HTO has joined a group effort to prevent Alisal Fire debris and toxins from going down the creek into the watershed and ocean. HTO joined hands with Santa Barbara Channelkeeper to make this happen….

Let’s talk recycling. It is important to stay updated with your local waste management company’s recycling policy in order to properly recycle! You can visit the City of Santa Barbara’s website to get informed on the guidelines.

Duquesne, the Summerland Beach oil well that has been tackled by the State Lands Commission this past week (12/2-12/7) is DONE! And what a mess it was! We owe a big thanks to the SLC engineers, Interact/Acteon contractors, and the oil cleanup team from Patriot Environmental for collaborating day and night …

The State Lands Commission arrives at Summerland Beach today (12/2) to start construction for capping “Duquesne,” a leaking Summerland Beach well. The operation will take place from 12/2-12/7, at extremely low tide (which will be in the middle of the night). HTO Field Advisor Harry Rabin worked with SLC engineers to accurately locate the Duquesne wellhead. This represents the 4th well capped at Summerland Beach since 2020, which HTO collaborating with SLC on all of them. Ohlsson 805, another beach well, was capped in August 2021.

The Weedy Sea Dragon is a type of seahorse from Australia that uses its long bony plates to camouflage as seaweed.

As camouflage experts, Weedy Sea Dragons even mimic kelp-like movements as a form of camouflage. They often let sea currents drift them in the water just like kelp! Similar to seahorses, male sea dragons carry fertilized eggs in a pouch for 8 weeks until they are ready to hatch.

Today we encourage you to make your own toothpaste! By replacing store-bought toothpaste with homemade toothpaste you can avoid purchasing the extra packaging as well as the unnecessary chemicals on the ingredient list of your toothpaste.
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Checkout Dr. Akshima Sahi’s simple recipe. . .

The Portuguese Man-of-war is often confused as a jellyfish, but it is actually a siphonophore, an animal composed of a colony of organisms working together. This highly venomous creature consists of fours parts or polyps with the largest section located at the top whose function is to float and keep the colony at surface level. The second organism would be the tentacles. . .

The Cheilopogon pinnatibarbatus ssp. Californicus is one of the 40 known species of flying fish that have pectoral fins and asymmetrical tails which allows them to fly! Sources say they have evolved this gliding ability as a way to escape their many predators in the water. . .

Did you know you can reuse the water from your boiled veggies or pasta? Not only do you save water that you would have otherwise thrown away, but the water gains nutrients through the cooking process, which can help your plants grow. . .

This #MarineMonday we bring to you the largest fish in the sea! Whale Sharks (Rhinocodon typus) weigh around 11 tons and can be as large as 20 m. Similar to human fingerprints, Whale Sharks possess a unique set of spots which allow individual sharks to be identified. . .

13 million tonnes of plastic make their way into the ocean every year. While adopting sustainable practices does make a difference, society still has a long way to go before plastic-free alternatives become mainstream and accessible to everyone.

We ask our supporters to take action against plastic pollution today by demanding our politicians to support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2021. . .

Heal the Ocean is excited to announce "Marine Monday," where we will be highlighting different marine organisms every week! We hope these posts bring you light and joy, make you as curious as we are about the ocean, and ignite a passion for protecting marine life. Up first - Seals!

Everyone is in a party mood – we’ve been liberated from the Pandemic, we can go outside, we can be with our friends. How suitable that a first real celebration after being let out of quarantine is INDEPENDENCE DAY.

We wish everyone to have a great time with friends and family, but please be mindful of your Mother Earth. Plastic bags were ubiquitous during the pandemic, but they continue on unnecessarily. . .

Today, Tuesday, June 8, 2021, is World Oceans Day, and this year's theme is The Ocean: Life & Livelihoods. Designated in 2008 by the United Nations, World Oceans Day is a day to celebrate and renew our commitment to protect and honor the ocean we all love and rely on for life.

On this World Oceans Day, we celebrate all those who are working hard to help the ocean, and we also salute all who help the organizations doing the work. Thank you!

Calling all divers and ocean lovers, grab your gear and head down to the Santa Barbara Harbor at 8 AM on Sunday, May 16, 2021, to help with Operation Clean Sweep -- the annual volunteer seafloor cleanup in the SB Harbor!

Every year, people lose phones, chairs, barbeques, fishing poles, and even the occasional refrigerator in the harbor. All this material collects on the bottom. To date, Operation Clean Sweep has removed over 20 tons of debris from the seafloor. For the last two years, the event couldn’t take place because of weather issues and COVID-19, so the ocean can use more help than ever at this year’s Clean Sweep. . .

Join Heal the Ocean today, Thursday, April 22, 2021, at 3 PM as we celebrate Earth Day 2021 with a virtual "Environmental Awareness" Downtown Business Spotlight interview hosted by Downtown Santa Barbara and the Santa Barbara Independent! HTO Executive Director Hillary Hauser will join CEC's Sigrid Wright and Deborah Schwartz of Santa Barbara Beautiful in a Zoom panel for a lively discussion and to answer your questions. . .

President Joe Biden is going full bore on his promises to the American public about taking immediate action with Executive Orders to reverse damaging policies of the Trump Administration - which include those that threaten the environment. . .

It's not too late to register for tonight's, Thursday, November 19, 7 PM online film screening + Q&A Webinar presentation of HTO Board Member Heather Hudson's latest surf film: 93 - Letters from Marge!

