Captain Moore has one word for you on World Oceans Day: Refuse!

Captain Charles Moore is one of my personal heroes and the man whose work discovering, studying, and bringing the world's attention to plastics in the oceans changed my own life completely two years ago. So you can bet that when I was invited to attend his presentation at Google in Mountain View last week, I rearranged my work schedule, rented a Zip Car, and got my butt down there.

Captain Moore's story is the subject of the article commonly known as Plastic Ocean. If you haven't read it yet, stop what you're doing and read it now! But be sure to return to this page afterwards to listen to his important message for all of us.

Moore is not much taller than I, but his presence is captivating and the force of his conviction, palpable. Wearing a necklace made of plastic found out in the North Pacific Gyre, he is a man who has looked into the abyss, not once but repeatedly, and returned to warn us about it. His eyes twinkle, but they also look deeply tired. He has been trying to get us to wake up to the the damage we're doing to our precious planet for over ten years, and the world is just now starting to listen.

Moore's presentation included many samples of the types of plastics found in the Pacific Ocean and that wash up daily on the world's beaches, as well as a hat knitted out of some of that plastic, which he sometimes wears.




And he is a living testament to his convictions. His bag, knitted from plastic grocery bags, is a reminder of plastic in the environment, while his naturally-corked stainless steel water bottle demonstrates his dedication to reducing his own personal consumption of plastic. I must say, I've taken many, many steps to lower my plastic footprint, but seeing that cork in his Klean Kanteen blew me away.



Natural alternatives to plastic may be well and good to an extent. But Charles Moore's message is not about running out and buying "green" products. Just the opposite. In fact, from the things he said during his presentation and in the meeting with him afterwards, I don't believe Charles Moore believes that plastic itself is the main problem in the first place.

The plastic pollution problem is the visible manifestation of the crisis of our civilization. (There's so much more that is invisible.) Progress is not what we're after here. Everything has to be redesigned. We need a new paradigm that subtracts from the consumer lifestyle rather than adding to it. We're after difference. The Great Refusal.

I asked Captain Moore what he thought was the most important thing we as individuals can do. Here is what he said:


Click here to view the video on YouTube, where I've also posted a complete transcript.

Today is World Oceans Day. But according to Moore, the crisis we are facing is about more than the oceans or plastic or pollution. Plastic pollution is a symptom of a way of life that is completely unsustainable.

Today, I plan to get still and meditate. How about you?

Read/view the group's statement on plastic pollution developed by activists, artists, and evironmentalists after Moore's presentation at Google.
 

WOD is coming next week! What are you doing about it?

Friday, June 5, is World Environment Day, which has received a lot of deserved attention, but did you know that a few days later is World Oceans Day?


World Oceans Day has been unofficially celebrated since its inception in 1992, but 2009 is the first year it's been officially recognized by the U.N. A plethora of events will be held in the world's coastal regions all next week to observe the day and learn about our connection to and effect on the world's oceans. From beach cleanups to film festivals to educational presentations, there are many ways to get involved.

This Sunday, June 7, 10a-12p, I'll be joining the Ocean Beach cleanup in San Francisco (Judah Street Entrance), wearing my Plastic Sea Monster costume. This event is sponsored by Oceanhealth.org and San Francisco Surfrider Foundation. I'd love to see some of you Bay Area folks there!

June 8, Monday, 6:30p-9p
World Oceans Day Film Festival
Montara Lighthouse, Montara, CA

June 10, Wednesday, 6p doors open, 7p Films
World Oceans Day Film Festival
Victoria Theatre, 16th St. & Mission St., San Francisco, CA
Buy $10 advance tickets: http://www.victoriatheatre.org or at the door

Complete information about the beach cleanup and film festivals, including how to RSVP, can be found at Oceanhealth.org.

There are many other events taking place all over the world. Check the World Oceans Day schedule for events taking place in other areas.

Now, how about you landlocked folks? Think you don't have an effect on the oceans? Think again! No matter where we live, everything we flush makes its way to an ocean eventually. Everything we litter, the products we buy, the fish we eat, and the CO2 we emit all affect the health of our oceans.

So what are you going to do to observe World Oceans Day next week and every week thereafter?
 

