For Immediate Release

 

 

Costumed Crusaders Ask Bay to Breakers Runners to BYOB - Bring Your Own Bottle for Water, That Is.

Anti-plastic environmentalists to promote reducing and recycling plastic during B2B 2009

 

 

Contact:

Beth Terry, FakePlasticFish.Com, beth[at]fakeplasticfish[dot]com

Eli Saddler, OceanHealth.Org, eli[at]oceanhealth[dot]org

 

San Francisco, CA – May 17, 2009 - Bay to Breakers hosts the "world’s largest footrace" annually with as many as 100,000 runners and can generate vast amounts of plastic pollution that harms our oceans. During the event, many participants opt for bottled water in single-use plastic containers instead of bringing their own reusable water bottles. This year, anti-plastic environmentalists are attending Bay to Breakers as costumed crusaders to remind participants to bring their own reusable water bottles and bags to the event rather than using single-use plastics.

 

“We want to remind people at Bay to Breakers to have fun, but leave harmful plastics at home,” said Beth Terry, Oakland anti-plastic blogger of FakePlasticFish.Com. “Plastics that end up on the beach or in the ocean are not fun for the wildlife that can be killed by swallowing them.”

 

Beth Terry has been collecting and tallying her plastic waste each week at FakePlasticFish.Com to bring attention to the issue of plastics in the environment and to show readers that it is not hard to find healthy, plastic-free alternatives.

Beth's costume, the Fake Plastic Sea Monster, is made of 2-years worth of collected plastic trash. Beth’s costume symbolizes how plastic has escaped the ocean and is washing across SF Bay to Breakers, wreaking havoc for sea turtles, fish, birds, and other marine animals! B2B participants are encouraged to spot the sea turtle being chased by the Fake Plastic Sea Monster and pledge to do their part to reduce their plastic consumption and help solve the problem of plastics in our environment.

 

“The truth is convenience kills and plastic is especially deadly to endangered sea turtles,” said Eli Saddler, Executive Director of OceanHealth.Org. Mr. Saddler added, “Today’s convenient plastic item could end up in the stomach of a sea turtle tomorrow so we hope a race that ends at the ocean will remind people of our responsibilities to the ocean and about reducing marine debris.”

 

Eli Saddler, the Executive Director of OceanHealth.Org, will be in his leatherback sea turtle costume and doing his best to evade the Fake Plastic Sea Monster. Eli’s sea turtle costume was made from recycled plastic bottles and other reused materials to promote the idea that recycling and reuse are vital to protecting endangered sea turtles and other wildlife from plastic marine debris. In the past 20 years, leatherback sea turtles in the Pacific, including those near the coasts of the Bay Area, have declined by 95 percent. A recent study found that one-third of all dead leatherback sea turtles had ingested plastic.

 

Plastic Bottle Facts:

 

• Plastic bottle caps are one of the most common kinds of beach debris found and can be deadly when swallowed by wildlife.
• Nearly seven times as much water is used to make the bottle than you actually drink.
• Making bottles to meet Americans’ demand for bottled water requires more than 17 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel more than 1 million U.S. cars for a year.
• Over 85 percent of water bottles are not recycled and wind up in landfills where it takes thousands of years for the plastic to decompose.
• Bottled water can cost up to 10,000 times more per gallon than tap water.
• Global consumption of bottled water reached 154 billion liters (41 billion gallons) in 2004.
• Americans drank 26 billion liters in 2004 or about one 8-ounce glass per person every day.
• Buried water bottles can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade.

 

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About OceanHealth.Org: OceanHealth.Org (Ocean Health Institute) is a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization that promotes healthy, sustainable oceans and public health protection from ocean-based threats. In addition to work educating consumers about taking action to reduce plastic use, OceanHealth.Org promotes sustainable seafood consumption and endangered marine species protection through scientific research, educational activities, and advocacy efforts. Please visit http://www.oceanhealth.org for more information. In June 2009, OceanHealth.Org has organized multiple events with partner ocean groups to celebrate World Oceans Day. WOD is June 8, but events will be happening in the week before and after. Please see www.oceandaysf.org for details.

About Fake Plastic Fish: Beth Terry is an Oakland resident and the author of a blog about plastics called, “Fake Plastic Fish.” For almost two years, Beth has been chronicling her efforts to reduce plastic in her life and providing insight into how readers can eliminate, reduce, and recycle plastic in their lives.  Her website is http://www.fakeplasticfish.com.