Save our planet – Let’s send Nestlé a message

Dear Richard,

California is experiencing its most severe drought in recorded history. Lakes and rivers are drying up, and cities are instituting water rationing. Meanwhile, Nestlé Waters’ bottling plants are operating at full volume, taking water from cities and National Forests alike.

Take Action, sign this petition.

Nestlé’s unethical actions are part of a trend – for years Nestlé has been working around the world to privatize community water resources, selling it back to people at significant markup and trashing our planet with plastic. It’s clear that Nestlé won’t change its practices without significant public pressure. But if enough people – and businesses – stand together to say “enough is enough,” we can start to change things around.

Sprouts is a grocery chain that operates 212 stores around the U.S., many of them in California. Sprouts says it cares about our environment – so why is it selling Nestlé’s unethically sourced Arrowhead Springs water? We’re organizing green retailers, starting with “sustainable” grocery chain Sprouts, to let Nestlé know that its refusal to conserve water is unacceptable.

With California drying up, the state can hardly afford to waste water. Tell Sprouts Farmers Market to stop selling Nestlé’s illegally sourced Arrowhead Springs water!

In one particularly egregious example, Nestlé is pumping water from the San Bernardino National Forest in California for their Arrowhead Springs brand using a U.S. Forest Service special use permit that expired over 25 years ago. The company pays only $524 each year to profit off of this public land. Legal pressure from The Story of Stuff Project and our partners at the Courage Campaign and Center for Biological Diversity has convinced the Forest Service they should begin to review the expired permit, but there is no reason public citizens should stand idly by in the meantime.

Nestlé is giving the people – and ecosystems – of California short shrift. It’s time to send a message to Nestlé that exploiting California’s National Forests for water is unacceptable.

Sprouts Farmers Market is a large company that cares about sustainability, stating “Responsible retailing for Sprouts is… partnering with suppliers and vendors to ensure that the products we sell are responsibly sourced; reducing waste and our environmental footprint.” Yet Sprouts carries bottles of Nestle’s Arrowhead Springs, the same water being taken unsustainably from the National Forest in San Bernardino!

Nestlé’s Arrowhead Springs is not a sustainable product – quite the opposite, in fact. Tell “sustainable” grocery chain Sprouts to stop carrying Arrowhead Springs today!

Selling Nestlé’s Arrowhead Springs water contradicts Sprouts’ principles of sustainable sourcing and minimizing waste. This is a product that is draining a unique ecosystem dry AND trashing our planet with plastic! If retailers like Sprouts refuse to continue supporting Nestlé’s bad practices, it will grab Nestlé’s attention and force the company to change.

Story of Stuff Community members who recently attended an organized hike with our Campaigns Director in San Bernardino, California want to launch a campaign calling on Sprouts to stop selling Nestlé’s Arrowhead Springs water immediately. In doing so they plan to impact Nestlé’s sales directly while also educating fellow public citizens who shop at Sprouts about Nestlé’s actions. You can help their great idea sprout by signing our petition today.

The truth is that Nestlé’s operations in California have worldwide ramifications, as does our response. While Nestlé makes millions of dollars exporting water from a federal drought disaster area, our waterways fill with plastic, and our ecosystems pay the price. If we’re going to live sustainably on this planet, we all need to pitch in and do our part.

Ask grocery retailer Sprouts to stop selling Nestle’s unsustainable Arrowhead Springs water today!

Thank you for all you do!

Emma Cape, on behalf of The Story of Stuff team

Source
Sprouts Farmers Market, Responsible Retailing

Respect Tomales Bay 43 – Best Management Practices in the oyster farming industry

Click the words above “Respect Tomales Bay – Best Management Practices” to see this entire post.

First, there is a name change to these related posts about the health & beauty of Tomales Bay.

Initially, I published some words and pictures under the title “Save our Tomales Bay” meant as a parody on the many black & white & blue signs that sprung up along the coast like toadstools a few years back in support of what is now history, except for the mess that still rests on the bottom of Drakes Estero. From now on, these posts will start out with “Respect Tomales Bay”.

Recently I was contacted by an “Oceanic CSA” in Santa Cruz CA looking to add responsibly farmed oysters to their offerings. They’d been reaching out to various oyster farmers in the Tomales Bay area and my name kept coming up. Read about what a CSA is here, and here.