Let Them Eat Plastic: SMART Art - Trash Into Treasure

If Marie Antoinette said, "Let them eat cake," back in the 18th Century, I wonder what she'd say now confronted with sea birds and turtles starving on our plastic waste. Such were the kinds of thoughts I had last night viewing the new exhibit, SMART Art -- Trash Into Treasure, at the Lincart Gallery in San Francisco. A project of David de Rothschild's Adventure Ecology Sculpt the Future Foundation, the SMART Art competition invited artists to show the world how discarded objects could be reused and reimagined into works of art. Tim Dey's "Ghost of Versailles" was one of those entries. Made from used plastic packing supplies, bubble wrap, drop cloths, aquarium tubing, and soda bottle bottoms, his costume put my Bay to Breakers Sea Monster to shame.

But personally, I was rooting for the work of plastics activist surfer and new friend Kathleen Egan's "Plastic Wave." Made from plastic collected from her friends for two weeks, the wave is her personal statement about plastic in our oceans.


(Please click on all images to see larger versions. The small size does not do them justice!)



Check out Kathleen's video about creating the wave and about the kinds of plastic that surfers find on our beaches.

Unfortunately, Kathleen's piece did not win. There was some stiff competition from other trash artists. First place was awarded by the panel of judges, which included de Rothschild as well as The Story of Stuff's Annie Leonard and WiserEarth's Paul Hawken among others, to Harriete Estel Berman for "Grass'gras," a "lawn of grass" created from repurposed metal cans. Yes, it's sharp, and is a statement about the environmental impacts of our consumer culture and desire for green lawns.


Second place was awarded for my other favorite piece, "Certain is Nothing Now," an ethereal creation made from junk mail collected by artist Julia Goodman from her neighbors over the course of a year.






And besides this visually stunning statement about junk mail, the exhibit included ForestEthics's petition calling for a National Do Not Mail registry. As someone who has been trying to reduce my own paper mail for the last two years, I was more than happy to add my name, and I urge you all to do so as well. Please visit DoNotMail.org to add your signature. While there are organizations set up to help us get off mailing lists, companies are not under any obligation to honor third party requests and may actually be discouraged from doing so by the Direct Mail Association. We need governmental support to help us cut down on the paper and plastic waste associated with unwanted mail.


Third place was awarded to Scott Oliver for "The Valley," a landscape seemingly dreamed up out of the seat of an old chair. According to the artist, "The Valley" is Hetch Hetchy Valley (here in California) "before it was dammed and flooded in 1923 to provide fresh water for San Franciscans." Reminds me of the haunting Polish Brothers film Northfork, one of the few I've loved enough to own.


Like much of the work in this exhibit, "The Valley" leaves me both saddened by the waste and awed by the transformative power of the human imagination. The following piece, on the other hand, just tickles me.




The dress, worn by exhibit coordinator Heidi Quante during the evening, was created by Drew Kleiner out of use bicycle tire tubes and air gaskets. It's got Project Runway written all over it, doncha think?

And finally, I was happy to meet up again with Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen, who made this exhibit one of the stops on their JunkRide bicycle journey from Vancouver to Tijuana to spread the word about plastics in the ocean. For Anna and Marcus, their lives ARE their art! Here they are with one of the samples of plastic-filled water from the North Pacific Gyre they are handing out to educators and elected officials on their way down the coast. They are hoping to get one to SF Mayor Gavin Newsome before they leave the Bay Area. I hope they succeed!


 

Leatherback Sea Turtle friends Plastic Sea Monster at Bay to Breakers 2009 and both win!

No plastic tally this week. Didn't have time or energy to do it Sunday after WINNING THE COSTUME CONTEST AT THE 2009 BAY TO BREAKERS!

(I'll add last week's plastic to my next tally.)

Eli Saddler of Oceanhealth.org and I participated as a leatherback sea turtle and the plastic that kills it in an effort to bring awareness to the problems of plastic in the ocean and encourage Bay to Breakers attendees to bring their own bottles... next time. Mostly, we just had fun. Well, I did. Eli was sweating buckets in his sea turtle costume made of polar fleece from recycled plastic bottles. Who knew the weather in San Francisco would suddenly be so warm?

Click the above image to see our costumes up close. Here's a short video of the day. We had a blast, and winning in the "Green" division of the costume contest is worth the sunburn I've got now. (And yes, I had my sunscreen with me, and no I didn't remember to apply it until too late.)


Click here to see the video full-sized or if you are reading this post via email or reader.

Some things you might be wondering...

