Heal the Ocean

06/09/2026

🌊 Happy World Ocean Day! 🌊

This year's United Nations World Oceans Day theme "Reimagine: Beyond the world we know, a new relationship with our ocean" reminds us that we can no longer separate the ocean environment from our daily lives.

At Heal the Ocean, that vision is at the heart of everything we do.

We believe protecting the ocean begins upstream—by preventing pollution before it reaches the shoreline, restoring damaged ecosystems, and investing in long-term solutions that strengthen the health and resilience of our coast.

We're proud of the progress we've already made in 2026. Alongside our community and partners Heal the Ocean has:

🔹 Expanded Santa Barbara's regional EPS (Styrofoam) recycling program, bringing recycling capacity fully local and keeping persistent plastics out of our ocean and landfills

🔹 Partnered with Earthcomb to remove over 7,000 pounds of trash and hazardous waste from the environment, preventing it from entering waterways and the ocean

🔹 Removed several beached vessels from our coastline before they could pollute the ocean and led regional efforts to address this issue through our Boat Task Force and rapid-response work

🔹 Continued research on the Summerland oil field and the decommissioning of legacy oil infrastructure

🔹 Supported major recycled water and wastewater infrastructure projects that improve water quality and strengthen long-term water resilience

🔹 Engaged hundreds of volunteers and removed over 600 pounds of trash from local beaches through organized beach cleanups

🔹 Expanded our work on coastal adaptation and resilience planning to help prepare our coastline for the challenges ahead

These accomplishments are possible because of our volunteers, donors, partners, and supporters who believe that healthy oceans begin with healthy watersheds. Thank you to everyone doing their part today, and everyday, to keep our oceans thriving.

06/05/2026

Heal the Ocean and Earthcomb recently partnered to tackle a major trash problem near Modoc and Hollister in Goleta, removing 3,080 lbs of trash, including 81 propane canisters, 45 aerosol cans, and two car batteries!

This area was important to clean up because it is next to Atascadero Creek, which drains to Goleta Slough and the ocean. 🌊

Huge shout out to the Earthcomb 🌎 team for leading this important work and keeping trash and toxic materials out of our creeks and ocean!

The before and after photo shows just a tiny portion of the area cleaned.

05/29/2026

Last night, Heal the Ocean celebrated the groundbreaking for the Carpinteria Advanced Purification Project (CAPP) with County Supervisor Roy Lee, HTO Executive Director Karina Johnston, HTO co-Founder Hillary Hauser, Carpinteria Mayor Natalia Alarcon, and many others. CAPP is a partnership between Carpinteria Sanitary District and Carpinteria Valley Water District. HTO has been working towards recycled water for over two decades, and this huge step to bring purified recycled water to Carpinteria will help reduce pollution to the ocean. Congratulations!

05/21/2026

Cheers! 🍻 to the release of Liquid Corners — a new West Coast Pale Ale brewed in collaboration with our friends at Rincon Brewery, launching TOMORROW (Friday, May 22) at both Rincon Brewery - Carpinteria and Ventura. $1 from each pint sold will be donated to Heal the Ocean.

Rincon Point holds a special place in Heal the Ocean's history. It's more than an iconic surf break — it's where Heal the Ocean began its first project, marking a pivotal step in protecting our coastline. Artist John Wullbrandt's breathtaking painting of Rincon Point wraps every can of this limited release, and the original painting will be available for auction in June (June 3rd-18th) with proceeds benefiting Heal the Ocean's ongoing work.

The painting will be on display at Santa Barbara Fine Art for June's First Thursday event, come say hello to the Heal the Ocean team and enjoy a delicious beer!

We are so grateful for John, and the team at Rincon Brewery for this very special collaboration. Thank you also to Distinctive Framing, who donated the beautiful frame, and to Santa Barbara Fine Art for displaying John's art during the duration of the auction.

This is community-powered conservation at its best — local art, local craft, and local love for the California coast coming together for a cause that matters.

