Shaping Room

Art for the Oceans / John Severson

Another board from the upcoming Art for the Oceans auction in New York City on October 15th. This board was shaped by Al Merrick and painted/crafted by none other than the founder of surf journalism and founder of Surfer Magazine, John Severson. The board build off of early Surf film posters and graphics. Priceless piece, almost as good as the qunitessential quote...

In this crowded world, the surfer can still seek and find the perfect day, the perfect wave, and be alone with the surf and his thoughts...." - John Severson

Jim Moriarty
Executive Director

Surfrider Europe turns 15

Go ahead... make a wish.

By the numbers

An organization’s relevance is very much tied to its size. Its ability to focus and execute are also extremely important. Surfrider Foundation has been laser-focused on issues in coastal regions since its inception. We also have a history of executing local campaigns due to our grassroots muscle. In fact over the past few years we’ve grown into the largest grassroots environmental organization focused on coastal issues.

Most of the time we talk about a particular program or local campaign but quantitatively speaking there is also a story. This blog is for those that… like numbers.

Our chapter network is the framework of Surfrider Foundation
·    Ten year ago: 25 chapters
·    Five years ago: 48 chapters
·    Today: 60 chapters dotting the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico and Great Lakes coasts. We also have international affiliates in Australia, Europe, Japan and Brazil
·    In five years we will expand programs and campaigns within many of the regions we already occupy

Looking at membership you’ll find similar growth, this is the lifeblood.

Last year alone, Surfrider Foundation members and volunteer activists:
·    Tested ocean water over 8,100 times and worked in their communities to identify solutions to poor water quality.
·    Implemented over 200 outreach campaigns to involve the community in coastal issues.
·    Presented our national educational program, Respect the Beach approximately 900 times to thousands of school age children.
·    Coordinated 600 cleanups on U.S. beaches.
·    Mapped coastline in 10 communities to establish a scientific baseline of man’s effect on the shore.
·    Donated volunteer hours valued at nearly $2,500,000, all applied directly to our beaches.
·    Took an official position on nearly 700 issues affecting local beaches and coastal areas.

The important point is that these are… just numbers. The real meat, the amazing stories are buried in these statistics. On five continents people volunteer to police coastal zones, to engage in protecting resources they deem valuable. Part of me puts all the value of the organization on these gems of stories.

Jim Moriarty
Executive Director, Surfrider Foundation

Art for the Oceans / Melinda Morey

Surfrider Foundation's "Art for the Oceans" is an event in NYC on Oct. 15th. We will auction off approximately 40 boards painted by leading artists. The boards are in and they are... stunning.

Check out Melinda Morey's board (Melinda is Tom Morey's daughter). This board is amazing in person as is her other work.

Stay tuned for more details on this event and more pics of the boards.

Jim Moriarty
Executive Director

Ocean Water Quality – Are We Missing the Big Picture?

Pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, oil, gasoline, solvents, viruses and pharmaceutical products.  What do these things have in common?  They’re all frequently present in either the urban runoff that flows untreated to the ocean or in effluent from wastewater treatment plants.  The other thing they have in common is that we don’t routinely monitor for them in the ocean.

You might be thinking “What about the BEACH Act that Surfrider Foundation helped pass, doesn’t that require regular testing?  Yes, it does, but only for a couple of types of “indicator bacteria” that have shown a correlation with swimmers and other ocean users getting sick. The bacteria that we test for (generally enterococcus for salt water and E. coli for fresh water) are not even necessarily what make you sick.  They’re just fairly easy and cheap to test for.  All that other stuff may be present, but we aren’t even checking for it.

Another “big picture” that we’re missing is that the BEACH Act is aimed at protecting us, but not the critters that are in the water 24/7.  You know, guys like these:

We’re just becoming aware that all those pharmaceutical products that we use (everything from decongestants to birth control pills to blood pressure medication to erectile dysfunction drugs and even caffeine from your morning latte) are ending up in our rivers and in the ocean.  How?  Two ways – first, people often flush unused or outdated medication down the toilet.  Second, our bodies don’t completely absorb or metabolize all those drugs, so when we pee, we’re also putting drugs in rivers and the ocean.