1) Beth, how do you buy plastic-free sunscreen? I don't. I gave up and bought a plastic tube of Alba Botanica fragrance-free mineral sunscreen, which is 7% titanium dioxide and free of parabens and nanoparticles. Of course, the plastic isn't really worth it if I forget to put it on until after I'm already burned, huh?

2) Beth, how did you securely attach all those plastic pieces to your costume to ensure you didn't leave a trail of plastic behind you on the route? With plastic, friends. Plastic fishing line and plastic strapping tape, all of which I already had in the house. No new plastic was purchased to make this costume.

3) Really? What about the plastic fish hanging from your helmet? Freecycle and thrift shops. Like I said, no new plastic.

4) What about the plastic bottles, cups, and straws? I don't remember seeing those in your plastic tally. I had a grand time the day before collecting plastic from the streets of Oakland. I wanted my costume to truly reflect the most common types of plastic waste, especially the cold drink cups and straws that are ubiquitous at Starbucks this time of year. Sad that I was able to find the stuff so easily, huh?

5) What's a leatherback sea turtle? I thought Eli looked like a dinosaur. Or a cockroach. Nope, he looks like a leatherback sea turtle, which is different from the green sea turtles you may be thinking of. Leatherback shells can be 6 feet wide. In fact, Eli tells me they are the world's largest reptiles (or something like that.) And sadly, they die from eating plastic that they have mistaken for food.

6) Were you able to stay hydrated without resorting to bottled water? Almost. Eli had his reusable bottle and I had my reusable travel mug. I filled up at a cafe along the route. But once in the park, water stations serving Crystal Geyser from large plastic bottles were the only option, and I did fill up once from one of those bottles. I believe Eli made it the whole way plastic-free. Then, we celebrated with overpriced beer from the festival, served to us in our mug and water bottle.

We are wondering why the water stations used large bottles of water instead of larger jugs to save on waste. We're going to suggest this change for next year. And in the video, you'll see the thousands of paper cups (lined with plastic, of course) littering the raceway. This is a pretty common sight at all foot races, and I don't know if there is a solution, especially when the weather is as hot as it was on Sunday.

7) Did you really wear that costume to and from the race on BART? Yep! And I'd do it again. Luckily, I hadn't attached anything hard to the back of the costume, so I was able to sit down. Riding in to San Francisco in the morning, I was just one among many costumed freaks. Coming home was another matter. I gave the tourists something to talk about over dinner.

8) What about Michael? Did he participate? Of course! He ran it in under an hour and was finished before Eli and I had even started up the Hayes Street Hill. And if you're going to ask how we managed on the Hayes Street Hill, just don't. We're not talking about it.
 

Anna & Marcus: Biking to do some very important work.

It's Bike-to-Work Day here in the Bay Area, and I'd like to tell you about a couple of bicyclists who are taking it very seriously. Since April 5th, Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen have been on the road, biking from Vancouver to Tijuana on the last segment of their Message In A Bottle tour that began with a research expedition with the Algalita Marine Research Foundation to study the plastic garbage patch in the North Pacific Gyre and continued with another trip to the Gyre -- this time aboard a raft built of 15,000 plastic water bottles. On both trips, they found floating masses of netting, bottles, and buoys, and plastic fragments in the flesh of common prey fish.

Marcus and Anna are now riding their bicycles down the West Coast to spread the word about the plastic plague and explain what we can do to reverse the tide of pollution. Their presentation includes slides and actual samples of the “plastic soup” they found in the Pacific. If you missed their eye-opening presentation in Marin last October, West Coasters will soon have more opportunities to see them.

JunkRide will be coming through the Bay Area May 26 and 27 giving presentations in San Francisco and San Rafael. Here are the details on the two upcoming events:

Tuesday May 26, 7-9pm
Where: Environmental Classroom, Marin Recycling Center, 535 Jacoby St., San Rafael, 94901. (Wheelchair accessible)
Cost: FREE
Sponsors: Algalita Marine Resource Foundation; Green Sangha; Marin Sanitary Service; Sea Turtle Restoration Project
Info: Devi Peri (415) 458-5539

Wednesday, May 27, 6:30pm - 9:30pm
Where: Aquarium of the Bay - Pier 39, The Embarcadero & Beach St, San Francisco, CA
Email: bellflower@gmail.com
Host: SF Surfrider Foundation

Those who can't make it to a presentation might be interested to follow Anna and Marcus via their blog here: http://junkraft.com/blog/ where you can also check out a short video of their first few weeks on the road.

