Buy-Rash-Guards.com Blog

CNN recently joined local commercial fisherman, Don Pierce, on a day of blue crab fishing in Chesapeake Bay. However, there were little crabs to be found due to the deteriorating state of health for these waters.

Development on the shoreline, population growth in the area and runoff from area farms and lawns have left the bay polluted with phosphorus, fertilizers and untreated waste. Pierce has been working these waters for 48 years now and says, “When I started in the late ’60s, there was commercial rock fishing, there was clamming, there was oystering, crabbing. Most of that is gone now.

You can read the full story here…

The citizens of Denmark pay a deposit on their plastic bottles which increases their recycling but even the recycling centers can’t handle the volume… Checkout the guy in Houston, Texas,  who takes any and all plastic materials and makes railroad ties out of them -- they last forever and termites can’t eat them… and then there’s Patagonia who is REALLY recycling, (as opposed to down-cycling: turning plastic into another plastic), and making clothing from old plastic:

The Addicted To Plastic series is an amzingly informative documentary that took three years of filming in 12 countries including two trips to the middle of the Pacific Ocean where plastic debris accumulates in what’s called the ‘Garbage Patch’ and the ‘North Pacific Gyre’. The film details plastic’s path over the last 100 years and provides a wealth of expert interviews on practical and cutting edge solutions to recycling, toxicity and biodegradability. These solutions -- which include plastic made from plants -- will provide viewers with a new perspective about our future with plastic.

As you know, we here at Buy Rash Guards care about our environment and one of the biggest ways we try to make a difference is by looking for ways to cut down on our use of plastic. One of the many reasons we cite for using our rash guard shirts is that they help you cut down on the amount of sunscreen you need to use which means less chemicals and less plastic unleashed on our environment and into our waters.

Plastic is all around you -- just go through a day and count everything you touch or use that is plastic and you will be SHOCKED! Even more shocking is that no organism can break down plastic -- so every bit of plastic that has ever been made is still around in some form… getting broken down into smaller and smaller pieces, (but never disappearing), now entering our food chain and our bodies.

We’ve come across a terrific series titled: Addicted To Plastic. It’s a 9 part series that we’re going to post weekly here on our blog so you can easily find it and follow the series.

Here is Part 1…

We’d love to hear any comments or feedback you have about the series -- so please post!!

A 7 year old named Taylor learns the truth about plastics after helping her mom at a beach clean-up.

What is in your water?

The Algalita Marine Research Foundation (www.algalita.org) is inviting all Surfriders to a free afternoon showing of “Dirty Secrets”, an excerpt from Sea Studios Foundation/National Geographic’s production “Strange Days on Planet Earth”, narrated by Edward Norton followed by Q & A with plastic marine pollution experts from Algalita Marine Research Foundation.

Here’s the scoop:

Friday, November 13, 2009
KHOURY’S RESTAURANT
110 N. Marina Drive
Long Beach, California 90803
RSVP to 562-598-4889 or opsadmin@algalita.org
1PM-3PM

We here at Buy Rash Guards are already hugs fans of SurfShot mag so imagine how stoked we were to learn that the publishers have decided to take the magazine digital. “Every year, over 35 million trees are cut down to produce magazines in the U.S.,” says Surfshot’s John Cocozza. “By taking the magazine digital, we are able to step out of that cycle, eliminating our reliance on paper and reducing our carbon footprint in terms of printing and shipping.”

Way to go guys!  

This bit of info may surprise you, (it did surprise us here at Buy Rash Guards)… but did you know that salmonella in turtle feces can end up on their shells and body, and can spread to people who handle them?

In fact several people who swam with pet turtles in a backyard pool were among 107 people sickened in the largest salmonella outbreak blamed on turtles nationwide in the 2007-2008 season.

The outbreak that year involved mostly children in 34 states and 1/3 of all patients had to be hospitalized. In most cases, parents didn’t know that turtles can carry salmonella.

So it may actually be safer to swim with sharks than to swim with turtles!

Yes that’s THREE BILLION!

