In the blue bin, In the Light

Art Rogers, photographer extraordinaire, forgot his phone, so this is what happened......

Since he had to drive back to our house, 

he thought he could take advantage of the trouble 

and get us in the bin as a pic for his weekly feature Family Album in the Point Reyes Light.  

It made for an unexpected and super fun photo adventure.

Thanks to Art for his brilliant idea and the professional way 

he approached the challenges of such a zany shoot.

And thanks to Art for bringing to light the problem of plastic pollution.

It wasn't the getting in the bin that was difficult, it was the getting out.

But we did it!!!
We are far more flexible than we had imagined.

Once in we were squished and it was very hot. Plus, it was already a sweltering day.

We know that Marin is notorious for its hot tubs, we intend to make Marin famous for its hot blue bins.

Ranjan Rocks

Esteemed scholar Ranjan Ghosh, Professor in the Department of English, University of North Bengal in India presented Plastic Nature (9/23/24) at the Environmental Forum at the Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard. Not only does he talk rocks (plastiglomerate), he posits a new way of talking about language itself and brings to mind a plastic way of thinking.

We are pleased that he uses our graphic chart to describe the geological age in which we now live. The age that we named The Plasticene Discontinuity in 2004 for our exhibition at the Bay Model.

THE ENVIRONMENT FORUM

THOMPSON ROOM (BARKER CENTER 110)

SPEAKER: RANJAN GHOSH

MODERATED BY ROBIN KELSEY

About the Event

What kind of a negotiation and home has nature built with plastic, a material that is a travelling and transformative genius? In a neo-materialist and an interobjective presence, plastic and nature have built a deeply entangled relationship – the problematic connection between the nature of plastic with what Ranjan Ghosh calls “plastic nature”. Within the material democracy of plastic, nature has been the object of change, but hasn’t nature through its own rounds of plasticity changed the way we see nature today? Hasn’t nature changed itself and plasticized plastic in ways that are startling and unique? The subject-object position has undergone massive revision as also the philosophy of seeing a material and nature. What, then, is this plastic nature?

NOW is the Time

With so much discord and so many catastrophes in the world, we are grateful for moments of creativity, community, and connection. 

Never again will there be a better time than NOW to take action to ensure an enduring place for humanity on this precious planet.

Hourglass with Nurdles, Kehoe Beach

Nurdles are pre-production plastic pellets, the raw plastic material that is shipped to manufacturers of bottles, car parts, toys, almost anything made of plastic. Nurdles are almost impossible to see until one learns what they are and how to differentiate them from a grain of sand or a fish egg. Once known, one sees numbers of them scattered across the sand. 

Thanks to Reiko Fujii our Hourglass has joined forces with an awesome group of activist artists in "Voices of Freedom"  October 6 - 26, 2024

Curated by Pallavi Sharma 

Artist Reception- October 6, 2024
Sunday 2 pm to 5 pm
Featuring Dance Performance by Rewire Community 

Exhibition Dates – October 6 -26, 2024,
Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm
At Lindsay Dirkx Brown Gallery,
Located inside the San Ramon Community Center
12501 Alcosta Blvd, San Ramon, CA 94583

The Ghost Net Monster — do and redo

Company is coming!!! On August 10, we will be hosting the Tamal Road neighborhood potluck picnic party. So we are on a mission to get our place ready, which means not only cleaning the barn and corral but also making sure that our artworks are up and at 'em. Plus, it prompted the writing of this Ghost Net Monster resume documenting the journey.

2012 The Ghost Below at The Marine Mammal Center, Sausalito, CA

In 2012, we were asked by  The Marine Mammal Center if we could "do" something with netting that had been extracted from the stomach of a whale that had washed ashore on a beach near Tomales Point. After the scientists had done their forensics, they wanted an exhibit to educate the public about the impact that derelict fishing gear can have on marine mammals. We took to the task with guidance from Anne Veh, curator, and Alex Treu, who fabricated the armature. We created the Ghost Net Monster.

Here's a short video about the project.

2013 Ocean Art Walk   Hong Kong   Stanley Bay    April 9- May 15

Hong Kong, once a thriving fishing village, has a problem with bottom trawling, overfishing, and the dumping of used fishing gear. Doug Woodring from the Ocean Recovery Alliance invited us to come to Hong Kong to create artworks to address these problems to be presented during their Ocean Art Walk. Constructed with nets gathered in a buy-back program to benefit out-of-work fishermen. Net Man loomed large on the plaza overlooking the harbor. 