And now, I'm going to hit the road. Oakland has all kinds of activities lined up for Bike-to-Work Day, including a pancake breakfast at City Hall. Will post photos tomorrow, assuming I can hang onto my camera this time!
 

Oakland Earth Expo: Went to Teach & Learned a Few Hard Lessons

I would love to show you the photo of a plastic-bedecked Beth flanked by a class of enthusiastic middle schoolers during Oakland's Earth Expo on Wednesday. I'd also love to show you the photos I captured of an ironic stray plastic bag in flight over the Expo grounds. Unfortunately, I can't show you these images because I carelessly left my camera unattended on the display table for a few minutes, and it got bored and ran away.

If you are the person who helped liberate my camera, can you please at least send back the memory card? It's not worth much, but I'd sure like to have those photos. I've already replaced the camera with a much smaller model, one which I'll keep securely in my pocket next time. (More plastic waste for the tally this week. Another of my less than mindful moments. *Sigh*)

I'm very grateful to the helpful folk who took pictures and sent them to me: Oakland Zero Waste Initiative Team Leader, Mark Gagliardi; Oakland Environmental Services Assistant, David Finacom; and Oakland Tribune photographer, Laura Oda. I gave them my sob story, and they came through for Fake Plastic Fish! So, here are a few views of the day. Click images to see larger versions.


The costume was effective, but I wish I'd had a mirror to put it on. I didn't realize most of the plastic hanging from my belt was twisted around to the back until I saw these photos. I plan to add more plastic pieces and make sure they are better distributed next time. (The base is made from two black plastic garbage bags.)


I had fun hunting for fake plastic fish to put on the hat. Thrift stores... Freecycle... nothing new here! Notice the plastic in the mouth of the poor sea turtle.


The display was divided into two sections: one illustrating the problems with plastic and the other reusable less-plastic alternatives. The fakeplasticfish.com banner is a piece of old sheet and Magic Marker. I'm kind of proud of myself because I wrote it freehand at about 3am the night before the event. Um... not proud that I stayed up until 3am. Just that I didn't screw it up!


On the problem side, I included photos and info about litter, harm to wildlife, non-biodegradability, chemicals, and the fact that plastic is made from non-renewable fossil sources. I also had my sample of water from the Pacific Garbage Patch to share.


The right side was a revelation. I had originally planned to either post pictures of disposable plastic items and their reusable alternatives or figure out a way to attach the actual items to the board. But honestly, I ran out of time.

As I walked home from BART Tuesday night after work, fretting about how I was going to be able to get all this work done in a few hours, I had a eureka moment. I already planned to ask attendees to fill out pledge cards committing to give up some plastic from their lives. Instead of my ideas, I'd fill up the board with theirs! The green pieces of paper are all ideas from attendees on how to live with less plastic.

My own ideas were represented by actual reusable items (bags, containers, utensils, etc.) on the table and in the give-away basket. (Items in the basket were generously donated by Whole Foods Oakland, Green Sangha, LunchBots, GlassDharma, LaundryTree, & the Ecology Center.)


Here's Fake Plastic Fish chatting with Oakland Recycling Program Specialist Peter Slote and a festival attendee, examining the Garbage Patch sample.


I also met one of my heros, Councilwoman Jean Quan, who co-authored Oakland's Plastic Bag Ban ordinance. Unfortunately, I didn't recognize her at first in her summery dress and big straw hat, and since she was taking pictures with a huge, professional-looking camera, I asked what media organization she was with. Oops. I hope that if by some remote chance she reads this, she'll know how grateful I am for what she's trying to do for our city.

And I finally got to meet Eli Saddler of Oceanhealth.org who wants to join me at the Bay to Breakers in a sea turtle costume.


This photo is the artistic creation of David Finacom, expo organizer and apparently great photographer. It was a beautiful day.


I had information on the table for attendees to take with them as well. Green Sangha flyers, Meditation on Plastic, & Don't Think of a Plastic Bag flyer, and IATP's Smart Plastics Guide. I completely ran out of my own Fake Plastic Fish business cards. Maybe next time I should bring the whole box.

Next time, also, I will try harder to get at least one volunteer to help me. I would have liked to have visited other tables at the event, but without help, I was pretty much confined to my station.

Two more things about the day... one fantastic and one not so...

