BYOB

I promised to write about my little 'ocean talk' at the preschool. It was a big hit last year, so I was told. I was asked to come back again last month. I didn't have many props last year, so this time I was a little more prepared.

I brought my laptop and played a little powerpoint of images (the usual charismatic megafauna) with sounds: Do fish make noises? What do you think they sound like? I must have spent a good 3 hours tracking down free mp3's of hump back songs, dolphin clicks and whistles, seal barks, snapping shrimp, clownfish and black drum noises. The children really liked it, though I think they were also equally enamored of the novelty of the computer (future Mac addicts).

I also brought along some of our 'coffee table' books filled with underwater photographs - Wild Ocean and Ocean Duets. The latter has a series of images of sea horses camouflaged against soft corals; I held up the images one at a time and asked them if they could find the sea horse. Wanna play?

• Find the pygmy sea horse
• Find another pygmy sea horse
• And one more
• Now how about this clever one
  

With the older kids, I read Michael Recycle and talked about the importance of cleaning up after ourselves at the beach, especially of plastic bags - which resemble jellyfish, a sea turtle's favorite snack.

Plastic bags are a particularly timely topic, and one that Matt and I have been following locally. Monterey and neighboring cities are taking up the issue of banning plastic bags. The farmers' market here has begun handing out paper bags for produce, and the city is considering whether to ban them entirely. Many large cities around the country are taking up measures to ban their distribution or institute a "plas tax" at large grocery chains, from Philadelphia to San Francisco. Whole Foods has stopped offering them, Target has its own totes and is offering a free "retote", Costco has introduced its own giant reusable totes (you have to buy a pack of three) and I can't keep up with the multiple designs at Trader Joe's now, which also introduced a super-convenient wine bottle tote. Heck, even China is putting an end to their free distribution.

As you might expect, big petroleum and the retail chains are putting up some resistance to these bans. However, plastics are a persistent problem. The best solution is not to introduce them into the environment in the first place. I love the sandwich bags at Reusablebags.com and am now attempting to rid our house of ziploc and plastic wrap altogether.

And here's an ancillary benefit to b.y.o.b. - bringing your own bags can be budget-friendly if you commit to only buying what you need and fits in the bag(s).