2013 Hong Kong Maritime Museum May 10- July 10

After the inaugural presentation along the Stanley Waterfront, Net Man was moved to the Maritime Museum at Pier 8 in Central Hong Kong. Thanks to Doug Woodring from the Ocean Recovery Alliance and the Hong Kong Shark Foundation, the exhibit showcased art related to sharks, fishing, and plastic pollution, all in creative, colorful, and fun ways.

2013 America’s Cup Village at the Marina Green, San Francisco

The Ghost Net Monster held sway at the Healthy Ocean Project Lounge serving to give the ocean a voice.

Here's a short video about the Project.

"Through the America's Cup Healthy Ocean Project, The Marine Mammal Center, along with other Bay Area ocean conservation organizations, provide education and advocacy on three core issues - Marine Protected Areas, Sustainable Seafood and Marine Debris/Plastics - with the aim to inspire millions of people to CARE about the ocean and its inhabitants, encourage public ACTION to benefit ocean life, and leave a positive ocean LEGACY for the benefit of future generations."

2021 to Tamal Road, Forest Knolls

The Marine Mammal Center closed during COVID and decided to use that time to do a revamp and remodel. Our Ghost Net Monster had graced the courtyard for almost nine years. In December of 2012 when the Ghost Net Monster was installed, we never imagined it would be there for so long. We thought 3 months, then 6 months, then the years rolled by…When they called to ask if we would like the metal armature, it took us by surprise, especially after so many years. They wanted to keep the netting to reconfigure into a different educational display. Of course, we said YES to saving the armature and put GNM out to pasture in our front field. GNM has taken its place at Art Mind Park.

2024 The Ghost Net Monster was looking a bit bedraggled so we decided it was time for a facelift…and even a face since, somewhere along the line, the head was lost.

Thanks to Francisco Chan we were able to get the head on straight and add ropes and netting to the armature. 

The GNM is lookin' good, real good, and is ready to get this party started.

SeeFood is SeaLife

You’ve likely seen a picture of the Tuna Auction at Tsukiji Market in Tokyo where the bodies of the great fish are laid out in rows for inspection. Fully 1/5 of all the Planet’s fishery passes through the wide maw of Tsukiji; not only the famous Tuna, but every species of edible seafood passes through. We have personally seen this awesome and heartbreaking scene and have eaten Sushi at one of the many sushi bars catering to the workers there. And thinking of oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle’s famous aphorism, “Remember, it’s not Seafood, it’s Sealife!” 

For the exhibition What’s Cookin’?  at the Palo Alto Art Center, we propose a line of imaginary tinned fish, where the labels vividly tell the story, all set on a shelf for your delectation. 

Seefood indeed! — Not that we don't love it in all its iterations: sushi, scallops quick-fried in butter, oysters, chowder, even gefilte fish, but—Dr. Earle encourages everyone to give up eating what comes out of the ocean. We support her "Give the Sea a Break" campaign that points the way to a sabbatical for the sea so that the natural balance can be restored.

When you think of fishing you might harken back to a pole, a hook, with a worm dropped in a stream. Fond memories of catching and eating or catching and releasing. When you think of commercial fishing you probably think of giant nets swooping up a school of fish. You’re not wrong! Over 80% of fish are caught via nets. Industrial fishing nets with lengths up to 7 miles, catch and kill unintended species— bycatch fish, sea birds, turtles, and whales—en masse. In addition to removing large numbers of fish, many large-scale fishing practices also destroy aquatic habitats by dredging or seafloor trawling that scoops up everything that will be used along with much that will be discarded. This is extraction on a monumental scale. Fishing gear can be even more destructive when it becomes lost or forgotten in the water because it continues to “ghost fish” ensnaring animals that aren't being harvested for use. And farmed fish eat huge quantities of small wild-caught fish (sardines and anchoives) depleting the bottom of the food chain and causing waste pollution problems around and under the farm pens.

The facts about pollution are well known as news about subtropical gyres filled with plastic particles: millions of this, billions of that, tons of everything, sift into information overload. By now most have heard the grim statistic that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the sea. When is enough enough?

Personal responsibility for what we buy and use empowers us to feel we can "do something" about the problem of pollution. A virtue to be sure. Reduce, reuse, recycle, and lately, the refrain of refuse, is part of being a responsible consumer and good planetary citizen.

Although the planetary troubles of toxic chemicals, plastic pollution, and the detrimental effects of overfishing do seem insurmountable, we believe that art, that is both entertaining and educating, is an effective way to get the message across.