A Fake Plastic Fish reader who works for the City of Oakland approached me. We'd never met. I don't think she's ever commented here. But she told me her daughter had forwarded my blog to her after reading about it on Fark.com and that Fake Plastic Fish had become her daily read. I really almost cried. Just the idea that something positive had emerged from that stupid Fark incident.

And then, at the end of the day, another one of my friends came to lend support and offered to take pictures with her cell phone after hearing about the camera incident. She set her purse down on the ground for a few minutes to take the photo, and while she wasn't looking, it got up and followed my camera! Holy crap! Cameras are easily replaceable. Wallet and car and condo keys, much more of a hassle. Sheesh.

No, we were not in a "bad" neighborhood. We were right in the shadow of City Hall. And these things happen anywhere there is a big crowd of people and enough inattention for quick, practiced hands to do their work. My friend got her purse and keys back eventually. They were found in some bushes. She'll simply have to deal with replacing credit cards.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. I bring up the two thefts not to bum you out and not merely as cautionary tales for your benefit (Be Aware!) but to leave you with this question:

What is the connection plastic pollution and petty larceny? Who is the victim and who is the thief? The answer might be more complicated than it seems.
 

A Jedi is always prepared...

... with her/his reusable travel mug or water bottle. And this post is just an excuse to show off the depths of our geekitude last Saturday at San Francisco's WonderCon comic book convention.

Really, it was a wonderland of plastic... plastic action figures, plastic-wrapped posters, plastic bags, plastic boobs (I think). We only went for the opportunity to dress up in costumes left over from the short film Reservoir Jedi, made by Michael and his friend Andy several years ago, and for the chance to see what Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher look like up close these days.

But even at a fantasy convention, the rules of Fake Plastic Fish apply. Michael had his Klean Kanteen, I had my travel mug, and we both refused the plastic swag bag offered at the entrance to the fest.

We walked around looking fabulous (I would so totally dress like this every day if I could get away with it) but did not buy anything but coffee. On the way to the convention center, we passed a firehouse, where one of SF's finest declared, "Hey, that's not a light saber. That's a coffee mug. You can't fool me!"

Little does he know, therein lies my secret power. Where do you store yours?

And now, some words from a real hero: Captain Charles Moore's talk at the most recent TED conference. I've been waiting anxiously for this to video to finally be posted. Click this video link to watch Moore's great plastics rant in a higher res version on the TED site.

California Academy of Sciences: A Visit to the Greenest Museum in the World

What's it like inside the world's greenest museum? That's what I wanted to find out. Michael, David, and Nancy just wanted to explore and have a good time. So we all BARTed out to Golden Gate Park on Saturday to visit the new California Academy of Sciences museum.

Michael and I arrived first and checked out the cafeteria, conveniently located right inside the front doors. There was lots of organic food in evidence, as well as compostable foodware. There were also chips and cookies in plastic wrap and Mylar bags. Ah well. Nothing's ever perfect, is it? Checking out the unattended waste station with its bins labeled Recycle, Compost, and Landfill, we spied all types of waste indiscriminately tossed into all three containers, as well as visitors reading the signs and incorrectly attempting to guess what they meant.


A staff member posted at the waste station to help educate guests might have been in order. Michael and Nancy suggested that perhaps it's more economical for the museum to just pay someone to sort it all after the fact. "Still," I argued, "It's an educational institution. It's their job to educate, right?" The raised eyebrows I received in response told me to drop it. Yep. Sometimes the perfectionist in me is really irritating.

Catching my green spirit, Michael was excited to discover the sign posted over the water fountains advocating San Francisco's tap water instead of bottled water. And of course, he had his Klean Kanteen on hand to refill.


The first floor of the museum is home to an extensive display on Global Warming:






That was kinda interesting, but we were more interested in the stuffed animals:




Did you know that sharks eat fake plastic toys?




The museum houses a four-story rainforest, an aquarium, a planetarium, and a natural history museum all under one roof. Here are a few more photos to entice you to visit. At the end of the post are some facts about what makes this museum the greenest (to date) in the world.