Is this causing harm to aquatic life?  Although this is a relatively new field of research, there are studies that indicate discharges of what are called "endocrine disruptors" and pharmaceutical products into inland water bodies have caused altered sex ratios of trout in Britain, deformed genitalia in alligators in Florida, as well as other neurological or physiological changes.  Here are links to an EPA fact sheet on this subject, another fact sheet, a study indicating the presence of pharmaceuticals in wastewater, wells and creeks in Washington, and a recent newspaper article on the subject.

Rick Wilson

Killing Harry's by Serge Dedina

We celebrate our victories but we seem to become silent about the losses. For me the losses represent a critically important lesson in our ongoing coastal fights. We cannot let coastal regions get destroyed in the name of "progress"... but unless we band resources and fight for what we value that's exactly what happens. When we do lose something valuable we need to stand on every soapbox we can find and let people know we've lost something special. I asked Serge Dedina to write his thoughts up on the destruction of Harry's in Baja because he's a coastal activist just like many of us, he knows the area and he was there when it was killed. - Jim Moriarty

There used to be a time when surfers went to Baja to escape the urban madness of southern California. When I first started my south of the border explorations in the late 70s the coast south of Playas de Tijuana was an open adventure. Once you passed the town of El Rosario on Highway 1, you were really into deep Baja.

Harry's on a good day

More recently, however, Baja has become the haven for American corporations that cannot get away with their projects in the U.S.—either due to the expense of the regulatory process that makes it difficult to set up shop on a pristine part of the coast, or the actual cost of buying land.  A bevy of American companies own maquiladoras in Tijuana that spew out toxic materials into the Tijuana River that end up in my home break of Imperial Beach.  Resort and time-share developers plan to turn the East Cape into San Felipe. Cabo, with its endless golf courses, ritzy hotels, and strip clubs, is no longer a surf destination but a nightmare to be avoided.

Until recently the only stretch of open undeveloped coastline in north of Ensenada, was the isolated Costa Azul site just south of the Baja Mar Golf Resort, around the corner from Salsipuedes. Only a handful of surfers knew that it was the location of a wicked and super gnarly right reef named Harry’s by the Long Brothers from San Clemente.

Harry's on a bad day

Of course no one realized that Harry’s, instead of being recognized as the epicenter of one of the last great natural areas in northern Baja, would be transformed into an industrial park by an American energy company, Sempra, courtesy of ratepayer subsidies from southern California.  Harry’s and Costa Azul are the first victims of a crazy race by the world’s largest energy companies to industrialize our coast and ocean. If Sempra, Shell, Mitsubishi, BHP Billiton and Chevron-Texaco have their way (and it looks like they will), the coastline from Colonet to Santa Barbara will resemble a giant LNG (liquefied natural gas) factory.

Welcome to the 21st century.

Sign of progress?

Jason Murray and I visited the Sempra project site in Baja in July. A photographer who had documented Rusty and Greg Long ripping Harry’s (with a Surfer cover story), Jason was not happy about the prospect of shooting the destruction of a spot that literally had just been discovered. I was braced for a confrontation with Sempra security that had missed me on a previous visit two weeks earlier with two Mexican activists and a Wall Street Journal Reporter.

Giant bulldozers and earth moving machines passed us on our walk to the point  from the southern limit of the Baja Mar Resort. As we arrived, Jason and I watched a procession of dump trucks pouring rocks on top of Harry’s—destroying the reef and the wave. Jason later said that he felt like crying. I was bummed by the fact that a U.S. company had decided that the smartest option for its future growth was to find a pristine stretch of coastline in Baja and destroy it.

What we witnessed was the first wave of mega-industrial development that will turn Baja California into the southern extension of the Port of Long Beach.

So next time you surf an empty beach in Baja. Just thank god it is still there. And remember that more than likely there is an American company somewhere that has plans to obliterate it in the name of progress.