I explained my connection to oyster farming and Tomales Bay as well as who I thought grew oysters responsibly (few), who I thought grew oysters questionably (most).

The caller was most appreciative. I’ve invited their company to a Tomales Bay kayak tour like never before experienced. They accepted.

If oyster growers used gear that was marked to make it easy for an independent observer to identify who was causing problems for the environment (from said gear being let loose on mother earth by wind, wave and poor design/practices) it would be easier to promote responsible growers and to contact those growers in need of improvement to their practices, instead of painting the entire region as mess-makers. Uniquely marked gear has been suggested to the Fish & Game Commission (FGC) for some time now.

The FGC has been mulling over the implementation of Best Management Practices (BMP’s) for at least a year now, likely much longer than that, with little more than meeting agenda items to show for it. I did hear the President of the Dept. of Fish & Wildlife say at the last meeting I attended (Feb 2016 – Sacto) that they need to update the escrow language in the leases, they need to get BMP’s in the leases, and they need to do it right. Let’s hope they also do it soon!

To be fair, The Commission has, at last count three vacancies. Which means more work for the current three commissioners. I wish them the best in filling those vacant seats with capable commissioners. I’ll do all I can to show The Commission what is actually taking place on the oyster leases in California.

You can read about what I suggested as BMP’s in April 2015 here.

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Click on image to see larger version

Tomales Bay at mouth of Walker Creek - public land leased to private companies to grow Japanese oysters, Atlantic oysters, Manilla clams. ©Richard James - coastodian.org

Tomales Bay at mouth of Walker Creek – public land leased to private companies to grow Japanese oysters, Atlantic oysters, Manilla clams.
©Richard James – coastodian.org

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Next related post maybe found here.

Previous related post may be found here.

See the first post in this series “Save our Tomales Bay” here.

Save our planet – Our Water, Our Future – No to Nestlé

Dear Readers,

If you’ve been following The Story of Stuff Project this last year, you probably know that it’s high time Nestlé changes how it does business. All around the world, Nestlé has been a leader in the effort to privatize our public water, and sell it back to us in little plastic bottles. But more brave communities are starting to fight back. One group in Cascade Locks, Oregon is doing something truly historic, and we need your help to spread their story.

The more people who learn about this campaign against Nestlé, the harder it will be to ignore. Nestlé puts millions of dollars each year into advertising, trying to convince people around the world that bottled water is good for people and our planet. Upon discovering that The Story of Stuff Project planned to release a new film about Cascade Locks, Nestlé even tried to preempt us by releasing a misleading video of their own. But we know the truth: a sustainable society and a healthy planet requires protecting water as a public right, NOT as a source for corporate profits!

We may not have Nestlé’s financial resources, but our community of a million supporters worldwide is a force to be reckoned with. With your help, we can spread this story even farther than Nestlé’s advertising dollars.

Will you help us share this story with your friends and neighbors?

https://www.facebook.com/storyofstuff/videos/10154741725385884/

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We’ve already gotten Nestlé’s attention; now we need to keep up the pressure. Nestlé thinks it can continue expanding its water bottling operations indefinitely, until public springs run dry and our oceans fill with plastic. We need to let Nestlé and communities know that a better alternative exists.

We’re standing with the people in Cascade Locks as they defend their community against the influence of Nestlé and other bottling corporations. Our demands are simple: we want clean public water for everyone, and we want Nestlé to stop bottling in communities like this one, where citizens are protesting the privatization of their resources. This Story belongs to everyone, and you can help write the ending. By sharing our new video, you can help us increase public pressure on Nestlé AND connect with more communities making a difference.

When enough people act together, we can change the way corporations do business – for the better. To challenge global giant Nestlé, we need your help growing this movement, from coast to coast and country to country.

Will you help spread the word by sharing the story of these brave changemakers’ campaign to defend their public water from Nestlé on Facebook?

Thank you for all you do!
Emma Cape, on behalf of The Story of Stuff team

Save our Tomales Bay – 42 East shore roadside trash update

Click on the words above “Save our Tomales Bay – 42 East Shore Potpourri” to see this entire post

Tomales Bay is so beautiful, people come from all over to enjoy it in a variety of ways.

South of Tony’s Seafood is a popular spot with the roadside fishing crowd. Read past posts on this here and here.