That’s how many plastic beverage bottles will be littered or landfilled in California this year. You see them in parks and on the roadsides.  And when those bottles make their way into the marine environment, they pose a serious and growing threat to marine wildlife as well as us when the degraded plastic makes it into the food chain, then into our bodies.

Senate Bill 402 is sitting on Governor Schwarzenegger’s desk and it would specifically target the more than 3 billion plastic beverage bottles that continue to be littered and landfilled every year in California. Existing law is already successfully recycling more than 6 billion plastic beverage bottles. And by closing exemption loopholes and increasing consumer recycling incentives, SB 402 will substantially increase that number, and help reduce plastic litter and waste.

But the Soft Drink Industry is urging the Governor to Veto SB 402. Local Governments, Environmental Groups and Recyclers are urging support.

We here at Buy Rash Guards are urging our customers in California to SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN! You can send a contribution to Californians Against Waste, which is leading the fight to promote recycling in California.  You can also send a letter to Governor Schwarzenegger by clicking here.

We all know that Styrofoam is bad news. It doesn’t break down, it can’t be recycled and it releases chemicals when it gets wet that contaminate water that touches it thus contaminating the water supply.

It also contaminates the food we put in those “to go” containers, ending up in our bodies:

By 1986, styrene was found in 100 percent of all samples of human fat tissue taken as part of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Human Tissue Survey. Researchers found that Styrofoam cups lose weight when in use, meaning that styrene is oozing into the foods and drinks we consume. It then ends up stored in our fatty tissue, where it can build up to levels that can cause fatigue, nervousness, difficulty sleeping, blood abnormalities, and even carcinogenic effects.

(source: http://www.greenhome.com/info/news/41.shtml)

That’s pretty shocking when you think about it!

Back in 1989 many companies voluntarily stopped using it – not because of what it was doing to us but because the production of Styrofoam uses CFC’s and the use of CFC’s was banned back then.

One of these companies was McDonald’s but we’ve learned that McDonald’s is currently running a promotion giving away free cups of it’s coffee in… yes, you guessed it: STYROFOAM CUPS!!!

We here at Buy Rash Guards care about our health, your health and the health of your family so we’re asking that you take a moment to sign one of the many petitions out there that are asking McDonald’s to stop poisoning us. You can find one by The Environment California Styro-Strike by clicking here…

We here at Buy Rash Guards have to give a shout out to one of our favorite organizations, the Surfrider Foundation, and let you know that in celebration of their upcoming 25th anniversary they’re having an art auction on October 9th at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

Join them in celebrating 25 years of saving, cleaning and protecting the World’s beaches. The event will be hosted by Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 and there will be a special performance by Camp Freddy.

You can get more info at their website…

It’s almost time to send the kids back to school so we here at Buy-Rash-Guards thought we’d pass along some green tips you can use at school:

1. Use both sides of your paper and recycle what you do use. Almost half of all school waste comes from paper and the average school throws out 38 tons of paper per year – that’s equivalent to about 266 trees – from EVERY SCHOOL!
2. Pack a waste free lunch. Stop with the plastic bags, disposable containers and plastic utensils already! Remember the good old fashioned lunch box?!? Use a reusable lunchbox, reusable drink containers, cloth napkins and silverware.
3. Use refillable pens. Believe it or not there was a time, (not too long ago), when there weren’t disposable pens and buying those little refill thingys was a common practice. Every year we toss out 1.6 BILLION pens – enough to stretch across the Pacific Ocean from Los Angeles to Tokyo 25 TIMES!

The US House of Representatives has passed the Clean Coastal Environment and Public Health Act. Urge your senators to do the same. A new beach bill is long overdue!

You can take action on this alert via the web at:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/pass_beachbill/ix53xex42j7xm6wx?

The Clean Coastal Environment & Public Health Act of 2009 will increase the amount of federal dollars that can be spent on beach water quality monitoring and will modernize the technology we rely on to protect the health of the beach-going public. It also expands the scope of the BEACH Act to include tracking and cleaning up the sources of beach water pollution. The House of Representatives has passed this bill twice now, but it has not yet seen the Senate floor.

