Owner: Oceans Waves Beaches URL:http://oceanswavesbeaches.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Fri, 02 May 2008 05:36:34 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: This blog is an exploration into Surfrider Foundation's mission statement "...protection and enjoyment of oceans, waves and beaches for all people..". The blog is written by Surfrider's CEO, Jim Moriarty. Site statistics:Click here
An inconvienient month (sans automobile) 2008-05-02 00:00:00 A good friend of mine decided to not use her car for a month... here's her blog about that experience. Check it out.Honestly, people like Lisa are my heroes. Sooooo much more so than those names we see on media headlines.She is like the Surfrider activists I meet all over the world. She... they... are solid gold. Platinum.The reason I put so much value on them is that they are... real.They are not some sitcom star or a media-created persona... they are as real as real gets. They have real lives. They have real bills. They have real experiences that we can identify with.Lisa struggles, as do we all, with what we can do... what our personal stance and role is... and she's experimenting with some options.She's acting.Read her blog.Experiment.Act.
Do no harm (including harm to the environment) 2008-05-01 08:31:00 Doctors take the Hippocratic oath "do no harm."Lawyers take an oath to uphold justice.Even Google has an (unofficial and unconfirmed) oath/motto of "don't be evil."But what about business people? Rakesh Khurana wrestles with his a bit on his Harvard Business Review piece "Should managers have a green Hippocratic oath?" (podcast here).My sense is that we had such a thing... but lost it.Specifically, we lost it as the world flattened and globalization became a reality.I believe there was an embedded green oath in people years ago and... we've lost our way. Farmers and other early groups worked from resources that were local and limited. They knew full well that they couldn't rape or spoil their production environment. Would a farmer risk harming the farmland that fed his family? Of course no
Randy Rarick podcast... On the beach at Haleiwa Beach Park 2008-04-30 08:01:00 Last summer our Board meeting was on the North Shore of Oahu. I had a morning or two with open windows... and the surf was tiny. I phoned up Randy
and asked if I could borrow a log and he graciously agreed.When I picked up the board he showed me a room filled with the boards for his upcoming auction. It was crazy. Insane. Every board was a time capsule, a work of art AND meticulously restored.Needless to say, I didn't take one of those boards out. I borrowed Randy's signature shapes.Some people know the auction side of Randy. Some know him as the guy that makes the Triple Crown hum. Others know him as a person that has been involved with Surfrider for years. Still others know that he was pushed into his first wave by Rabbit Kekai.For me... he's simply one of the nicest, even-keeled guys in Read more:Beach
Beautiful Losers 2008-04-29 07:28:00 Surf culture.Skate culture.DIY.Art.Looks like a killer film. Read more:Beautiful
, Losers
Ts that meet the mission 2008-04-28 07:32:00 Seldom does an entire line of tshirts meet Surfrider's mission of "... protection and enjoyment of oceans, waves and beaches for all people..". Yet Patagonia's line is preeetty darn close (organic cotton, ocean-friendly messaging, near zero packaging, recyclability ...)Of course they aren't the only one out there with products made to reflect on the enjoyment of our coasts... as well as taking the protection side into consideration. I'll blog on other in the coming months/years ahead.But... something notable is evolving at Patagonia, again.IMO they've always built bombproof clothes, been aware of their footprint. But they built clothes that pushed function over form and certainly over fashion. That was their gig, their space... and they owned it better than anyone.Maybe it was the Malloy c
Think Outside The Bottle: Map 2008-04-27 08:37:00 Most of us know that plastic bottles are... bad. We know that plastic is the largest pollutant in the oceans. So we're beyond that phase of being educated about the problems... let's all start shifting our energy and resources towards large-scale solutions.The Think Outside
The Bottle campaign is one such solution.