05/08/2026

Last week in Summerland, a sailboat broke free during high winds and slammed into the shoreline near Lookout Park. The risk? Fuel, sewage and hazardous debris entering the ocean.

Heal the Ocean's Field Consultant acted quickly to remove fuel from the vessel, and partnered with Marborg to remove the vessel before it could break apart and contaminate the coastline.

Read more here:

A beached sailboat is a serious concern on the coast of Summerland. The county may authorize it to be crushed removed by Marborg before it gets broken up by wave action.

05/04/2026

We are over 70% of the way there!

Now’s a powerful moment to support our work — every donation made through this campaign will be doubled, dollar-for-dollar, up to $2,500 thanks to the Johnson Ohana Foundation through Jack Johnson’s All at Once community.

Your support helps achieve real change, furthering our goal of creating a healthy ocean and resilient coastline for all people (and wildlife) to enjoy.

A huge "thank you" to Kim and Jack Johnson for standing with us since our early days, and to the Johnson Ohana Foundation for continuing to amplify important environmental work around the world. 💙

When you donate through this link, your donation to Heal the Ocean will be matched by the Jack Johnson Ohana Foundation (up to $2,500)

04/22/2026

🌎 This Earth Day, your impact can go twice as far!

Now’s a powerful moment to support our work — every donation made during our special Earth Day 🌱 matching period will be doubled, dollar-for-dollar, up to $2,500 thanks to the Johnson Ohana Foundation through Jack Johnson’s All at Once community.

Your support helps achieve real change, furthering our goal of creating a healthy ocean and resilient coastline for all people (and wildlife) to enjoy. 🌊

We’re deeply grateful to Kim and Jack Johnson for standing with us since our early days, and to the Johnson Ohana Foundation for continuing to amplify important environmental work around the world. 💙

Make your gift count twice through our matching donation link: https://givebutter.com/jack-johnson-matching-1n07q3

04/17/2026

We’re excited to share a big step forward in tackling one of our region’s most persistent pollutants: EPS (expanded polystyrene, also known as Styrofoam).

Heal the Ocean is proud to collaborate with MarBorg Industries to expand a regional EPS recycling program—now brought fully local to Santa Barbara. Together, we’ve already diverted more than 80,000 pounds of foam from landfills and our ocean.

In this video, you'll see Brian Borgatello (of MarBorg) loading styrofoam dropped off by the community into the densifier. Check the comments to see the compressed bricks which are then sold and repurposed into new picture frames, home moulding, packaging, and more!

With new on-site densifying equipment, we can now process more material right here in our community, reducing strain on our landfills and preventing this pollutant from entering our ocean.

Have clean, dry Styrofoam? Drop it off at one of the two participating MarBorg locations: 20 Love Place (Goleta), or 132 Nopalitos Way (Lower Milpas area) and be part of the solution!

https://www.independent.com/2026/04/14/turning-the-tide-on-styrofoam-heal-the-ocean-and-marborg-industries-expand-regional-eps-recycling-program/

04/14/2026

Reminder 🎉 join us TONIGHT April 14th, from 5-7pm at T**a T**a Brewery (120 Santa Barbara Street) to celebrate Earth Month 🌎with Heal the Ocean and T**a T**a Brewing Co.!

We'll cheers with our special Heal the Ocean Hazy IPA and Karina Johnston, our Executive Director, will be giving a short presentation about HTO's work, starting at around 5:30pm.

Come by, connect with our team, and raise a glass to celebrate cleaner coastlines! 🌊

**First 10 people to come to our info table will receive a 2 for 1 pint coupon! 🍻**

04/10/2026

Join us next Tuesday in celebrating the close of our Q1 partnership with T**a T**a Brewing Co. as part of their Good Good Hazy series.

We’re hosting a happy hour to mark the positive impact we’ve made together—and to express our gratitude to T**a T**a for helping support cleaner coastlines.

Our Executive Director, Karina Johnston, will also be sharing a short presentation on some of Heal the Ocean’s latest accomplishments and exciting new projects on the horizon.

Come by, connect with our team, and raise a glass to the collective impact! 🍻