Category: Blog

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Ian and Morgan with Future Vehicles

Team Marine members were able to see zero emissions vehicles of the future on November 19th, 2010. The ZERO Emissions Race teams met in Santa Monica to show off their state-of-the-art electric creations. These plug-in electric vehicles will help us cure our addiction to oil! Paul Pearson of Gas 2 Electric Conversions talked with us about the operations of these cars, as well as the nature of the race. The three cars are not actually in a race, but actually on a world tour. They visit popular cities and educate the public on the benefits of switching to EV. Sounds good to us!

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Eco-Beasts: Sarah and Garen

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Today, on November 16th, 2010, history was made as the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 3-1 to ban single-use plastic bags in LA County. This ban will cover about 1.1 million residents of the area, making LA County the biggest municipality to ban the plastic bag in the country! Stores in the affected area will be prohibited from providing single-use plastic bags to its customers, but have to the option to provide paper bags for 10 cents each. Plastic bags for produce and meat will not be banned for sanitary reasons. This ban will severely reduce the SIX BILLION plastic bags per year that are currently being used by the county. Team Marine is so proud of the board for supporting the ban, and hope that Santa Monica officials will follow.

As an update, the City of Santa Monica has postponed their decision on banning plastic bags even further. Their last proposed date was November 23rd, which was announced after Team Marine’s march.

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Team Marine was given the opportunity to assist student teams participating this year’s QuikScience Challenge, a collaboration between QuikSilver and the USC Wrigley Institute, on Thursday November 11th, 2010. We brought our fleet of plastic monster costumes, as well as educational material involving sustainability, anthropogenic impacts, water purification, etc. Team Marine has been quite successful in past QuikScience Challenges, and decided to a year off from competing to mentor other environmental teams. Thank you to the 100+ students who came out for the event, as well as our partners over at QuikScience.

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History will be made November 16^th. Please join Heal the Bay to support our Board of Supervisors as they vote to ban plastic bags in unincorporated Los Angeles County. With a population of over a million people this will be the largest municipality in the country to ban the use of plastic bags.  

When: November 16th The Board can postpone any agenda item at their discretion.  We will provide any updated information on our website.  Please RSVP and we’ll keep you updated on any changes.
Where: 383 Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, 500 W. Temple Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Time: Our Bag Ban Rally will begin at 8:30am-9:15am on the steps outside the hall. The meeting will begin at 9:30am

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   Santa Monica Daily Press
Team Marine and Heal the Bay Surfrider Club collaborated this past Tuesday (Oct. 26th) in a peaceful march. We demonstrated throughout downtown Santa Monica, with over 60 participating marchers, ending at Santa Monica City Hall. At city hall, all of the march’s participants sat down in a townhall-style room, where we were told that on Nov. 23rd, 2010, the council will decide to ban the plastic bag or not. The two teams reached thousands of people during our peaceful protest, through the march itself and associated media, including three film crews and various photographers. Thanks to everyone who came out and supported us!

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On Tuesday October 26, 2010, Team Marine and the Heal The Bay Surfrider Club students will stage their 6th friendly community march to raise awareness about the dangers of plastic bag pollution and the reusable bag solution. The Santa Monica City Council has been trying to bag the plastic bag for two years now! Unfortunately, they haven’t been able to without the risk of being sued by the plastic bag industry, due to the lack of an environmental impact report. The march will begin and end at Santa Monica High School and continue into downtown Santa Monica between 4-7pm.  All are welcome to join!

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Team Marine members have done their research, and concluded that the team is opposed to Proposition 23. Prop. 23 aims to “temporarily” suspend Assembly Bill 32 until unemployment falls below 5.5% for four consecutive quarters. The unemployment rate is currently over 12%. AB 32, known as the CA Global Warming Solutions Act, requires the state of California to reduce annual emissions of greenhouse gases (ex. CH4 or CO2) to 1990 levels by 2020. The act has stimulated the massive growth of the green industry, where environmentally friendly jobs, products, and decisions are made. With the suspension of this bill, California’s green industry will suffer, and we will continue to think in the present rather than for the future. On November 2nd, 2010, please vote no on Proposition 23, a proposition funded in the millions by oil giants Tesoro and Valero, among others.

ReEducate yourselves: Yes and No on Proposition 23 views