Environmental News

​Raise awareness for marine creatures by dressing up as your favorite DIY marine animal By Karisa Boyce

Nonprofit Calibration Portland Cleanup W/Give!Guide 

This is a call to all Portland nonprofits and volunteers who care about keeping our streets and waterways clean! Ocean Blue challenges you to a neighborhood clean up! We have done all the hard work of setting up the event and are ready to collaborate. You say you care about the city and that ain’t no trash talking, is it? So we challenge you to bring out your supporters who will register for $10. And then your legions of do-gooder trash warriors will collect as much street rubbish as they can until the whistle is blown. 


Which ever organization collects the most garbage wins a 50-50 split of the registration pot. Ocean Blue will receive the other 50% to continue to do it’s good work cleaning the waterways and educating the public about how the Ocean is a mirror reflection of our city streets. This Halloween litter cleanup is a collaborative community effort to clean the city streets before debris is carried into the Willamette and Columbia Rivers to our one world Ocean.


After Halloween Portland Cleanup


Anyone can participate for Free -OR- choose to Enter for $10 to represent a local nonprofit that is a part of the Willamette Week Give!Guide 2019

Nonprofit to clean up the most pounds splits the pot with Ocean Blue!
No limits to number of non-profit participant entries.
Ride a bike to earn extra "pounds for the climate" and your nonprofit!
Win Costume Contests and more! Prizes from local businesses TBA...

Meetup at McMenamins Kennedy School front lawn on Saturday, November 2nd. Activity begins at 11am with winner being announced at 2pm.

All participants register here. Only those who enter for $10 will be counted as part of the competition. But anyone who wants to participate and help clean our city is welcome to participate in non-competitive litter pick up.

​Software provider CloudBees joins Ocean Blue to Cleanup Santa Cruz Beach by Karisa Boyce

​This is a call to all Portland nonprofits who care about keeping our streets and waterways clean! By Karisa Boyce

​All participants Register here. Only those who enter for $10 will be counted as part of the competition. But anyone who wants to participate and help clean our city is welcome to participate in non-competitive garbage pick up.

Published by Ocean Blue Project

“PSA” Press Release for Immediate Release 
 
Willamette River Volunteer Cleanup W/ Sunriver Brewing  
 
On Saturday October 12th, with Sunriver Brewing Company Employees, will join Ocean Blue for a beach cleanup celebration. Sunriver Brewing Co. is a Bend Based Brewery that has a mission to give back to our beaches. This is event is one three beach cleanups we have organized together for this summer.  
 
Ocean Blue Project, an Oregon-based national nonprofit, was founded in 2012 in Newport by father and son Richard and Fleet Arterbury. Ocean Blue got its start doing volunteer beach cleanups in Oregon and opened a chapter in Bend one year ago, researching the Deschutes River that flows into the Columbia River, eventually emptying into our one world Ocean.  
 
Sunriver Brewing quickly took the lead in the Ocean Blue Brewers for Beaches Initiative after Ocean Blue reached out at the beginning of this year. Brewers for Beaches seek out ways to care for our waterways that we rely on to drink and keep our beer tasting good.  
 
Having grown up in Tillamook, Sunriver Brewing director, Ryan Duley, was excited to support Ocean Blue as the award-winning brewery’s main cause. What was so exciting about this partnership is not only were they willing to give a large cash donation in support of cleanup efforts, Sunriver Brewing also pays their employees to be involved in community cleanup events.  
 
After hosting a Pint for Cause event last February, where a portion of the day’s sales were donated to Ocean Blue, Sunriver Brewing patrons became excited to get involved. One customer mentioned to a bartender, “For several years, I’ve wanted to come to an Ocean Blue beach cleanup, but it’s been hard to make it to a beach cleanup at the coast.” Overhearing this comment, Arterbury collaborated with Duley to bring a cleanup to the Bend community.  
 
Ocean Blue also provides experiential service learning projects and internships for students of all levels. Sunriver Brewing is a key partner for providing educational opportunities. One volunteer, a local high school sophomore, is planning to attend college near home to study conservation biology. The student arrived at the cleanup with his father, a Sunriver Brewing employee, and appreciated being able to learn outdoors for a Fall river cleanup. Dad got paid to be there while his son was able to give back to his local watershed by cleaning up the Deschutes River.  
 
What comes next for these dynamic partners? Join us on October 12th in Eugene, Oregon meeting at the Willamette River. For more information about upcoming beach and river cleanup events or how you can support Ocean Blue projects visit ​www.oceanblueproject.org​ or reach out to ​Karisa@oceanblueproject.org​.  

​The Amazon’s biodiverse and less known neighbor is being restored by Ocean Blue, one tree at a time. By Karisa Boyce

Did You Know? 
​Did you know that planting trees cleans the ocean? It’s because water flows downstream and inland water sources end up in the ocean eventually. Here’s a quick rundown of how it works: 

1. Trees provide shade for streams and rivers, stabilizing water temperatures. Water that’s too warm grows algae and stable temperatures provide habitat for wildlife to thrive. 
2. Trees stabilize river banks, creating a buffer zone and reducing erosion. The more stable a bank is, the cleaner the water will be. 
3. Tree roots filter polluted stormwater. Before rain water washes dirty streets into waterways, organisms that exist in symbiotic relationships with the trees keep toxins from flowing into waterways.
4. Tree roots suck up excess water. When heavy rains arrive the roots help reduce flooding. Flooding contributes to erosion and polluted stormwater runs into streams and rivers.
5. Trees create wildlife habitat and birds spread seeds from native plants to create more habitat.
6. Trees take in carbon emissions so the ocean doesn’t have to.

Within a year or two after planting you can rest in the shade under the tree you plant. Not only do trees help clean the ocean by reducing sediments that cause water pollution, they reduce dependency on coal and provide economic value to communities. Shaded homes require less energy to cool, lowering carbon emissions and reducing energy costs. ​Read more on Plastic pollution facts:

For more information on how to get to join Monteiro and Ocean Blue projects in Brazil, reach out to karisa@oceanblueproject.org. Help combat climate change and clean the Ocean, one plant at a time. ​