Sunday, July 6, 2025

For Plastics the Future is Now!

 

Japan Develops Plastic that Dissolves in Ocean

 


Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

There's a memorable line in the 1967 classic movie The Graduate when Dustin Hoffman's title character is given this career advice: "There's a great future in plastics."

 


Who would have guessed that the line, meant to be funny, would be so relevant today? Plastics have indeed changed the world, but they've also created tons of environmental pollution with discarded products ending up in waterways and the ocean where they remain indefinitely.

 


But there's a new future for plastics now which offers its benefits without the damage to our ecosystems. Scientists at Japan's Riken Center for Emergent Matter Science and the University of Tokyo have created a new form of plastic that dissolves completely in seawater. 

 


The plastic is made of ionic monomers (small chemically bonded molecules) linked by reversible salt bonds that enable it to break down in the ocean in hours – Riken artist’s rendering below – and in soil within ten days. What’s more, when the plastic decomposes in soil it releases nutrients that can benefit plant life.

 


An entirely new category of plastic, the manufacturing process mixes components in water to create a viscous layer that contains high levels of salt ions. Strong and versatile, the resulting material can be molded into a variety of plastic products for numerous uses. 

 


This development, recently published in the U.S. journal Science, couldn't come at a better time with plastics entering the ocean at alarming rates, breaking up into microplastics that are virtually impossible to remove, and being ingested by sea life. 


SurfWriter Girls learned that some 430 million tons of plastics are produced globally each year. And less than 10% of them are recycled. 


Takuzo Aida, the head of Riken’s plastics development team, has high hopes for the new plastic, which is made from ingredients commonly used in food additives. "We have created a new family of plastics that are strong, stable, recyclable and can serve multiple functions." 

 


The next step for this futuristic plastic is to develop methods to create it at a large enough scale to meet manufacturers' needs. Then get them onboard using it. 






SurfWriter Girls

Surf’n Beach Scene Magazine

Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.







Sunday, June 22, 2025

10 Years Since Huntington Beach Epic Day

 

      Two New Surfing Guinness Records!


Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel


SurfWriter Girls can hardly believe that it's been 10 years since Huntington Beach marked the summer solstice and International Surfing Day with two Guinness World Records in surfing. Here's a look back at the story we posted then:

At this year’s International Surfing Day (ISD) in Huntington Beach on June 20th everyone was eager to celebrate surfing and to see history in the making as HB went for two spots in the Guinness World Records book. 

 

The emphasis of this year’s ISD was on BIG – with Huntington Beach staging its Epic Big Board Ride featuring the world’s largest surfboard with the most people riding a surfboard at once


The City of Huntington Beach, title sponsor Hurley, and other surfing community leaders joined forces to make this Epic event a reality – with a 42-foot-long board and 66 riders piling on top for the ride of a lifetime.


Epic Big Board Ride Event Coordinator Celeste Hamil told SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel that it took a lot of work to put everything together, saying, “The end result was well worth the effort of a year of planning by an international team of builders, consultants and surf professionals.”


Hamil added, “I am, as the surfers say, ‘totally stoked’ to participate in a once in a lifetime experience that will continue to resonate in a meaningful way for the community, visitors and sponsors for many years to come.” 

 .
Duke Aipa, one of the surfers chosen to ride on the board, was excited to be a part of this historic event and couldn’t wait to get in the water.


Surfers and spectators alike surrounded the Big Board, anticipating its launch. Then everyone waited as it made its way out past the breakers and was positioned to catch a wave.   


Finally, after all the work, when the Big Board came riding in on a wave – with all those on board standing up – everyone on the beach and on the pier broke out in cheers.

 

It couldn’t have been a better day for surfing…especially since it was on International Surfing Day. 


An annual event to celebrate the sport of surfing and to give something back to the world’s oceans and beaches, ISD was started in 2005 by the Surfrider Foundation and Surfing magazine. Now there are 200-plus events in more than 30 countries.


Surfrider’s Huntington/Seal Beach Chapter and the Newport Beach and Long Beach chapters had booths set up on the sand and hosted a jam-packed day of education, entertainment, and beach cleanup activities.


SurfWriter Girls Sunny and Patti were glad to see such a big turnout.





And over 30 sponsors participated.

Manuel Florence was at the Brewbaker’s booth – showcasing his latest craft sodas and giving out samples of orange cream soda.


Pedego’s electric bikes were on display.


Seth Matson was eager to tell beachgoers about his new environmental organization Drains to Ocean, which will help to keep toxic water runoff from polluting the ocean.


Red Bull had a lounge tent set up that people could duck into to beat the heat.



Kind and Cabo Chips had samples



When the sun came out Hubert’s Lemonade hit the spot.


Rubio’s had prizes.



And the LA Video Drone team was on hand to provide an aerial view of all the activities up and down the beach.




As usual, Surfrider H/SB Chairperson Tony Soriano was everywhere – setting up booths, coordinating with Celeste Hamil, greeting people, and making sure that Surfrider’s environmental message got out.   
 

By the end of the day thousands of people came out to HB to celebrate ISD-2015, watch the Epic Big Board Ride and remove over 120 lbs. of trash and cigarette butts from the beach.

All in all, it was definitely an epic day for surfing.
.


Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.

Sunday, June 1, 2025

BFFs Make Life Better!

 

National Day Calendar Best Friends Day – June 8th

 


Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

June 8th is National Day Calendar Best Friends Day. Having a Best Friend Forever - BFF - makes life better. Someone who hands you the tissues during the weepy part of the movie. Laughs at your jokes. Listens to the same stories again...and again. Knows you better than you know yourself.

 


SurfWriter Girls were at the Friends of the Library bookstore recently and saw a copy of the Susan Polis Schutz book A Friend Forever. A bargain at just 50-cents. But the handwritten inscription inside the cover was priceless: "Rochelle, Merry Christmas 1985. Friends forever. Love, Terri."

 


Almost forty years ago the book had been given from one BFF to another and now was waiting for someone to find it and pass it along. SurfWriter girls wondered what happened to these best friends and hoped that their friendship had, indeed, stood the test of time.

Much has been said and written about friendship. Shakespeare said, "Words are easy like the wind. Faithful friends are hard to find."

 


Renowned American poet Emily Dickinson valued her friends so highly she wrote: "My friends are my estate." 

 


Marilyn Monroe said, "A friend tells you what you want to hear. A best friend tells you the truth."

 


Great philosophers from Socrates to Aristotle have thought about the meaning of friendship. Socrates advised: "Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant."  Aristotle thought "friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies."   

Writer and poet Susan Polis Schutz is a strong believer in the power of friendship, saying, "Let us grow together and enrich our lives with the friendship we share. Let us grow together and enrich the world with the love we share."


Friendship can test your loyalty and your judgment. Be time-consuming and demanding. Make you mad and make you sad. But the joys that come from it are more than worth it. So, on National Best Friends Day why not decide to make friendship an important part of your life?

 


You might even achieve the ultimate and become a Best Friend Forever.      

 




SurfWriter Girls

Surf’n Beach Scene Magazine

Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.