Earth Day Preview

Activist and Documentary Filmmaker Veronica Grey, AKA, the Surf Lady,   joined us live with details about how 25 percent of the world’s land and ocean area are dedicated to landfills and ocean trash dumps. This segment aired on the KTLA 5 Morning News on April 21, 2014.

Her film Aqua Seafoam Shame is a critically acclaimed documentary with multiple wins which explores the horrific diagnosis that 25% of our planet’s surface is now diagnosed as garbage landfill, due to the pacific garbage patch and plastics. In 20 years our world could end up with no coral reefs –  which means our oceans will revert back to the primordial sludge it was before creatures walked on land. What, if anything, can be done to backpedal the Earth from this cataclysmic trajectory? Film is viewable for FREE in its entirety at our website below.

How to salvage the Earth:                                            

1. Get a reverse osmosis water filtration system for your home. Did you know the fluoride in all public tap water systems in America is actually a poison? No over-the-counter water filter filters out fluoride. In fact if you read the box labels it will literally say “does not filter out fluoride.” Fluoride is slowly killing Americans in so many ways because to avoid it, we buy bottled drinks: about 4,000,000 plastic bottles every 5 minutes. The truth is only less than 30% of these bottles ever make it to recycling centers so stop buying drinks in plastic bottles. Drink from your tap through a reverse osmosis water filter system that you can buy online. The one time fee you pay to get it installed will save you money over the long run as well.

2. Carry your own Canvas bag.   Thank heavens LA recently instated a plastic bag ban because as a society, we use 10 BILLION plastic bags EVERY week. Again the majority of it is never recycled and when it winds up in the ocean, lots of marine life, specifically over 189 different species, mistake it for food because plastic bags floating look like jellyfish. When they eat the plastic it kills them and often if you eat seafood, you just may be eating plastic yourself nowadays.

3. Don’t flush ANYTHING in the toilet: if it doesn’t come from your body it doesn’t belong in the potty. Keep a trash bin right next to the toilet just for toilet paper and EVERYTHING else.
People don’t realize what you flush, even simple toilet paper, winds up in the ocean which makes our rain which grows our food. Remember that each time you flush!!!!!!!!

4. Support artists who “Strip” down their work.   Plastic cd cases and all the styrofoam popcorn in merchandise shipping is atrocious. Research your favorite artists and put your money where your mouth is – support artists with sustainable marketing models like Daniel Ash. He founded the iconic supergroups Bauhaus and Love & Rockets and his current work in progress “Stripped” is community based where fans can go online and actually help him consciously create his new album.

5. Stop using straws!!! These seemingly innocuous “tools” significantly contribute to the 5 giant trash vortexes in the oceans around the world (google “5 gyres”) which are now bigger than the continental United States. People don’t notice straws ’cause they are so small and everywhere – which is exactly the problem. Americans use 50,000,000 straws each and every day JUST ONCE and toss them out. Drink directly from the glass. It’s simply THAT easy. Or buy paper straws.
Veronica Grey
Steward of the Environment
Award Winning Documentary Filmmaker 


SOURCE: http://ktla.com/2014/04/21/earth-day-preview/#ixzz2zmGYqC2S

'Earth Day' Weekend - A Call to End Plastic Ocean Pollution

As the world prepares for the Earth Day celebrations we would like to draw your attention to the very important matters of plastic pollution in our oceans. Here at Pacific TV we are pleased to hear that ocean pollution will be on the table for discussions at the Rio+ 20 Earth Summit coming this June 20th 2012, but we as citizens need to do more. If we really love this planet Earth we call home than we need to get serious about plastic pollution and finding alternative solutions.

Some may believe that it's too late and that the damage is already done to the oceans and some may disagree. As citizens, we may not be able to solve all the problems of the oceans but we certainly don't need to be contributing to it any more, so that's where we believe our personal responsibilities are as a citizen living on this planet. We can stop ocean pollution. We are the problem and we are the solution. It may be easier for some of us to blame a company or point a finger at a government entity as the ones who should be responsible for cleaning it up. But that simply is not true.  We all bear a responsibility in the solution to ocean pollution. 

You may be asking yourself: How can I help? What can I do? The answer is very simple, but challenging. It requires you to make a noticeable change in your shopping habits. First you can start off by using reusable washable canvas bags instead of disposable plastic shopping bags. AND most importantly, reusing your plastic shopping bags as "garbage bags" only ensures that it ends up in a landfill, which eventually makes its  way to the beaches and oceans. We need to stop using plastic bags altogether. They do not biodegrade, they are not compostable, and they are not earth friendly.

The next thing you can do is to look for "compostable" packaging when buying your favorite products. Avoid any plastic containers if possible. For example: Laundry Soap, buy the cardboard packaging instead of the plastic container. Some may argue that it's more expensive to purchase eco-friendly products as opposed to the cheaper plastic packaging, and some may even be on a tight budget and can't afford it. But consider this: you WILL pay eventually. You'll pay for it now, or you'll pay for it later, in hospital bills for a lifetime of eating foods contaminated with plastic chemicals. Buying products with "compostable" packing is an investment in the future. It may seem more expensive to you, but we believe its a worthy investment to consider.

The next thing you can do is, especially if you have kids, encourage the schools to sponsor plastic litter cleanup programs around the rivers and beaches in your local area. If they can make it into a field trip while teaching the kids their responsibilities of being a pollution-free citizen on this very fragile planet Earth, the kids will love it! That's the generation we have to get too before it's too late. These young minds will eventually be inventing new products and paving new ways. So lets make sure they care about the environment and consequences of not taking care of such a fragile eco-system.

Earth, it's our only home. We should have earth day everyday. There is no other planet in this solar system that we can live on. So we must take care of this one. It's not too late, as this eco-system has remarkable healing and regeneration properites if we just give the planet earth a chance to replenish herself. We do not need to be contributing to the pollution problems anymore, we can change our ways and encourage a better quality of packaging from the companies who make the products we use everyday. 

Happy Earth Day ~ Love your Mother!