Serge Dedina
WiLDCOAST

(photo credits: Serge Dedina unless otherwise noted)

Bad thunder

Video at:
http://surfermag.com/av/potpourri/harrysvid-funerl/

Music with a hook

Musicians performing on behalf of a cause aren’t new but they are notable. Bob Geldof was a decent front man with the Boomtown Rats but he became a humanitarian leader with the first Live Aid concert. He, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, The Clash, Bono, Black Flag and many others collectively paved the way for musicians to increase their relevancy and impact. Like many of you, I grew up listening to these bands and was shaped by their music and lyrics. My current tastes are an extension of these both in the musical sense and the activist sense. This came to me a few nights ago as I was talking to Surfrider volunteers that were tabling at Jack Johnson’s concert.

Jack Johnson is among those that top the list of people leading the charge. Jack is becoming an eco-intentional leader within the music industry. His tour kicked off in August and includes eco-friendly elements such as conversion to bio-diesel, recycling & food donations, eco-friendly tour merchandise, tabling by environmental groups including Surfrider Foundation and CO2 Offsets & climate-neutral certification. Of course he’s about more than Surfrider, check out his work at Kokua. He has played at our events, lent songs for videos, check out the Shifting Baselines in the Surf video.

The great part is that Jack’s not alone, check out one of the recent Ken Garcia flyers. It’s a great image, notable message and excellent music to back it all up.

Bands that have donated work to Surfrider Foundation include Donovan, Tom Curren, Linkin Park, No Doubt, Pennywise, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, TSOL, Lit, Unwritten Law, Gary Hoey, Gavin DeGraw, Peter DiStefano, Perry Farrell, John Hoskinson, The Creepers, Alec Bridges, The Beach Boys, Perry Farrell, The White Buffalo, Brain Taco, Chris Isaac, Social Distortion, Distillers, Trevor Hall, and many more. The list goes back 21 years… trust me, it’s a long list.

In fact we’ve put out three different “Music for our Mother Ocean” CDs. Some great bands represented on these. Just last week a friend told me one of his favorite songs was Pennywise’s version of Surfin’ USA.

Before I go on let me share a heartfelt THANK YOU to all that have worked with us over the years. Here are a few pictures…

Photo: Nathan Blaney

Photo: Todd Messick

Photo Robert Duron

For me this all comes back to title of the first blog, “total tactics”. Total tactics is a strategy that dates back to the Civil Rights movement and is about leveraging a grassroots movement and getting the message out in every possible way, but emphasizing ways that are relevant to people where they live. As I walked around Jack’s recent tour it felt perfect. Surfrider Foundation was there due to Jack and Kim Johnson’s interest in doing more than delivering a memorable show. They enabled us to work together and add some momentum to the cause; they helped us add another tactic to our quiver.

Surfrider Foundation exists to protect the world's oceans, waves and beaches for all people, through conservation, activism, research and education and we’re stoked that we’re in this together with some amazing musicians. Thanks again, to all that have offer their talents.

Jim Moriarty

Executive Director, Surfrider Foundation

San Diego man wins surfboard for paddling trash

At our annual Paddle for Clean Water, Surfrider San Diego had a contest for the most creative paddlecraft.  The winner received a new board and the only requirement was that it must make it around the 500 yard pier.  Paul Nordstrom took about $20 in materials and a few hours of his time for his 'Keep It In Your Bag' creation that won the board.

California Coastal Cleanup Day

For more info CLICK HERE

San Diego Paddle For Clean Water

The 14th Annual San Diego Paddle for Clean Water was another big success.  A cool, overcast sunrise turned into a beautiful sunny morning  with some waist to chest high wind swell waves at the Ocean Beach Pier.  Hundreds of paddlers circled the pier to show their support for clean water.  We had a great time, raised awareness and signed up 43 new Surfrider members.  Some of the pics are attached.

Bill Hickman - San Diego Chapter Coordinator