Celebrating One Year of the Climate Action Program
This Earth Day marks one incredible year since the launch of Surfrider’s Climate Action Program, a nationwide effort to protect our coasts from the impacts of climate change through hands-on restoration, community engagement, and nature-based solutions. What a year it has been!
We started this program with a simple but powerful goal. We wanted to support our chapters and volunteers in restoring the coastlines they love. We wanted to make it easier for people to take real climate action in their communities. We wanted to show that local efforts can lead to meaningful change.
Today, we are celebrating real climate action.
Over the past year, Surfrider chapters and clubs across the country rolled up their sleeves and got to work. They have planted native species, removed invasive ones, rebuilt dunes, restored wetlands, and replanted mangroves. Through it all, they brought communities together with a shared purpose of conserving what we love.
Together, in the first year, Surfrider’s Climate Action Program has:
- Hosted or participated in 68 restoration events
- Engaged more than 2,000 volunteers
- Planted over 55,000 native plants
- Removed over 10,000 pounds of invasive species
- Restored more than 20 acres of coastal habitat
- Engaged 16 chapters, including 6 chapters leading restoration projects for the very first time
Nature-based solutions like coastal ecosystems restoration are among our most powerful climate action tools. They help absorb carbon, slow erosion, reduce flooding, and create space for wildlife to thrive. They also bring people together in meaningful ways. A restoration event is more than planting or weeding. It’s a chance to be in community, to learn, to reconnect with the land and with each other. It’s a way to turn worry into something tangible and hopeful. It is the feeling of standing next to someone in the sand, planting something that will grow and protect that shoreline for years to come.
The world feels heavy right now. From stronger storms and rising seas to environmental injustice and climate anxiety, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. But at Surfrider, we know that healing is possible. We believe change starts at the shoreline and grows from the ground up. And we know that powerful things happen when people step in to help.
That is the heart of the Climate Action Program. It is about building coastal resilience through restoration. It is about connecting people to nature and to each other. It's about taking meaningful action right where you are.
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In Puerto Rico, our team held thirteen mangrove restoration events, including distributing mangrove seeds via a paraglider in areas hard to reach by foot. We joined RISE, an environmental justice partner in the Rockaways, for New York City Climate Week in 2024 and hosted the only hands-on restoration event during the week. It brought together an incredible group of volunteers to make a difference on the ground in their own neighborhood.
The Cape Fear chapter continued their annual dune restoration event, using recycled Christmas trees to help build up dunes and create more stable, protective shorelines. In New Jersey, the Jersey Shore chapter remained committed to their long-running dune restoration work, planting native vegetation to strengthen the coast and support natural resilience. In San Francisco, the chapter joined a new partnership to support restoration efforts at Ocean Beach, a stretch of shoreline facing increasing pressure from sea level rise.
Throughout the year, we supported our chapters with resources, planning, and training. We hosted webinars across every Surfrider region, helping connect chapters, clubs, and volunteers with new tools and fresh ideas. We worked alongside student clubs and young leaders who are shaping the future of coastal stewardship, and we built partnerships that will continue to grow in the years ahead.
This first year of Surfrider’s Climate Action Program has been inspiring, joyful, and full of momentum. What makes it even more exciting is looking ahead at what’s possible. We are entering the next year with energy and optimism. Our network is ready to launch even more restoration projects, involve more communities, and keep bringing new voices and ideas into the movement.
We will continue expanding our support, helping chapters dream up and deliver the kinds of projects that matter most in their regions. We’ll keep building connections between people, places, and purpose. We know that every native plant rooted in the ground, every invasive removed, and every person who feels connected to this work makes a difference - not just for the coastline, but for all of us.
Thank you to every volunteer, partner, chapter leader, and supporter who made this first year of the Climate Action Program so successful. Your effort and enthusiasm are what make this work so special. We can’t wait to see what we accomplish together in the year ahead.
Happy Earth Day! Let’s keep restoring, learning, and building hope. One project and one community at a time.