Shark hit this AM 2008-04-25 13:56:00 In 1975 I waited three hours in a line to see the film Jaws. I hated it. The next day our family drove to Rhode Island for our annual vacation... the first day we walked onto the beach some kids were beating up a sand shark... I remember not spending much time in the water that vacation.Over the years I've spent a lot of time in the ocean and, aside from some post-sunset sessions and one crazy session in Panama, my fear of sharks has waned. Related, I recently watched a film which should be called the Anti-Jaws. "Shark
water" almost singlehandedly killed my fear of sharks and ratcheted back up my deep appreciation of them.This morning I dropped my daughter off at school, noticed an ambulance pulling into Pillbox in Solana Beach. Serendipitously I hooked up with Alan Honadle and we paddled o
Nalgene's last gasp 2008-04-25 07:51:00 There have been murmurings about Nalgene bottles being bad for your health for seemingly as long as Nalgene bottles have been around. The odd part of that message has always been the fact that the "Nalgene crowd" was usually the type of person that was opting to reduce use of plastic bottles and... reuse their Nalgene bottle.The Nalgene crowd was an aware crowd.Not aware enough it turns out...The issue has always been a chemical that was rumored to be toxic. Bisphenol-A. Turns out that the rumors were accurate, this is a nasty chemical, linked to tumors and hormonal changes.The National Toxicology Program said “... possibility that bisphenol-a may alter human development cannot be dismissed.”A good, solid overview of the issue can be found in a NYT piece here.The money quote is “Bas
Constant pressure, endlessly applied 2008-04-24 07:05:00 A near constant force within the Surfrider voice is Gordon LaBedz. He comments on nearly everything and always takes a strong stance. Sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree. Gordon has a phrase that he seems to throw into most dialogs that always makes me pause. It makes me take a deep breath... and know that it's an appropriate reminder.That phrase is...Constant
pressure,endlessly applied
.If I can be so bold to co-opt his phrase and then define it... he means that without constant attention to detail, without constant vigilence... and without marrying that attitude with a mindset that isn't time-based or campaign-based... without those elements, working together... you're toast.You may not be toast yet and you may not feel the heat being turned up or your edges starting to burn... but
Turning Earth Day into Earth Life 2008-04-22 17:00:00 I'm an Irish citizen and yet I've never, ever thought St. Patricks Day was a day I should celebrate. In fact the idea of coloring beer green, a river green or anything else green and calling it Irish... is shallow and somewhat insulting.I suppose I feel the same way about Earth
Day.We are not talking about some Hallmark-esque day... we're talking about the earth, the planet... our oxygen supply, our food supply, our lives, our existence, etc.A piece caught my eye this AM, it was titled "Burning Question: Is Earth Day Bad for the Planet?" It's an interesting take on how Earth Day, like Administrative Assistants day (and every other day that has been manufactured) could easily be construed as a marketing vehicle to move product or services.Yet... I'm reminded again... we're talking about the
The Jack, Kelly & Eddie Trifecta 2008-04-21 23:28:00 A giant thank you to Jack, Kelly and Eddie
for a weekend that pushed our movement forward with a significant... uumph.The assault on our oceans, waves and beaches is constant. Our collective work needs to step up to the challenge. This weekend I felt like more people became aware of the issues and more people came alongside our mission.FRIDAYOn Friday Jack kicked off his US tour at the Kokua festival in Honolulu, Hawaii. We were at the press conference and introduced our Rise Above Plastics campaign. We're also going to be at most of Jack's tour stops around the globe as we take this message to the masses. The campaign is an awareness program about the real cost of plastics as well as healthy and available alternatives. Plastics are the single largest pollutant in our oceans and the Rise A
Mainstream 2008-04-21 07:47:00 Walking through SF a week ago I looked over and saw this... this was the window display in a yoga shop... anyone else feel like we're reaching some scale with messaging?Then again, I'm not sure I really get the connection with this statistic which should stop people in their tracks as part of a window display for clothes that are... mostly made of plastic.Oh... now I get it. Read more:Mainstream
shortstraw 2008-04-20 04:22:00 Surf and beach culture is defined by so many small, subtle architectural alterations. A snip there, an add there... a reform on the inside... an extra fin and deeper swallow on a new board.It's been that way for decades upon decades. I've love seeing it all unfold in real time.Some cool stuff from Shortstraw in the land of Oz.
Adam Werbach: Kind of blue 2008-04-19 09:03:00 Blue is the new green is the new black.Yep, we've heard riffs on that before... our focus has been on the blue for a while; oceans, waves and beaches, Blue Water Task Force, Project Blue, Pantone Blue, etc.But Adam Werbach is defining blue as something else, something more comprehensive. More Paul Hawkin-esque in the sense that there are more moving parts within today's awareness and activist issues.In fact he's suggesting blue it's not green at all (or at least having the singular focus green has on the environment). Blue is focused on a myriad of angles into our present state on the planet. For that reason I'm not sure the "blue" moniker works... a more multi-facted name would seem to better describe the vessel of ideas he's offering.Adam has me thinking.Check out his new manifesto here.
Garbage Island (Pt. 1 - 6) 2008-04-18 03:27:00 The colossal garbage dump in the North Pacific gyre is a metaphor of the environmental disaster we have brought upon ourselves and our offspring.Honestly, it's items like this that make me question the future of our species.The first six segments are the set-up... MTV meets PBS meets YouTube. I'm looking forward to them reaching the destination.Algalita.Algalita voyage blog.VBS. Read more:Garbage
, Island
Desalinization: The SUV of Water 2008-04-18 00:56:00 All that water, every drop to drinkToday, McIntyre and Snow discuss the feasibility of filtering ocean water to supply California's water needs. Previously, they debated the of fixing the state's water crisis, the proposed around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and . Tomorrow, they'll debate measures to reduce water consumption.'The SUV of water'By Mindy McIntyreWith all the growing limitations on freshwater, it is easy to see why people would look to the Pacific Ocean as a potentially unlimited new water supply. However, the reality is that despite the industry-fanned hopes, ocean water desalination remains largely impractical in California.Many people mistakenly consider ocean desalination a harmless way to get water to growing cities without the effects associated with damming ri
Glenn Hening podcast 2008-04-17 11:32:00 I caught up with the Glenn
Hening at the Seventh Annual Groundswell Society Conference a few weeks back.The conference covered surfing arts, science and issues and in some ways it reflects the singular person that Glenn is.Listen up as we cover everything from wave forecasting in the 40s to a Cousteau Society for surfers.Glenn.Other podcasts here.Suscribe to podcasts via itunes here.
