Coastal Blog — Rise Above Plastics
April 29 2013
Watershed Adventures Of A Water Bottle
Check out this great children's book that was recently published to help raise awareness about the impacts of plastic pollution and how kids can help prevent it. Jennifer Chambers does a nice job of telling a story that is compelling and interesting while the artwork from Jesse Auth illustrates the…
April 29 2013
What Does a Plastic Packaging Bill Look Like?
The enormity of the plastic pollution problem in our oceans is staggering. Surfrider Foundation has been hard at work advocating for local bag bans, polystyrene foam foodware bans and regulations of cigarette butts, amongst other efforts. But what else can we do to make sure we are targeting other forms…
April 25 2013
With Us - NYC Expands Recycling!
Rise Above Plastics Bag Bans Expanded Polystyrene Foam
On Wednesday, Mayor Bloomberg hosted a press conference to announce that New York City is expanding its household recycling program to include all rigid plastics, not just #1 or #2 bottles and jugs. This will be a great opportunity to divert materials from the landfill and provide more recycled source…
April 15 2013
Down Cycled to Marine Debris
Plastics manufacturers tend to promote recycling as the holy grail for waste management. As more cities aim to divert more materials from landfills for good reason, more recycled material gets processed and needs to find a second life. Some materials can be made directly into the same products they came…
April 10 2013
Rethink Butts
The Surfrider Foundation has been fighting cigarette but litter since the 1990's when the San Diego County Chapter mobilized activists with their 'Hold On To Your Butt' campaign to end cigarette butt litter. Since then there has been great progress in some areas but cigarette butts continue to be a…
April 04 2013
Million Reusable Bag Giveaway
Los Angeles is getting ready to finalize their plastic checkout bag ban and groups are ready to provide reusable bags 'Made in LA' for the masses. California Greenworks, in partnership with Green Vets LA and Homeboy Industries, proposes the “Million Reusable Bag Giveaway” pilot program, to create and distribute 25,000…
April 01 2013
Ocean Plastic - A Marin Art Show
This Saturday April 6th, Ocean Plastic, an art show sponsored by the Surfrider Foundation Marin County Chapter, opens in Sausalito! As part of the opening day festivities there will be an artists reception and an impressive list of guest speakers including Beth Terry, Daniella Russo, Chris Princetich and David Helvarg.…
March 28 2013
Top Plastic Pollution Bills in California
Legal Rise Above Plastics Bag Bans
The California legislative session started off in full sprint this year, with Senators and Assembly members tripping over themselves to come up with bills that address coastal plastic pollution. At the end of the first quarter, we have several priority pieces of legislation that Surfrider Foundation supports in our efforts…
March 20 2013
Farewell Friend – In Memoriam of My Travel Mug
My friend of three and half years passed away this morning. He’d been on life support for quite a while, but I made him hold on. There was no one like him so it was hard to let go. We’d been everywhere together on a daily basis. We’d worked to…
March 11 2013
Can a First Coast City be the First City in Florida to Refuse Plastic Bags?
Florida is a state that limits 'home rule' when it comes to plastic bags - municipalities are not allowed to enact a plastic bag ban or fee-based ordinance per state law. That did not slow down a group of Flagler College students who are working to eliminate plastic bag litter…
March 07 2013
Plastic Bag Freedom. HUH?
America's Founding Fathers obviously did not have plastic bags in mind when seeking freedom, but in desperate efforts, some plastic bag proponents are trying to associate plastic bags with freedom. "On Tuesday, Rep. Drew Springer (Muenster) filed HB 2416 "The Shopping Bag Freedom Act" to give retailers and consumers the…
March 01 2013
Friday Inspiration
It's a beautiful day in Southern California and I'm itching to head to the beach. But, some work needs to be done before I sneak out a little early this afternoon. Going through some emails and files quickly provided some inspiration to keep me fired up: some great outreach from…
February 22 2013
Appeals Court Rules for LA County Bag Ban and Against Plastics Industry
Legal Rise Above Plastics Bag Bans
On February 21, 2013, the California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District affirmed the lower court judgment in favor of Los Angeles County in defending their municipal bag ban ordinance from an attack brought by the plastics industry, including Hilex Poly Co., in Schmeer et al v. County…
February 21 2013
Turn a T-shirt Into a Reusable Bag!
Surfrider Chapters across the country have been reducing waste and creating reusable bags at the same time!! Sure, you can dump old or unwanted clothes at your local thrift store, but there are few ways to truly recycle t-shirts. There are lots of examples online, here are a few of…
February 15 2013
Stop The Plastic Invasion
Surfrider Foundation Europe has developed another great ad campaign with Young & Rubicam Paris, France. This great graphic art is the theme for the international Ocean Initiatives cleanup efforts - Let's Reduce Our Plastic Footprint, The Sea Is Full.
February 14 2013
Home Soda - All It’s Fizzed Up To Be?
There was quite a bit of buzz last week around a rejected football game ad for a home soda maker. After being out of the office I finally took time to search it out and was a bit disappointed. While I had secretly hoped it might be too risqué by…
February 11 2013
Reusable Bags Are Dangerous? Don’t Believe The HYPE!
Over the past couple of weeks numerous stories and LTE's have focused on recent 'research' claiming a link between unwashed reusable bags and deaths in San Francisco. This flawed research builds on the misleading research started in 2010 between University of Arizona and Loma Linda University that was funded by…
January 30 2013
Plastic Sushi - Still A Hit!
A little over a year ago we 'launched' a couple of new print PSA's created by our friends at Pollinate in Oregon. The plastic sushi piece was an instant hit on Facebook and was quickly shared over 20,000 times from various Surfrider Foundation related pages. Many people shared it again…
January 24 2013
Plastic Pollution Solution Kits
This video provides an overview of the Plastic Pollution Solutions educational kit that was developed by 5 Gyres Institute and the Surfrider Foundation. These kits were initially intended for Surfrider Chapters and Marcus from 5 Gyres made extras so that additional Chapters or other interested activists can get one.
January 15 2013
2013 Rise Above Plastics Program Plan
Rise Above Plastics Bag Bans Expanded Polystyrene Foam
Here is a four minute video that provides an overview of the Rise Above Plastics program and our goals for this year. If you are not involved with a Surfrider Chapter, you can find the closest one at www.surfrider.org/chapters.
