How can you not wax nostalgic finding a Monopoly piece amongst the tons of plastic washing ashore? A little green house, instantly recognizable—a poignant reminder of summer days spent in fierce economic battle with your bandit-mogul buddies. The fake bills tucked under the board. The property deeds lined up, waiting to get all the Yellows…waiting for Marvin Gardens. The lowly Baltic Avenue, the posh Park Place. Phrases high on the cliché list—“Get out of jail, free”…”Do not pass Go”…Agony, ecstasy, domination and loss. And how can you not recall that the game was first mass-marketed in the depth of economic crisis? 1935.

A quick web search reveals that Socialists first used the game as a teaching tool early in the 20th Century. First called The Landlord’s Game to show the ravages of unfettered Capitalism—a pleasant surprise to find it was used back then by Scott Nearing. Who, in the 50’s, with his wife Helen, authored Living the Good Life, a dog-eared copy of which lived on my night stand. The Nearings became the gurus of the 60’s back-to-the-land movement, something I took on as a personal mission in a lasting enthusiasm.

And when did the neat little painted wood houses and hotels change to be made of plastic, a development that made the game cheaper to make? Then again, is plastic really cheaper? What are the real costs of plastic? Who will bear these costs? Finally, and a happier consideration, that the unequivocal mystery of mind reveals itself in all these thoughts materializing out of a tiny bit of plastic marine pollution? Washed up on Kehoe Beach.

~ Richard Lang

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Atists Judith Selby and Richard Lang have been collecting plastic pollution from Kehoe Beach for 10 years and making art with it.  More information on their Website http://www.beachplastic.com/

Gorgeous Kehoe Beach is located 40 miles north of San Francisco in Point Reyes National Seashore . See Kehoe Beach on BlooSee satellite imagery here

Dear Kraft Foods.

Yesterday on a little half mile of beach we found 18 of your little cheese spreaders from your Kraft Handi-Snak cheese packs. The week before we found 21. And 13 before that. Given the sea-patina and bleaching it’s obvious they have been at sea and not left by pick-nickers. Congratulations! you are having a great year given the empirical evidence we’ve found. Isn’t it time you followed the golden rule now that you have been given the free speech rights of a person granted by the constitution.

Peace and love,

Richard and Judith

“The US Supreme Court has struck down a major portion of a 2002 campaign-finance reform law, saying it violates the free-speech right of corporations to engage in public debate of political issues.” Christian Science Monitor

In the late 1880′s corporations were granted “person-hood” essentially giving them as written in the declaration of Independence…”We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Although the progressive movement has railed against this idea of corporate “person-hood” by 2010 this genie is well free of the bottle. It’s a fool’s errand to fight against a wave that has long ago crashed ashore.

What to do?

While I am not a “believer” or a keeper of religious ritual, as an artist I feel myself to be a part of the 30,000-year continuum of humans engaged with the imaginal life. I feel engaged with the essence of human spirituality. Yet, in an age when religious fundamentalism is causing such havoc, it is treading on very thin ice to evoke any kind of religiosity. But, that said….

During the time of Jesus, Rabbi Hillel, when challenged by a gentile, who posed a question, as a taunt, saying, “I will convert, Rabbi, if you can explain your thinking while standing on one leg.” “Easy”, says Hillel, “Do to others as you would have others do to you. All our texts are commentary on that idea, now go and study them.” This simple moral code is the core teaching of all major religions on this planet.

There is no fighting the corporate nature of our global society, but we can insist that if corporations are to enjoy the rights of person-hood, it is time for them to adopt the one true moral compass of existence, “Do to others, what you have them do to you.”

~ Richard Lang

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Artists Judith Selby and Richard Lang have been collecting plastic pollution from Kehoe Beach for 10 years and making art with it. More information on their Website http://www.beachplastic.com/

On every visit since the introduction of Kraft Handi-Snak cheese packs Richard and Judith have found these single use plastic spreaders washed up on the sand. These rectangular pieces of purple plastic last hundreds of years in the environment.

Gorgeous Kehoe Beach is located 40 miles north of San Francisco in Point Reyes National Seashore . See Kehoe Beach on BlooSee satellite imagery here.

You can contact Kraft Foods customer service by phone at 1-877-535-5666, or in writing by clicking the happy snack logo. Tell them how happy you are.

Costa Salvaje / Wild Coast is a nonprofit on both sides of the Mexican-US border and their mission is to protect and preserve coastal ecosystems and wildlife in the Californias (US state of California and Baja California, Mexico) and in Latin America by

• Building grassroots support
• Conducting media campaigns
• Establishing protected areas

One of their main areas of concern is the Tijuana Valley watershed, which is a major contributor to the plastic pollution that contaminates the ocean and beaches in the border area and beyond.

Please check out their websites at Costa Salvaje / Wild Coast and also the videos on their terrific YouTube channel, and support their work.  We are excited to start exploring synergies between Costa Salvaje / Wild Coast and the work of other members of the coalition.

Bienvenidos! Welcome! Onward! Adelante!

PS: with our new friends comes the invaluable help of several Mexican celebrities, including El Hijo del Santo, a larger than life character in Mexico and beyond. Enjoy the video!

At Kehoe Beach, turning right to the north, we find the customary tangle of plastic and wrack. For variety we decide to head south across Kehoe Creek, flowing out through the sand, and onto Ten Mile Beach.

The beach is blissfully clean here; the big waves have carried much of the plastic back out to sea. It’s a great relief to walk and not feel the compulsion to focus down and sort through a bunch of junk. We walk for a few hundred yards and then our preoccupation with getting to work has us turning back north where there’s plenty to pick through. Our habitual lean is toward gleaning stuff to tell the plastic debris story. A kind of shopping. Today we decide to make a valentine for our ourselves and our friends. All that red was gathered in fifteen minutes. Happy Valentine’s y’all.

Artists Judith Selby and Richard Lang have been collecting plastic pollution from Kehoe Beach for 10 years and making art with it.  More information on their Website http://www.beachplastic.com/

Gorgeous Kehoe Beach is located 40 miles north of San Francisco in Point Reyes National Seashore . See Kehoe Beach on BlooSee satellite imagery here