Colliding worlds 2008-04-16 08:30:00 My niece, Kat McCourt, sends me a myriad of interesting reads. A month or so ago she sent me the Jared Diamond piece in the NYT titled "What’s Your Consumption Factor?"It wrestles with the economic and natural resources extrapolation of the image to the left.Essentially the piece explores the fact that first world locations (US, Western Europe, Japan...) consume resources like oil and metals, and produce wastes like plastics and greenhouse gases, at a rate about 32 times higher than they are in the developing world.32.It sets up the challenge as all developing world nations have their own version of the "American" dream (cars, house, Mac, etc). No country wants to stay poor, without access to clean water or healthcare. Even Surfrider's mission "...protection of oceans, waves and beaches
Taxes, beachfill & New Jersey 2008-04-15 08:07:00 Sometimes I get emails and they literally make me lean back in my chair out of disbelief.Here's the complete story, the following is my easy-to-follow guide to... New Jersey
, beachfill and taxes.Step 1. Practice non-sustainable coastal development practices. This gets you eroded beaches, poor water quality, etc.Step 2. Dredge sand from elsewhere to fill beaches. They call it a "beach nourishment" project... which in laymans terms is sucking up sand from somewhere to put it on a beach... where it will wash away in a few weeks or months. In this particular case, this portion cost $5,000,000.Step 3. Find munitions and ordinances and bombs in beach fill. How did these munitions and ordinances get in the sand? Our armed forces has done various flavors of war games and training off coastlines al Read more:New Jersey
, Taxes
Sand Scupture vid redlines on YouTube 2008-04-15 01:28:00 First, thanks to the chapter crew that worked to create this video alongside the creative crew at Saatchi and Saatchi.One of our recent vids ended up on the front page of YouTube
this weekend... now.Friday night: 144,000 viewsSaturday mid-day: 213,000 viewsSunday evening: 361,000 viewsThese are onramps, pure and simple.
An inconvenient month 2008-04-13 09:34:00 Few things make my day more than hearing highly personal stories of people's lives and decisions.Sometimes learning about a carbon treaty or a fishery issue can seem too abstract or too far away. Of course these are of paramount importance but they just don't have the immediacy of say... having a friend finally understand the single-use plastics issue. I think we all need smaller, personal stories in our lives. We need more tailored onramps into the movement.We need stories, here's one.My friend Lisa Randall surfs better than most people but she's also an enviro-entrepreneur.She and her friend Meghan launched Rerip, an online site for selling used boards, a year or so ago. This site, by itself, is a wonderful metaphor (and tool) for reducing, reusing and... reripping old boards. Check out
Trestles action alert 2008-05-02 17:53:00 Click here to invest a minute in the Trestles fight.As you may know, the TCA appealed the California Coastal Commission decision to reject the toll road through San Onofre State Park. We have until May 28th to contact the Secretary of Commerce and ask him to deny the TCA appeal and uphold the California Coastal Commission's decision.On April 18, we hand delivered over 3,500 letters to the Secretary of Commerce asking him to grant a public hearing. At this point, we do not know if the Secretary will grant a public hearing (we'll let you know as soon as we know), but in the meantime take a few seconds to complete this action alert.We are asking the Secretary to review the TCA appeal based on facts consistent with applicable state laws, and to uphold California's right and responsibly to prot
Who is the greenest? (poll results) 2008-05-02 06:20:00 In the month of April I asked the question "who is the greenest?" on my poll.The results
are here...Surfrider Foundation isn't a political/partisan organization.We don't lobby. We don't endorse or oppose individual candidates, rather we seek to get information out on political issues and let the candidates sort themselves out.Interesting results.For some real meat on this subject, check out the following:Grists' Election '08League of Conservation Voters guideProject Vote Smart's siteHeadcount's Register to Vote siteWe won't tell you who to vote for... but we will tell you to educate yourself before you vote.
Earth: The Sequel 2008-05-04 08:39:00 I was at EDF in NYC a month or so back to kibitz about wave energy. Fred Krupp gave me a copy of the book he and Miriam Horn recently wrote, "Earth
: The Sequel."Good book. My oversimplified summary of this book is that it explores the leading forces that will address the mess we're in today. More specifically it points to the market and innovation.This book is silicon valley meets green acres.That is... it's where investments will be made, what technologies can viably shed us from our oil addiction, how much prices need to drop for the various alternative energies to be viable for the general population and which companies are leading the charge.In a strange way, this book felt like... home.Before coming on at Surfrider I spent a couple decades in tech and this book mixes the two worlds as
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