not as much research done on entanglement than on ingestion of plastics. It is also difficult to analyze where the animals got entangled, similar to the problem of trying to source plastic pollution. But I am gearing up to start proposing which animals are most at risk and where we should focus our extraction efforts. I'm anxious to tow so we could see what are the most prevelant types of plastics found in the bay.

Outside of work, all of the interns (except for Pin because she had an Ultimate Frisbee Game) and Lorraine went to see the talk between Raj Patel, author of The Value of Nothing and Stuffed and Starved, and Annie Leonard called The Value of Stuff. They confirmed my belief that it is not only our individual actions that need to change but also the structure of the system. We all need to get in touch with our inner radical activist and start a change!

Check their videos out:

The Story of Stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8

The Story of Bottles Water:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se12y9hSOM0

The Story of Cap & Trade:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA6FSy6EKrM

And Raj Patel's YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P03nNeYiJo

Day 18: June 16

Alex Nagourney writes:

This morning, Lorraine and I went to the Earth Island Institute in Berkeley. They are located in the David Brower Center, which is an energy efficient building. It is absolutely amazing! They even use rainwater in the toilets to be more sustainable! Lorraine and I had a meeting about our fiscal sponsorship application and how to improve it in order to help with the grant-writing that I will be doing later this summer. It was a very informative meeting, as we discussed our Advisory Committee, budget, and goal.

After the meeting, Lorraine and I went to Chinatown to buy Egg Tarts and Steamed Buns because today is Jing's Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JING!!

Egg tarts are Jing's favorite dessert and we wanted to do something special for her. She really appreciated it! All the interns sang to her and enjoyed the treats together. Later that night, Jing and Lorraine went to a lecture at The Long Now on Clear Fusion Energy. She said it was really cool and Ed Moses explained that they are very close! For more information go here: http://www.longnow.org/seminars/02010/jun/16/clean-fusion-power-decade/

Day 17: June 15

Kelli Stephens writes:

So today was not one of the high points of my day. I have seemed to reach a “writer’s block” of sorts to the progression of my economic report. I would have never thought sourcing out plastic pollution could be so difficult. Getting started was not necessarily the hard part because there is a lot of information out there about plastic pollution, but the difficulty is narrowing down who are the main contributors to ocean plastic pollution both on the consumer side and the producer side. Fortunately, during our weekly progress meeting today with Lorraine and Monica, many things about the overall goal for Sea Scavenger were cleared up for me and a few of the other interns and it has helped me immensely. Before, I was under the impression that Sea Scavenger is to be like another research org conducting studies, but what we are actually trying to be are like garbage-men for the sea. This distinction was of great use to me. So now with a clearer understanding of my role, I am feeling re-inspired and ready to progress to the next stage of my report.