We want the daunting information about the health of the oceans to flow first through the appreciation of humor and beauty, then to a core of personal responsibility. We all know the proverbial saying, you are what you eat. We do have a choice in the food we eat and the packaging our food comes in. Every choice we make has a consequence and makes a difference.

So just open a can of our “see food’ and serve up the issues in a bowl of good humor.

Fukushima Brand Bluefin Tuna

Holy Mackerel, It’s Hot 

Trawl-It-All, CAP N’ YOU- it’s your Boat 

Penultimate Lagunitas Creek Salmon 

One at a Time >>> Line and Pole 

Plastic Dan’s Famous Farm Raised Salmon 

Full Phylla By-Catch 

Be Seafood Savvy

So happy to be cookin' it with so many, many illustrious artists. 

In situ at the Palo Alto Art Center until August 18, 2024

California Ocean Day 2024

Judith writes:

It's a good sign when some 300 people convened in Sacramento on May 7 for the 19th Annual California Ocean Day. I was there with my sister Janis Selby Jones, co-lead for Rise Above Plastics, and her colleagues from Surfrider San Diego to advocate for a long list of issues and asks. In small groups, we met with legislators, both assembly and senate members, to make them aware of our concerns. The steering committee is a who's who of environmental activists including Environment California, CALPIRG Students, AZUL, Surfrider Foundation, Monterey Bay Aquarium, CSU's Coast California, and COARE. 

Although Richard and I have been diligently cleaning Kehoe Beach for over two decades, we have not been able to stem the tide of bags and bottles that pollute the coastline. That's why AB 2236, which aims to ban single-use plastic bags, and AB 2468, which seeks to phase out single-use beverage bottles from state agencies, are of personal interest.

This was my first time to lobby and to participate in this important collective effort. I was lucky to be a member of Team Sea Star, led by Miho Ligare, Plastic Pollution Policy Manager for the Surfrider Foundation. In addition to my sister and me, our team was composed of an illustrious group of activists, including Erika Rodriguez (Ocean Friendly Restaurants co-lead for Surfrider San DIego), Sydney O’Brien (UC San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography), Rena Cohen (CalPIRG UC Davis Chapter), Jessica Osegueda (Resources Legacy Fund), Chloe Brown and Tony Hacket (Californians Against Waste), and Jordan Wells (National Stewardship Action Council).

It was a revelation to see government-in-action. Sacramento and Capitol Park were abuzz with groups of constituents from all walks of life, from every corner of California, who were there with their issues, their signs with slogans, and their lobbying appointments with legislators, all hoping to have an influence one way or another.

I was so proud to stand tall with my sister in front of the State Capitol Building, placards in hand, after a successful day exercising our right under the First Amendment  to lobby, "to peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The issues are many and there is much work ahead to get these bills passed. I am looking forward to joining with old and now many new friends to continue this important effort on behalf of the ocean.

OCEAN DAY KEY ISSUES & ASKS OF STATE LEGISLATORS 

Restore the State’s Coastal Resilience Budget
Support the Climate Bond
End the Environmental Justice Emergency at Our Border 

Stand up for the Coastal Act (Oppose AB 2560) why we oppose AB 2560

Celebrate Our Marine Protected Area Network 

BILLS WE SUPPORT: WATER QUALITY 

Charge Polluters for Waste in the Tijuana River Valley (Pass SB 1178) 

Control Pollution and Protect Salmon (Pass AB 1798) 

BILLS WE SUPPORT: EQUITABLE ACCESS 

Facilitate Equitable Access to State Beaches (Pass AB 2038 and AB 2939) 

BILLS WE SUPPORT: CLIMATE CHANGE 

Support Blue Carbon Projects (Pass AB 1992)
Coordinated Science for Offshore Wind Development (Pass AB 80) 

Prepare Tribes and Communities for Offshore Wind (Pass AB 2537) 

BILLS WE SUPPORT: OCEAN ECOSYSTEMS 

Restore California's Kelp Forests (Pass AB 1407)
Prevent Boat Strikes on Whales (Pass AB 2298)
Protect Beavers for Upstream Restoration (Pass AB 2196) 

BILLS WE SUPPORT: PLASTIC POLLUTION PREVENTION 

Ban Plastic Bags (Pass AB 2236)
Phase Out Single Use Beverage Bottles (Pass AB 2468) 

<<<ACTION ALERT>>>

If you can't make the trek to Sacramento, from the comfort of your phone or your computer, you can contact your representative and ask for their support.

HERE to eliminate single-use plastic beverage bottles at CA state agencies

HERE to strengthen CA's statewide plastic bag ban