Thursday, September 20, 2018

Coastal Cleanup Day 2018


A World Event Now!



Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

Volunteers around the world turned out for this year's International Coastal Cleanup Day, September 15th. What started out in California in 1985 as a day to clean the coast has not only spread inland, but to other states and more than 100 countries with 6 million people participating.


With environmental groups, including the Ocean Conservancy, Surfrider Foundation, Oceana, Heal the Bay, and Orange County Coastkeeper, leading the charge, volunteers turned out to pick up trash and educate their local communities about the need to protect our oceans and beaches.




In Huntington Beach, CA (Surf City USA) Surfrider Foundation members were up early setting up booths and getting ready to turn the beach into a pristine blanket of sand.



No easy task, this involved collecting everything from cigarette butts, plastic bags and straws to bottle caps, cup lids, food wrappers, and an array of other trash items.




SoCal artist Katie Peck, a graduate of Orange County's Chapman University, knows firsthand all the flotsam and jetsam that ends up on the beach.


For the past two Coastal Cleanup Days she has turned beach trash into art, creating a Wave in 2017 that was made out of assorted plastics.


And a Seagull in 2018 made from 1,500 cigarette butts. Both artworks were showcased in Huntington Beach to build public awareness of the pollution problem that plagues the world's beaches.


Meanwhile, as the sun moved from time zone to time zone, volunteers in the UK, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus and Montenegro collected trash. And Africa, Australia, Vietnam and the Philippines, too.






Even volunteers from Carnival Cruise Line were on board.


Record numbers of volunteers turned out in Great Britain cleaning over 300 locations from North of Scotland to the Channel Islands. In France over 1.2 tons of plastic trash were collected.

The beach gives so much to us - soft sands, balmy days, perfect waves. Like the tree in Shel Silverstein's children's book, The Giving Tree, it would give us everything, until nothing was left.


But, on one day in September, surfers and non-surfers alike had another thought in mind –  

to give back to the beach!

 

  


Please post your comment below. Comments will appear the next day.


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. 


Friday, September 7, 2018

California Surfing Day - September 20th


Surf's Up in the Golden State!


Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

Let's go surfin' now. Everybody's learning how. Come on and safari with me.


This classic surf song by The Beach Boys might as well be California's theme song this month since the state proclaimed September 20th as California Surfing Day.

In a nod to surfing and the impact it's had up and down California's coast, helping to create the beach culture that's enjoyed and envied by millions, the state legislature unanimously passed State Senator Janet Nguyen's resolution to designate an official day to celebrate and honor the sport.
  

Diana Dehm, director of the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum, was on hand for the resolution's public announcement in Huntington Beach (Surf City USA) and described it as celebrating "the heart and soul of the surfing lifestyle."


Nguyen said, "Since surfing was brought to the California coast in the 19th century, the sport has transcended beyond the ocean, to impact our language, music, fashion and art. Surfing is a part of the social economic and coastal fabric of our state." She added that the surf industry - much of it based in California - generates over $6 billion in annual US retail sales.


Home to countless surf brands, including Vans, Quiksilver, Volcom, Roxxy, Katin, Hurley, Hobie, and Harbour, and competitions from the big-wave Mavericks contest in Half Moon Bay to the US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, California is a surfer's dream. 




So, what are you waiting for? Surf's up in the Golden State! 




Please post your comment below. Comments will appear the next day.


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.