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Taking Out the Trash in California
Clean Water Fund and Clean Water Action are taking the trash out of waterways and reducing the plastic burden on the environment and public health. The extent of trash's impact on our water is stunning. In 1999, a voyage across the North Pacific Ocean by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation's Capt. Charles Moore focused the world's attention on the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch". Our trash gets caught in a "gyre," or a concentric pattern of ocean current accumulates. The result is the Garbage Patch - vortex from which there is no exit. It spans most of the ocean from our West Coast to China.
See a news report on Taking Out the Trash and Learn about the sources of the problem and trash entering San Francisco Bay.
Phase Out Foam
Tell your legislators to support SB 568
Photo courtesy Charles Moore,
Algalita Marine Research Foundation
How many times have you had tea with lemon or coffee in a polystyrene (a.k.a. "Styrofoam"™) cup or bought hot food "to go" in a foam container? Did you know that:
- Foam containers readily leach Styrene when used with hot, fatty or acidic foods?
- Styrene is toxic to the human nervous system and causes cancer in lab animals?
- Styrene was found in every one of thousands of people who were sampled in EPA tests?
- Many factory workers exposed to Styrene suffer from impaired balance, mobility, hearing and other nervous system problems, and higher than normal cancer rates, including leukemia and lymphoma.
Find out more and see a list of communities in and out of California that have already banned or restricted these chemicals
View Polystyrene Bans in California in a larger map
Human Rights
Tell Governor Brown, "Water is a Human Right"
Human Right to Water bill package!
The governor has signed four bills that will improve access to safe drinking water. These bills passed the legislature with bi-partisan support and will now take effect on January 1, 2012. Please contact the governor and thank him for signing these important bills!! – Thank the Governor today!!
Protect California’s Water From Fracking!
Tell the California Legislature and Governor Brown to support AB 591(Wieckowski). This vital bill will require disclosure about what chemicals are being used in hydraulic fracturing - better known as “fracking.” These chemicals may be poisoning our drinking water – but we can’t prove it unless we know what chemicals are being used.
Taking Out the Trash in California
We are consuming too much stuff. Wasteful disposables create environmental and health costs at every step in their lifecycle, from raw materials extraction to manufacture, transport and disposal. The impacts range from oil spills and deforestation, to energy and water use, pesticide use, soil depletion, water and air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.
Reduce Mercury in the Central Valley
This summer, the Central Valley Regional Water Board will decide on adopting a draft clean-up plan, known as a TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load), to address mercury pollution in the Delta. Clean Water Action supports the methylmercury focus of the clean-up plan and urges the Board to set clean-up goals that are in line with actual fishing practices in the Delta and to do away with the 8-year delay currently in the plan. Read more to find out how to help.
Fertilizers and Groundwater Don't Mix
Californians are paying a huge price for farming the fertile soils of the Central Valley – the loss of clean water. For decades, commercial fertilizers and pesticides have been applied in amounts that far exceed the ability of crops to absorb. While pesticide application is somewhat regulated and requires permits and safety measures, fertilizer use has no restrictions.
Chemical Policy Reform
Manufacturing products with less toxic materials and promoting the development of "green chemistry" can not only protect our communities, workers, and ecosystems, but can actually save businesses money, increase efficiency, reduce liability, and give them a competitive advantage as other parts of the world regulate the use of toxic materials.
The Three Rs of Water Conservation: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
As California enters its third consecutive dry year, water conservation is a popular topic - television, newspapers, billboards, and radio messages are telling us to conserve water because of the drought.
Clean Water Action agrees that we should practice additional conservation during times of drought. But California's is a dry climate that is expected to become dryer still as the impacts of climate change intensify. This drought gives us an opportunity to rethink our attitudes about and our overall use of water.