According to its October 8, 2008 press release, the Academy's building earns a total of 54 points in the LEED system, the highest sustainability rating of any museum in the world. Building features:

* A living roof planted with 9 native California species which do not require artificial irrigation contains the largest collection of native vegetation in San Francisco. The living roof absorbs rainwater and helps to prevent runoff from carrying pollutants into the eco-system. It also provides an insulating layer for the building.
* Radiant floor heating & heat recovery systems
* Solar cells provide 10% of the Academy's energy needs, and flowing water from the bathroom faucets causes an internal turbine to generate power and charge a battery pack.
* Natural light & ventilation (90% of regularly occupied spaces have access to daylight and outside views)
* Gray water system is used to flush toilets & low flow fixtures reduce the need for potable water.
* Salt water for the aquarium is piped in from the Pacific Ocean!

Read more about the building's unique environmental features here.

And read more about the Academy's sustainability efforts here.

Want to go? We didn't have time to visit the planetarium or to see all the exhibits we would have liked to, including the tour of the green features of the museum. (The 25 minute 3D Bugs! movie was awesome and took up a lot of our time.) Let me know when you're free. I'd be happy to go again!
 

Announcements: Van Jones, No Plastic Left Behind, & Message In A Bottle

I have a trio of exciting announcements, so please be sure and read the whole post.

1) Britt Bravo of Have Fun * Do Good emailed me a few days ago to help spread the word about Van Jones's new book, Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems, which is being released on October 7. If you don't know who Van Jones is, you should! Ten years ago, he founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights here in Oakland to promote positive alternatives to violence and incarceration through efforts which include the Green Collar Jobs Campaign to create opportunities in the green economy for poor people and people of color. And he was recently named a Time Magazine Hero of the Environment.

I heard Van Jones interviewed several months ago on Britt's Big Vision podcast and was blown away by this man who is able to bridge many different communities and make the links between environmental and social justice. This book is just what our country needs right now. And the campaign is urging folks to pre-order the book NOW before it releases Oct 7 so that it has a chance on the Best Seller list. All pre-orders are counted on the day the book releases, apparently. (If the previous link doesn't work, try this one.)

2) Saturday, October 11, is Earth Resource Foundation's 1st Annual "No Plastic Left Behind," A Campaign Against the Plastic Plague Conference at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, CA. I'll be participating in the 1pm panel: “Acting Out” – How activism can make a difference and also leading a break-out session on alternatives to plastic.

Do you live near Costa Mesa? Please come and join us for an entire day devoted to plastic and what we can do about it!

3) The following Monday, October 13, Anna Cummins and Dr. Marcus Eriksen will speak on marine plastics at the Marin Humane Society in Novato from 7:30 - 8:50pm. Anna and Marcus are about to begin the third leg of their "Message In A Bottle" tour which began last winter aboard the Alguita research vessel, on which they sailed out to study the plastic in the North Pacific Gyre; continued with Marcus's journey aboard the Junk, a raft made of plastic bottles; and will finish up with an amphibious bicycle trip from Vancouver to Mexico during which they'll give presentations about plastic marine debris and deliver samples of the plastic soup directly to educators, organizations, and policymakers.

I'm excited to finally meet Anna and Marcus in person after emails and phone conversations with Anna. The Algalita Marine Research Foundation's efforts to bring the "Pacific Garbage Patch" to the world's attention was the original impetus for Fake Plastic Fish! So of course I jumped at the opportunity to make a few introductory remarks before the presentation, which is being sponsored in part by Green Sangha. Green Sangha will also have its plastics display on view. If you're in Marin and you're free that night, please come and hear about what plastic is doing to our marine environments from a couple of people who have seen it with their own eyes.

That's all for now. I leave for a weekend meditation retreat tomorrow afternoon and will be gone until Sunday night. Perhaps another zero plastic week?
 

Searching for plastic-free water at Outside Lands wears me out.

I love music more than ice cream. Even more than fudge sauce. And to me, the band Radiohead is like magic. I don't understand how they make the exquisite and sometimes excruciating sounds that they do. I just know that as long as there are humans on this planet whose organized noise can move me to tears every single time I hear it, there must be hope for us.

So for a few months, I've been really looking forward to seeing my first Radiohead show live at the SF Outside Lands music festival in Golden Gate Park. And I was also pleased that this festival was being billed as a green event and planned to visit a section they called Ecolands, where there would be all kinds of "green" organizations and vendors measuring carbon footprints, collecting recycling (including old cell phones), and serving up organic food.


So I wasn't really worried when I got to the festival entrance on Friday and was asked (after my bag was searched) to empty the water out of my Klean Kanteen. This is standard practice for concerts, right? Organizers don't want certain illicit substances being brought in in the guise of water. And the staffer assured me I'd be able to fill it up again once inside the festival grounds.

