This morning Dorothy, Patrick, and I set up a booth at the Lakey Peterson’s Keiki Bowl surf contest put on by the Surf Happens Foundation to raise awareness about the important health of sandy beach ecosystems and the dangers of plastic pollution. Kids loved filtering sand and looking through our field microscope set up for them to see micro plastics in the sand.
work in progress
I was lucky enough to attend the 2015 Society of Marine Mammalogy’s Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals this week in San Francisco, and it was an amazing experience! I learned so much, and getting the chance to present at such a large and international conference was a first for me and I am so happy I got the chance to go.
Attending this conference immersed me into the world of marine mammal science. With over 2000 marine mammal scientists around the world in attendance, I learned about research going on all over the world on a wide array of marine mammals. Topics of research on marine mammals included behavior, ecology, human dimensions, acoustics, conservation, distribution, and health and each day was packed with oral presentations, plenary talks, speed talks, and poster presentations by marine mammal scientists from around the world.
The most helpful part of the conference for me was the Student Workshop on Wednesday night. At the workshop I learned about student chapters around the globe, and even one in California. There were also round table discussions led by professionals in the marine mammal field – researchers, government scientists, and others. It was the chance to get advice from professionals and ask questions that you normally wouldn’t get the chance to. Sarah and I were the ONLY undergraduates in attendance to this workshop, the majority were PhD and Masters students, so it was awesome to get that experience. I learned a lot about how to write a proper CV, a paper, and tips for getting jobs, funding for research, and also how to get your research message out there.
Thank you SO much to Dr. Rachel Cartwright and the Keiki Kohola Project for the chance to participate in the research of Hawaii’s Humpback whales and the opportunity to attend this conference.
Dorothy Horn (ESRM), Lakey Peterson (Pro Surfer & Activist), Michaela Miller (ESRM), and Patrick Costa (ESRM) on Leadbetter Beach. In front of our Sandy Beach Pollution Education Booth. December 19, 2015.
Today part our our sandy beach team trekked up to Santa Barbara’s Leadbetter Beach for the second annual Lakey Peterson Keiki Bowl/Leadbetter Classic. This mix between surf competition and camp is a collaboration between pro surfer Lakey Peterson, Santa Barbara surf school Surf Happens, and the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation. In addition to a surf competition for kids and teenagers, this beach festival offered free surf clinics to children battling cancer.
We contacted organizers about a month ago to see if they might be interested in having us lend some technical and education help, motivated to reach out after hearing about Surf Happens’ High Five program. In the vein of 50 Simple Things You Can Do To Save The Planet by John Javna, the High Five Program urges beach-goers to simply pick up five pieces of trash every time they go to the beach. Participants are also encouraged to brainstorm five simple steps they might take in their daily lives to reduce pollution more generally and, in so doing, minimize their individual carbon footprint.
Steps like “pick up five pieces of trash” are simple. But not simplistic. To be sure they are not enough to stop climate change or beach degradation in and of themselves. But like our sustainable seafood, road kill, and numerous other hybrid research-education efforts, we find that getting folks to see the world in a different way can be extremely powerful. The strength lies in the ability of such efforts to get the public to see what is so mundane as to appear invisible or non-noteworthy as visible and noteworthy.
Our ESRM Sandy Beach Research team was well represented by Dorothy Horn, Michaela Miller, and Patrick Costa who set-up a pubic education station to explain the work we have been doing measuring the health of California’s sandy beaches. In particular they brought up our tools and outreach materials to explain the level of plastic pollution impacting our beaches across the state. Our microplastic displays are always a hit (albeit a potentially scary one).
Aggregate rainfall in Santa Barbara and Ventura County on December 19, 2015. Total rainfall (in inches) for the previous 12 hours (as of 16:00). Data courtesy Ventura County Watershed Protection District.
The public began showing up in large numbers at 11am. Unfortunately, by noon the rains had hit and folks rapidly melted away to warmer and drier indoor settings. As our booth was set-up in the main event area, we closed down early along with the rest of the event. We love the rain, but were a bit bummed the weather kept us from clocking in a full day of education and outreach. On the upside, we were to very happy to get and invite to present another educational booth at the upcoming Rincon Classic International Surf Competition in January 2016.
Thanks to all our Santa Barbara friends and the Leadbetter organizers! We lookforward to helping out with future events!
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