Coastal Blog — Rise Above Plastics
March 02 2012
The Plastic Bag Dominos Continue To Fall
It's been a good week for the environment as more cities embrace meaningful plastic bag reductions. (For a list of ineffective plastic bag reductions, see yesterday's blog post) In Southern California, Laguna Beach finalized their plastic carryout bag ban while Carpinteria and Ojai passed first readings of their own bag…
March 01 2012
Voluntary Plastic Bag Reductions Don’t Work
As carryout plastic bag usage in the United States soars over 100 billion (115 billion now by one estimate), more cities and states are looking at ways to reduce litter and the impacts of plastic bags. Bag recycling programs have been set up across the country but as bag recycling…
February 27 2012
Hold On To Your Butt!
Hold On To Your Butt is a Surfrider Foundation campaign aimed at eliminating cigarette butt litter and pollution because of the impact on beaches and the ocean. Cigarette butt litter is a big issue because butts are the most littered item in the world and most butts are made of…
February 22 2012
Plastic Videos
One of the coolest parts of the Rise Above Plastics program is sharing some of the video projects that activists work on. Check out these great efforts from Marty Benson in San Diego County and Joanna Priestley/Create Plenty in Portland, OR.
February 08 2012
Do you need a bulldozer to cleanup your beach?
I sure hope not. I have seen photos of large equipment scooping litter out of Ballona Creek in LA, insane plastic pollution in the Tijuana River Valley near the Mexican border at the Pacific Ocean and large beach raking machines are common in many tourist areas but these photos from…
January 31 2012
Plastic In The Food Chain
Remember the plastic bag sushi ad we posted last week? While it's a bit extreme, it does show the underlying truth that the ocean is turning into a plastic soup and plastic is entering the food chain through the fish we eat. While most people are concerned with larger types…
January 27 2012
Leatherback Sea Turtles Get Protection Along West Coast
Coastal Preservation Know Your H20 Desalination Ocean Ecosystems Rise Above Plastics
Regulators designated nearly 42,000 square miles of ocean on the West Coast as critical habitat for endangered leatherback sea turtles, protecting them from ocean-related development projects and pollution.
January 24 2012
New Rise Above Plastics Print PSA’s from Pollinate
Check out these great new print PSA's that Pollinate Agency in Portland, OR created for Surfrider's Rise Above Plastics program!
January 23 2012
Stiv on Bag Ban Campaign Planning
I recently caught up with 5 Gyres Communications and Policy Director / Surfrider activist Stiv Wilson to get some of his insight on planning for a successful plastic reduction campaign. Stiv has a wealth of knowledge from sailing in three of the five gyres to being one of the many…
January 11 2012
Another One Bites The Dust - SLO Bag Ban Passes!
San Luis Obispo County County Integrated Waste Management Authority had a 'super vote' for the first time in their history and a super majority of board members passed one of the first countywide plastic bag bans in the U.S. This one covers both the unincorporated areas and all incorporated cities…
January 09 2012
Ban The Bag on Portlandia
Cheers to the Surfrider Foundation Portland Chapter for making such an impact with their successful Ban The Bag campaign that it landed on the Independent Film Channel's hit series Portlandia! It's a funny show and this is a great parody on petitioning. New episodes Fridays at 10, check your cable…
January 01 2012
What was the first plastic item that you touched this year?
Maybe it was a cheap champagne glass at midnight or the tv remote control after watching some of the celebrations. Maybe you slept through the turn of the calendar and it was your alarm clock or toilet seat first thing in the morning. For me, it was the case on…
December 20 2011
Flotsam Clusters - Nothing New
Check out this rad artwork! I'm usually hesitant to glorify trash and marine debris but I love this work from Lowell Nickel and wanted to pass it along. Plastic trash and litter is easily ignored by most people but these works highlight how durable and everlasting it can be. Next…
December 19 2011
What does a 3% increase in violent crimes have to do with a plastic bag ban?
Nothing, it's just a scare tactic. In advance of the Seattle City Council vote on a plastic bag ban for the city that passed 9-0(!), a major plastic bag manufacturer started running an opposition ad in Seattle newspapers that could be described as scare tactics. Why else would they include…
December 16 2011
Waste To Waves / Foam to Surfboard Recycling!
Waste to Waves™ is an exciting new recycling program developed by nonprofit organization Sustainable Surf, that’s designed to turn waste materials into new, eco-friendlier surfing products. Partners for the initial launch campaign include Reef, SPY Optic, Marko Foam, Surfrider Foundation and Waste Management. Waste to Waves lets you “Turn Your…
December 15 2011
How To Trim The Plastic When Grocery Shopping
Day Without A Bag is today and the focus is to avoid carryout bags in favor of remembering your reusable bags. It’s the easiest way to Rise Above Plastics at the grocery store, but just the tip of the plastic iceberg. Here are some other tips to help trim the…
December 13 2011
Stocking Stuffer Alert - Reusable Glass Straws!
Our friends at Simply Straws recently sent along a special batch of reusable glass straws etched with the Surfrider logo! Conventional plastic straws can be a dangerous single-use plastic item because it's really hard to recycle them and it seems they are often littered. Once littered they often start the…
December 12 2011
Celebrate Day Without A Bag THIS THURSDAY!
A Day Without a Bag is an educational grassroots event started by Heal the Bay in Los Angeles and hosted by Surfrider Foundation Chapters along with local community groups throughout the country. Held the third Thursday in December, we ask holiday shoppers and retailers to forgo single-use, plastic shopping bags…
December 08 2011
Hawaii Print PSA’s
HUGE Mahalos to Kevin Whitton (Ed./Publisher) and Kyle Tanaka (Art Dir.) for sponsoring Surfrider HI's Rise Above Plastic ads in Green Magazine! Thanks to the Surfrider Foundation Oahu Chapter 'RAP' Comm., Sheila, Rob, Leilei, Robert, Lora L., Pasha P., Tia-Brooke F., Stuart C. and all those who helped design and…
December 07 2011
Rise Above Foam
What lightweight single-use plastic is typically used for under ten minutes and can easily break into many pieces if littered? If you guessed expanded polystyrene foam, you are correct! These small pieces of foam run the risk of harming wildlife that mistake it for food. Even if someone has the…