So after staking out a spot near the mainstage where Radiohead would be playing later that evening, I left my friend Laura and set out to find the watering spot to refill our bottles. This is the sign that was projected on the side of the stage:


And this is one of the many waste stations throughout the grounds for recycling, compost, and trash.


I thought I'd start by asking these guys, as they worked for Clean Vibes, a company "dedicated to the responsible waste management of outdoor festivals and events." But they didn't know where the water was. "Let us know when you find out," they said.

So I walked and walked, and finally spotted this!


But a closer look revealed this is what they were selling:


The only water to be found were plastic bottles of Arrowhead water in the new "Eco-shape" bottle which according to Arrowhead's site, "contains 30% less plastic than the average half liter bottle." Turns out Arrowhead is one of the festival sponsors!

"Look," I said, "I don't want to buy a plastic bottle. I just want to fill my Klean Kanteen. Where can I fill it up?" The staff at the "water" booth didn't know. So I asked at every booth in "EcoLands" where I could find regular tap water, and nearly every person gave the same answer, "Good question. Let us know when you find out!"

Someone suggested filling up from the hand washing station by the porta potties:


Um. I don't think so.


And then I saw it. An actual drinking fountain right near an actual restroom!


Seriously, would it have killed the organizers to set up the fence AROUND the water fountain so festival goers could use it? I even tried sticking my Klean Kanteen through the fence, but alas, it would not fit.

After asking an official looking guy in a blue uniform where I could fill up my water bottle, he told me, "We have no intention of providing free water to everyone at this festival. I don't know why you'd think that." Um... you charge $85 a ticket and can't afford to provide SF tap water? And um... if you weren't going to let us refill our bottles, why'd you make us dump them out and promise we could refill when we got inside?

Someone manning the EcoLands info booth even tried to give me his own bottle of Arrowhead water, thinking maybe I just couldn't afford to buy my own. You can believe I passed out a ton of Fake Plastic Fish cards during that hour-long water search and had quite a few discussions about the craziness of this whole "eco" scheme. And what we all realized was that when the organizers talked about diversion, they meant recycling plastic bottles. Diversion is not the same as zero waste, is it?

There's nothing to divert if you don't create a bunch of waste in the first place!

Okay, so I finally did find free water. Coming out of the bathroom behind the fence was a long hose with a nozzle. It was what the coffee vendors were using to make their beverages. Aha! And this nice guy (whose name I neglected to get) happily filled up both Laura's and my bottles for us.


It took an hour of wandering around in the chilly Golden Gate Park fog (which, to be honest, was actually kind of fun in a challenging, albeit surreal, sort of way. Almost like playing a game and finally winning!) to get our bottles filled up. But that wasn't the end of my quest. Oh no! Laura and I wanted wine, too!


So I checked out the much-touted Winehaven wine tasting tent, only to find that 1) a "glass" of wine started around $10 for the cheap-ass stuff and 2) the "glasses" were, of course, plastic. "Oh, but they are fully recyclable!" I was told. Feh. We know about plastic recycling. Not doing it. And thankfully Laura wasn't into paying that kinda cash for cheap wine.

But on the way back to the main stage, I spotted the tell-tale green label indicating a compostable cup. "Where did you get that?" I asked the woman holding it, probably a bit wild-eyed at this point. I think I freaked her out, but she was nice enough to point me to another tent. Yes! At this point, I didn't care if I was drinking rotgut. It came in a compostable cup and it cost less than what they were selling in the swanky Winehaven tent. I bought Laura and me a cup each and headed back to our blanket.


Yes, the cup is made from corn, and I should have been more prepared and brought my own reusable cup for wine. Didn't think of it. And I'm actually not sure I have something that would have been legal. No glass was allowed in the park. But you know what? I saved those compostable cups, and I'll bring them with me next time!

Just before the show, Laura went off and found us an awesome organic veggie curry dish from Bombay Kitchen (all fully compostable, although as before, I should have brought my own bamboo cutlery) and our tummies were happy.


And then the music started. And for a few hours, I didn't care about anything else.

First, a set by Steel Pulse:





And then Manu Chao:





And when it finally got dark... RADIOHEAD...














A beautiful set list. And yes, the encore was Fake Plastic Fish Trees.


Then, trudging out of the park, the crunch of plastic underfoot...

...it wears me out, it wears me out.
It wears me out, it wears me out.