We'll have our final numbers by the end of this week. I'm expecting the trash numbers to be up this year, because the winter storms were so severe.

They start to notice how dirty the beach is, and all the little pieces of trash they start to see. I've had people tell me that doing a three-hour Coastal Cleanup Day stays with them all year.

I don't think people realize what a problem plastic bags pose to our environment and our marine life -- or how they can take a few simple steps to help solve the problem. It is my hope that the work of these strong business partners and this public education campaign, that we will begin to reduce plastic bag consumption throughout California.

We are trying to build on both the response and the recognition that we need to do a lot more work inland to have a long-term impact on the coast. We are at the point where we have more sites inland than we do on the coast.

Communicating with God is the most extraordinary experience imaginable, yet at the same time it's the most natural one of all, because God is present in us at all times. Omniscient, omnipotent, personal-and loving us without conditions. We are connected as One through our divine link with God.

I understand what happens to the brain when people are near death, and I had always believed there were good scientific explanations for the heavenly out-of-body journeys described by those who narrowly escaped death.