The film screening is hosted by the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum and is free to the community thanks to Marie Morrisroe. Tonight's event starts at 7 PM with a showing of the film and is followed by a short Q&A session with filmmaker Heather Hudson. To register for this online Santa Barbara premier, please click here.

93 – Letters from Marge is a new film about surf pioneer and icon Marge Calhoun (1924-2017) and is told through letters she wrote during the last years of her life. This sweet and personal film shines a light on the 1958 Makaha International Champion, an inspiring woman who lived life to the fullest.

The propellers are turning on our Flying Whale, to celebrate Heal the Ocean’s Imaginary Gala 2020!

Heal the Ocean's Fantasy Chair Julia Louis-Dreyfus invites you to Heal the Ocean's Imaginary Gala 2020. It is guaranteed to be the Best Party You Never Went To.

Heal the Ocean inaugurated the Imaginary Event in 2011, and it instantly sold out. We’re glad to bring our current Imaginary Gala fundraiser to GoFundMe because it is a benefit that everyone can participate in - and we want the Flight of the Flying Whale to include you!

Help us reach our Imaginary (but real) Goal of the Sky as the Limit. Your donation gets you a ticket to the best, most fun, cloud-filled, event!

This special bulletin is to announce that on Thursday, September 24, 2020, Heal the Ocean has elected Tom White to its Board of Directors.

Tom White is well-known in Santa Barbara as the owner, with his son, Adam, of the Santa Barbara Shellfish Company, the Boat House (at Hendry’s Beach); the FisHouse Restaurant on Cabrillo, and Casa Blanca Restaurant on lower State Street.

He’s been involved with the ocean for many years – as a fisherman, surfer, sailor. When Heal the Ocean formed in 1998, Tom commissioned a thick glass backboard to the Oyster Bar at the FisHouse…

COVID-19 forced grocery stores and other markets to use single-use plastic bags to reduce the spread of the virus to store workers handling personal reusable bags. As a result, tons of single-use plastic bags have gone out of stores and into the waste stream.

GOOD NEWS! There are stores that have reinstalled plastic bag bins, where you can take your bags, for recycling. Heal the Ocean researched, and called, to verify that the following stores have instated their recycling bins/programs for your single-use plastic bags! Please patronize these stores, and use their bins…

Today, Monday, June 8, 2020, is World Oceans Day, and this year it comes with a call to world leaders to protect 30% of our blue planet by 2030. With recent world troubles that are very serious, we have become more aware than ever how connected we all are, from one end of the planet to the other, all people and continents are connected by the ocean. . .Everyone can give back to our ocean, so, on this World Oceans Day, please consider taking one or more of the following actions:

Heal the Ocean stands in solidarity with those speaking out against the racial injustices facing our Black Community and Communities of Color.The fight to protect the environment is interconnected to social justice issues, and environmental goals cannot be achieved without fighting for social justice for marginalized communities. The term intersectional environmentalism describes what exists, and it is important to understand this phenomenon as we move forward solving environmental problems.

• TODAY'S THE DAY! Last Call for #GivingTuesdayNow for HTO! And, Happy Cinco de Mayo, too!

• COVID-19 in the Ocean? Join City of Santa Barbara's Creek Division for a Webinar on this Issue

• "Flushable" Wipes are NOT Always Flushable - take action to help stop clogs!

Typically, Giving Tuesday takes place on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving as a way to encourage people to support local nonprofits during the biggest shopping season of the year. This year, for the first time, the founders of Giving Tuesday have launched #GivingTuesdayNow, a global day of giving and unity set to take place Tuesday (tomorrow), May 5, 2020, as an emergency response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19.

Today, Wednesday, April 22, 2020, is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and this year we’re not mingling with our friends and co-workers around our various booths in a Santa Barbara city park. This makes many of us sad. But there’s another way to look at it. Something far more serious is taking place, and it is this. . .

Last week HTO shared two E-Letters with our subscribers regarding a recent LA Times article discussing the possibility of COVID-19 in the ocean. The below E-Letter is COVID-19 in the Ocean? Part II.

The public response to our E-Letters was fantastic. However, we do have a correction to make. We previously said in COVID-19 in the Ocean? Part II: “As an atmospheric chemist, Prather’s work is focused on aerosol transport of the COVID-19 virus, people to people, including beach-goers. She was never studying the possibility of the virus getting into the ocean and becoming airborne in wave action for surfers and ocean-swimmers to breathe.”. . .

A week ago today (Thursday, April 2, 2020) the Los Angeles Times ran a story, “Coronavirus at beaches? Surfers, swimmers should stay away, scientist says.” Written by a reporter Rosanna Xia, the article described the work of celebrated Scripps Institution scientist Kim Prather finding that the COVID-19 virus can make its way to the ocean through wastewater and/or land-based runoff, then becoming churned by an ocean wave into a “giant sneeze” that surfers and ocean swimmers could inhale. . .

• COVID-19 Office Closure

• Summerland Oil Cleanup Moves Forward

• Marborg/HTO Styrofoam Program Shifts with Current Events, But Is Still On

• Having Trouble with Social Isolation? Clean A Beach!

We came across this video (four minutes, in Italian, with subtitles) which you can view by clicking on the image of Earth below. Please click Full Screen at the start.

There is nothing positive to say about death, economic devastation, and sorrow brought to the world by the Coronavirus pandemic - but it has forced us all to stop. This presentation makes us wonder if, when this terribleness is over, can humankind, with our ultra-high science, technology, and innovation, put our activities and commerce back together again in a better way. . .