On Friday we met State Senator Scott Weiner who is hosting eARTh an exhibit held in conjunction with the Governor's Global Climate Action Summit. Big thanks to curator Joesph Abbati for including four panels from our Black Gold, Texas Tea series. Along with 20 Bay Area artists whose work is inspired by nature, earth, the environment, climate, and activism, we were glad to be in the fine company of the Hughen/Starkweather team— who, we learned, have also taken on the theme of Black Gold for their up and coming show at Recology.
There was a huge crowd — with friends, near and far, who braved the traffic to arrive at the California State Office Building (we love going places but what about what about all black gold to fuel us there?) The celebration seemed especially big to us. Since our retirement and recluse-ment, we have been staying close to home, not venturing much in to SF— and to think we used to commute 5 days a week! Richard has been calling our new found sequester— the monastery, naming Judith as the Abbess herself who is keeping us on a rigorous creative schedule with most of the day in the studio, garden work in the late afternoon and strict as she is, allows a martini at sundowners.
We were sorry to have missed the reception and artlab for Eco Echo: Art and Environment Lab in Palo Alto this weekend. Thanks to Barbara Boissevain and our eco colleagues for keeping the echo going.
We were up and out early on Saturday. As official beach captains, stationed at Kehoe Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore we were there from 9-12 to welcome participants in Coastal Clean Up Day. A beautiful morning to walk the talk with others, commune with nature and pick up some trash — our three most favorite things.
Since we had to stay by the trailhead for the checking in and weighing out, Judith meandered along the roadside - had no trouble finding plenty to pick up including 20 cigarette butts and 27 candy and food wrappers.
Although Kehoe Beach, as the crow flies, is only about 39 miles from SF, the twists and turns of the road make it feel remote distance. Nevertheless, we had an enthusiastic bunch: 23 participants who brought in 109 pounds of trash and recyclables including a few mysteries and treasures.
Although the final tally has not yet been confirmed, according to preliminary data from the California Coastal Commission, statewide more than 53,073 volunteers collected upwards of 734,606 pounds of debris, including more than 35,674 pounds of recyclable materials. By Saturday afternoon, the Marin IJ reported that the Marin County haul was more than 8,100 pounds of trash.
Janis went inland from Oceanside with a stalwart crew who wanted to catch it before it made it to the coast as part of the I love a Clean San Diego cleanup.
Grandson's Jude and Gray helped with the count at Loch Lomond Marina in San Rafael.
Coastal Clean Up Day, now in its 34 year, is the largest volunteer effort on the planet. Their citizen science documentation has found that, since the plastic bag ban, plastic bags no longer appear in the top ten list of items found. Yay! Taking a count makes a difference.
Thinking BIG this year we went international by connecting with Let's Do It from Estonia and World Clean Up Day. Since could not stream live from Kehoe we pre-recorded a segment to air on their 24-hour programming that, as the world turned, followed the "clean wave" of clean-up efforts around the globe with live reports from Bulgaria, Iran, Dominican Republic and more. When the day was done, 144 countries with almost over 13 million volunteers participated.
Thanks to Kristi Sobak, broadcast producer for World Clean Up Day, for putting together this interview. With the time difference (10 hours) between California and Estonia, we were not exactly awake for our wake-up call, but here we are, a bit bleary-eyed, thrilled to be able to speak to the world audience.