We here at Buy Rash Guards encourage you to take action – Let’s Pass the Beach Bill!

It’s summer, which means the annual proliferation of jellyfish in the Mediterranean. Oceana TV has the scoop for you this month on how climate change, coastal pollution and overfishing cause jellyfish blooms, as well as what to do if you get stung.

Of course we here at Buy Rash Guards know that the easiest way to protect yourself from jellyfish stings is by wearing a rash guard shirt when you swim, snorkel and surf in the ocean. 

A recent study published in Integrative Zoology by Wiley-Blackwell, states that human-generated underwater sound could have detrimental effects on fish and marine animals that ranges from loss of hearing to immediate death.

With increased interest in offshore oil exploration, shipping and construction and Naval sonic testing, the threat of underwater sound pollution only continues to get worse.

You can read more here…

Our friends over at Oceana have a really cool new section of their website titled Creature Corner where they feature creatures of the deep in a searchable online encyclopedia, with content from the world’s leading family reference publisher, Dorling Kindersley.

The ocean is home to thousands of species, from the familiar to the bizarre and now you can learn about eachand every one!

We took a peek and thought we’d share one we’d never heard of: the Hairy Angler. 

These bizzare looking fish live in the ocean’s depths all the way down to 5000 feet!

They have a very large mouth, tiny eyes and are covered in sensory hairs, giving them a disheveled appearance. Like most anglerfish, it has a movable ‘lure’ on top of it’s head that is formed from the first spine of the dorsal fin which is used to attract prey to it’s reach.

You can read more about the Hairy Angler here…

A shout out to all of our customers in Southern California – tomorrow from 10am-6pm the city of Venice is holding their FREE Eco-Fest 2009 at the Recreation Area at Windward Ave and Ocean Front Walk.

This year’s Eco-Fest will feature over 150 exhibitors, a beer garden, a parade, a vegetarian food court, an art exhibit, and over 15 bands and performers to keep you entertained ALL DAY – Talk about bang for your buck!!

There will be fun for the whole family and lots to look at and learn so head down early and make a day of it down at Venice Beach! Of course we would be remiss if we didn’t remind you to wear some UV protective clothing and bring rash guard swim shirts in case you decide to take a dip in the chilly Pacific Ocean while you’re there. 

Are the beaches at Illinois Beach State Park safe?

Asbestos has been found in the area (both in the sand and in the air) for several years, but officials have continuously stated that the levels were too low to harm humans. Unfortunately, the agency that determined these findings (the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, ATSDR) is now under investigation by a Congressional subcommittee for fraud…

It’s not enough you have to worry about staying protected from the sun, know you have to worryabout the sand?!?!

Today from 9am-Noon come join Vans, the Surfrider Foundation and Save Our Beach in celebrating “National Oceans Month” by participating in a beach clean up at Seal Beach, CA.  The clean-up will take place at 1st Street and Ocean Ave.

Vans will supply coffee, bagels, hats, t-shirts, trash bags and gloves along with some giveaways… all you have to do is show up!

Sign in at the blue tent, by the Windsurfing Rigging Area on the left as you enter the parking lot. No parking passes necessary from 9am to Noon.

It’s hard to believe that in this day and age that Canada still allows, (and even subsidizes), the yearly slaughter of baby seals!

Canada’s seal hunt is the largest deliberate slaughter of marine mammals in the world. About 96 percent of the seals killed will be less than three months old and more than 40 percent may be skinned alive – barbaric!

As if this wasn’t bad enough, Governor General Michaelle Jean recently visited an Inuit village and ate raw seal heart after slicing into a freshly slaughtered seal.

The Canadian seal hunt can no longer be justified as a native cultural practice because over 90 percent of the baby seal skins are for the commercial market, where they end up in Europe’s fashion market.

But despite the European Union’s recent ban on seal products, Canadian officials are still pushing for the hunt to continue!

Tell Prime Minister Harper that Governor Jean’s actions do not speak for you; the world will no longer stand for this cruel and senseless hunt by signing this petition…