WE ARE POISON FREE MALIBU

Our Goal: Protect children, pets, wildlife, and environment from toxic pesticides

• Method: Educate public, business, government

• Investigated dozens of shopping centers, restaurants, schools, parks, residents, homeowners associations, and other users of pesticides

• Encourage city, county, and state action to protect wildlife.

We attend and have booths at many environmental fairs, Earth Days, festivals, and other events.
 
We give talks at public forums, homeowners association meetings, Sierra Clubs, Audubon societies, and other environmental and activist groups.
 
We encourage and participate in activism by local groups such as Poison Free Agoura, Calabasas, Simi Valley, Conejo Valley, Topanga, Altadena, and the umbrella organization Cities Against Rat Poison.
 

Earth Friendly Activists

Joel & Kian Schulman

Kian and Joel Schulman are founding members of the Malibu-based nonprofit Poison Free Malibu, a group that has had much success protecting local wildlife, children and pets in the Santa Monica Mountains and throughout California by educating about the dangers associated with the use of pesticides.

Our email address is PoisonFreeMalibu@gmail.com

Current happenings are on our Facebook page Poison Free Malibu.

Timeline of Highlights
 
2012 

Mountain lion P-25 is discovered dead in local park due to rodent poisons – Poison Free Malibu becomes activated.
Six stores selling rodent poisons in Malibu remove them from shelves. No stores in Malibu now sell rodent poisons.

2013 
June – Volunteer of the Month Award from State Senator Fran Pavley
June – First meeting with Pepperdine University Center for Sustainability that later lead to a pesticide-free campus.
July – Malibu passes the first Resolution opposing rat poison use
October – Malibu passes an integrated pest management policy
 
2014 
Roundtable meeting with State Senator Pavley for telecon with the Dept. of Pesticide Regulation on new regulations pulling second generation anticoagulants from consumer shelves.
We pointed out and protested a loophole – the pesticide services, the major suppliers of the poisons, were still allowed to use the poisons. We are proved correct four years later when wildlife statistics have not improved.
Worked with the Las Virgenes Homeowners Federation to have clause in new Los Angeles County Santa Monica Mountains Local Coastal Program regulating pesticides.
December – Seminar for UCLA Education for Sustainable Living Program
 
2015
Received Calabasas Carl Gibbs Environmental Excellence Award
Received Malibu Times Citizens of the Year Dolphin Award
Worked with the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District to ban anticoagulant rat poisons.
 
2014 to 2016
The following cities signed on with Resolutions against the use of rodent poison in Southern California:
Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Camarillo, Hidden Hills, Malibu, Moorpark, Ojai, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Whittier
 
2016 
City of Malibu directs that all pesticides be stopped on city owned property.
Malibu school campuses also go pesticide free.
Our first of four assembly bills to restrict rodent poisons sponsored by Assemblymember Richard Bloom
February – Oak Park Unified School District adopts green pesticide free policy at its six campuses after our meeting with Superintendent Tony Knight.
 
We were in a movie by director Tony Lee Moral with Beth Pratt of the National Wildlife Federation about Griffith Park Mountain lion P-22 –
The Cat that Changed America. It featured the Liberty Canyon wildlife crossing and the poisoning of our local wildlife. It was shown nationwide and is now streaming. We attended the premier at the Santa Barbara Film Festival in February 2017. We have participated in panel discussions at most of the showings.
 
2017
June – Gave talk at the International Urban Wildlife Conference in San Diego entitled How to Get the Science Out to the Public and Decision-Maker.” 
July – Featured interviewees on the KFI radio show, Dean Sharp, the House Whisperer.
October – Gave invited one hour talk at the California Wildlife Rehabilitators annual symposium in San Luis Obispo in entitled Rodent Poisoning of Wildlife: How to Get the Facts Out to the Public and Decision Makers.
 