They seem to have improved their habits lately and are packing out most of what they bring with them.

But some are still in need of some education on how to respect a place as special as Tomales Bay

©Richard james - coastodian.org bottle empty, why recycle it when you can smash it on the shore of this gorgeous bay.

©Richard james – coastodian.org
bottle empty, why recycle it when you can smash it on the shore of this gorgeous bay.

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As always, click on an image to see a larger version of it.

Further north is a place the wind-surfing crowd calls Grassy Point.

Windy days you can see some high speed surfing near here.

Unfortunately, some people seem to think that once they are finished consuming a beverage or meal, or engaging in other activities, all they have to do is toss anything they don’t want along the shore of the very beauty that brought them here.

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©Richard James - coastodian.org These two were responsible up to a point.

©Richard James – coastodian.org
These two were responsible up to a point.

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©Richard James - coastodian.org Such respect for so beautiful a place as Tomales Bay.

©Richard James – coastodian.org
Such respect for so beautiful a place as Tomales Bay.

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©Richard James - coastodian.org Cormorants and Pelicans resting, keeping warm

©Richard James – coastodian.org
Cormorants and Pelicans resting, keeping warm

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Back to the road south of Tony’s, we see more of the same

©Richard James - coastodian.org

©Richard James – coastodian.org

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©Richard James - coastodian.org

©Richard James – coastodian.org

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Further north, just above Hamlet we find where some thirsty motorists decided to change the spark plugs in their ride. Too bad they felt the need to dump their trash along the shore of beautiful Tomales Bay.

©Richard James - coastodian.org That ramen cup below the orange cone was home to a sleeping garter snake I rudely awoke. My first snake sighting of 2016 and a very early start to spring. I declare it spring upon seeing my first snake in the wild.

©Richard James – coastodian.org
That ramen cup below the orange cone was home to a sleeping garter snake I rudely awoke. My first snake sighting of 2016 and a very early start to spring. I declare it spring upon seeing my first snake in the wild.

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IMG_3290

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Tomales Bay brings me much joy, that is why I spend so much time cleaning up the messes I find made by others. I show respect for something I cherish.
Seeing what I’ve shown you above, ask yourself, “What can I do to protect this place that brings me joy?”

Let’s end this post on a more upbeat, beautiful note with some close-ups of a juvenile hermit thrush hopping on the rocks in search of food at Nick’s boat ramp.

Don’t for a second think I knew that it was a hermit thrush, much less a juvenile.

I am a bird enthusiast, not a birder.

One of a cadre of experts I rely upon, Keith Hansen clued me in to the species, as well as the pale-tipped upper wing covers of a juvenile hermit thrush.

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©Richard James - coastodian.org

©Richard James – coastodian.org

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©Richard James - coastodian.org

©Richard James – coastodian.org

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©Richard James - coastodian.org

©Richard James – coastodian.org

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Next related post may be found here.

Previous related post may be found here.

See the first post in this series “Save our Tomales Bay” here.

Warhead ransom

Click the words above “Warhead Ransom” to see this entire post

President Mora, we have your warhead.

If you wish to recover your device, you must do exactly as we say.

Any deviation from these instructions will result in your warhead being delivered to the Plasteekans.

Deliver 100 billion pieces of free-floating pelagic plastic to each of the following:

Diddams

The Container Store

Nestle

China

For those of you unclear on the danger imposed by this potentially devastating discovery made on Limantour Beach this morning at 0740 hours 12 March, 2016 at location 38.02522 N 122.88107 W datum = WGS84

Watch this

Or have a read here to learn about the green sturgeon tagging project.

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As always, click on an image to see a larger version

Visit this link to learn about this amazing tag technology.
Honestly, I think I am letting these guys off easy at 100 billion x 4 pieces of pelagic plastic!

Mysterious discovery on Limantour Beach... ©Richard James - coastodian.org

Mysterious discovery on Limantour Beach… ©Richard James – coastodian.org


Datum = WGS84 on above lat/lon

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NOTE: the following two images show a white sturgeon, NOT a green sturgeon which is the subject of the study that this tag I found is part of.

This is the only sturgeon I have ever seen, hence the only sturgeon images I have. Though I still thought they were cool enough to share.

©Richard James

©Richard James

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©Richard James

©Richard James