2018 
April – We were invited to give a talk and participate as panelists at the national Beyond Pesticides Forum at UC Irvine.
Supported lawsuit to request Department of Pesticide Regulation re-evaluate anticoagulant rodent poisons
Helped city of Malibu obtain a Resolution from the League of California Cities to end preemption, the California law preventing local control of rodent poisons.
 
2019 
March – Interviewed on camera by the Spectrum News 1 Cable news channel for a show on wildlife in Southern California.
June – Pesticide free Earth Friendly Management policy for Malibu city owned properties passed
June – Malibu lid lock dumpster ordinance passed
December – Malibu Local Coastal Program amendment restricting pesticides passed unanimously by Malibu City Council
 
2020
Assembly bill 1788 moratorium on 2nd generation anticoagulant rat poison passes. This was the fourth and SUCCESSFUL attempt for legislation, this time financed by the Animal Legal Defense Fund sponsoring a necessity – a lobbyist.
Cities Against Rat Poison, an alliance of Poison-Free activists, was formed.
We are noted in two books – 
The Cat That Changed America: The true Hollywood story of P22 mountain lion by Tony Lee Moral
P-22 The Park by Sherry Mangel-Ferber, Calandra Cherry, and Kathi Colman
 
2021
April – Malibu Chamber of Commerce Women’s Leadership Andy Cohen Safety Award
May – California Coastal Commission approves Malibu LCP Amendment restricting pesticides.
August – Finalist for 27th Senate District (Henry Stern) Non-Profit of the Year in the category Climate, Environment and Wildlife Protection
October – Ventura County Board of Supervisors approves LCP Amendment restricting pesticides similar to Malibu’s.
October – Noted in both of Suzanne Guldimann’s Life in Malibu books on the history of Malibu. Volume I was published December 2018.
Sonoma County – Sonoma County Planning Department inserts LCP language similar to Malibu’s restricting pesticides in their Draft LCP Update.
November – Calabasas passes Dumpster Lid Lock Ordinance similar to Malibu’s.
September – Coastal Commission certifies Malibu LCP Amendment
 
2022

A grant from LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl sponsors the deployment of English and Spanish billboards at multiple locations throughout the County 3rd District.
April – Ventura County Coastal Plan Update including LCP pesticide restrictions based on Malibu’s LCP Amendment passed by the Coastal Commission.

2023
July – The city of Malibu approved the policy on enforcing the LCP amendment, thus requiring compliance throughout the city.

2024
January – We advised the Laguna Beach Environmental Sustainability Committee on its proposal for mechanical-only open space fuel modification treatment for fire safety. It was subsequently approved by the city council.
January – A grant from Supervisor Lindsey Horvath continues the billboard deployments.

Join Our Movement

  1. Consult our Ally Organizations for even more in depth coverage of specific issues. 
  2. Watch, learn, listen, and download outreach materials from our Media Library. Here we have pamphlets, images for signs, and music/video content.
  3. Earth Friendly Management, our alternative to traditional ‘Pest Management’ prioritizes quality of life – for us, our pets, wildlife by prioritizing non-toxic preventative and adaptive measures for managing Invertebrates, Predators, Rodents, and Weeds.  
  4. Dive into the details of our Policy Structure to learn how you can campaign for poison free progress in your community. 
  5. Check out our spotlight on Rodent Poisons – break the poison chain!
  6. TAKE ACTION! On this page we keep you posted on what you can do to help.

EARTH FRIENDLY ANGELS

AngelKiss

Major Contributors, $1000 or more:

Greg & Laureen Sills in Memory of Hallie
Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
City of Malibu
Joel and Kian Schulman
Richard and Ann Buxie
Cornucopia Foundation
Victoria Principal Foundation
June and Jeff Louks
The Malibu Agricultural Society
Reisha Delug
Danny Moder
Kelly Meyer
Donna Kaplan and Lou Arcay
Chris and Paula Murphy

OR, Click on this Donate button below –