News Blooms in Japan's Green Newspaper

 

On Earth Day 2022 Read All About It!

 

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

Remember the childhood riddle: "What's black and white and red all over? A newspaper."

For Earth Day 2022 (April 22nd), SurfWriter Girls have an eco-version of the riddle: "What's black and white and green all over?" 

The answer is Japan's largest daily newspaper, the Mainichi Shimbun, called the "Green Newspaper'' because it's not only recyclable, but regenerative.

Printed on biodegradable paper with plant-based ink, it's embedded with seeds that sprout into flowers or herbs when you shred the newspaper and plant and water the pieces. 

 

Founded in 1872, the Mainichi Shimbun, Japan's oldest daily newspaper with one of the largest circulations, launched its "Green Newspaper" on May 4, 2016, to demonstrate the publisher's commitment to sustainability and the environment. 

 

An instant hit with readers and environmentalists alike, the newspaper "that gives back to the planet" is proof that a 150-year-old company can lead the way in innovation. 

 

And, for Earth Day, SurfWriter Girls can't think of a better publishing strategy – all the news that's fit to plant.  

 

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.

               

Pacific Marine Mammal Center

 

Rescuing CA Seals and Sea Lions

 

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

 

The Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, CA, has rescued sick and injured seals and sea lions for fifty years.

 

Started in 1971 by lifeguards Jim Stauffer and John Cunningham and veterinarian Rose Ekeberg, the center was originally in Stauffer's home and had two patients – a seal and a sea lion found on the beach.

By 1976 the center moved to larger digs in an unused barn on Laguna Canyon Road that was owned by the city.

 

With the help of volunteers, the center has evolved into a state-of-the-art medical, education and research facility that's rescued more than 10,000 marine mammals (including sea turtles and dolphins). 

 

Laguna Beach students have gotten on board at the center, too, helping to treat and care for the mammals, while getting hands-on experience for their marine science classes. 

Each year more than 50,000 visitors come by the center to see its marine patients and participate in nature programs.

Promoting and teaching conservation is one of the center's priorities. Its visitor area, habitat, butterfly garden, and adjacent creek are designated a Certified Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Foundation.

 

From its modest start, the Pacific Marine Mammal Center has grown into a place that has helped so many. Not just the animals it saves, but the people who have been given a place to come together, to learn, and to give back to the community.

 

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.

Finding California Surf – Art Exhibit

 

Surf's Up at Huntington Beach Int'l Surfing Museum!

 

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel 

From San Francisco to San Diego California's iconic surf spots have been celebrated in surf lore, movies, and song, luring a century of surfers to try the storied waves for themselves.

The Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum decided to give these special spots the exhibit they deserve in Finding California Surf.

 

Co-curated by artists Ricky Blake (who created a First Surf Spots Map) and Dave Reynolds, the exhibit includes the works of some of the world's top surfing artists. 

It takes you on a time-traveling journey from the early days of surfing when many spots had yet to be discovered to today. 

When SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel stopped by the museum before the exhibit's opening everything was being put in place.

ISM manager Terry O'Shea was eager to show us around and tell us about the plans to expand the museum's programs, saying, "I am so stoked about the new direction the museum is going in." 

The museum's executive director PT Townend, who was instrumental in conceiving the exhibit, calls the original surfers from California's early days "explorers."

 

Noting that, although the vast, empty spots they discovered – such as Malibu, HB, and Doheny – may be crowded now, there are still other surfing spots waiting to be found. 

 

As the Bruce Brown classic 60s film The Endless Summer showed, there are no lengths that people won't go to find the perfect wave.

 

Finding California Surf reminds us of the diverse array of surfing spots the Golden State has and how the sport evolved from the early 1900s when legendary surfers like Duke Kahanamoku braved the waves on wooden longboards. 

 

The exhibit is filled with discoveries and surprises. SurfWriter Girls were surprised to run into champion surfer Mike Downey (a 2021 inductee into the Surfing Walk of Fame), who came straight from the beach and stopped by the museum on his way home.

 

The ISM is that kind of museum – a welcoming place that brings people together to share the stoke.     

 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.

New Year’s Resolution to Protect Planet

 

Two Generations – One Common Goal

 

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

Different generations often don't feel that they have much in common. But, when it comes to trash on the beach, one 70-year-old and two teens – 8,000 miles apart – agreed it was time to do something about it.    

Pat Smith, a grandmother from Cornwall, England, became a woman on a mission – to clean 52 beaches in Cornwall and Devon. After seeing so much trash on the beach, in 2018 she made a New Year's resolution to clean one beach every week for 52 weeks. 

 

Armed with bags, rubber gloves and a litter pick, she worked her way along the coast gathering trash at beach spots from Coverack, Cornwall, to Blackpool Sands, Devon. 

After completing her task, Smith didn’t want to stop. Saying, "The beaches need me," she founded an environmental group Final Straw Cornwall to get people involved and now they are cleaning even more beaches. 

 

Some 8,000 miles away, in Bali, Melati and Isabel Wijsen are equally focused on combating beach and ocean pollution. In 2013, when they were 12 and 10, the two sisters began lobbying the government to ban plastic bags on the island.

 

In 2019 they succeeded in getting single-use plastic bags, plastic straws and Styrofoam containers banned in Bali. They also started the non-profit environmental organization Bye Bye Plastic Bags, which is active in 30 countries.

 

And to get more young people on board, Melati launched Youthtopia to come up with local solutions to fight pollution.  

 

With environmental advocates like these, who knows what Smith's next New Year's resolution or the Wijsens' projects will do for the planet...and to inspire generations of all ages. What’s your resolution?

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.

 

Surf City Splash for Surfrider Foundation

 

Splash In the New Year!

  

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

Make a splash in the New Year on January 1, 2022, at the Huntington Beach Surf City Splash event benefiting the nonprofit Surfrider Foundation's Huntington/Seal Beach Chapter. 

Get ready to ring in the New Year with a pancake breakfast at 9 a.m. and an invigorating plunge in the Pacific Ocean at the HB Pier at high noon! 

Catch up with friends and find treasures at the silent auction and opportunity drawings while you explore the Winter Vendor Village. Or swap your surfboard for skates at the Winter Wonderland Ice Skating Rink.

 

KC Fockler and Roberta Wynashe, the H/SB Chapter co-chairs, have been working with Surfrider’s sponsors to make this a special New Year’s Day in Surf City USA.  

 

This is the biggest fundraising event of the year for the chapter and helps enable it to carry out its mission of supporting the community and protecting the world's oceans, waves, and beaches.

Tony Soriano, the chapter advisor, told SurfWriter Girls Sunny and Patti that everyone is welcome and invited to "Refresh life and friendship with a vigorous Splash in the New Year." 

 

So put the Splash on your New Year's resolutions list and have fun at the beach while making the world a better place.

 

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.

 

Celebrate the Holidays with Leonard!

 

Carlie Sorosiak Book Touches Your Heart

 

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

During the holidays SurfWriter Girls always like to share our favorite book suggestions for gift-giving or to enjoy yourself. Adventure, surfing, mysteries, thrillers, and more. This year, though, we have just one book to share that we think is purrfect for you and everyone on your list – Leonard (My Life as a Cat) by Carlie Sorosiak. 

 

It's suspenseful and uplifting. Most of all, it's a tale about friendship between a young girl and the cat she rescues, who is not what he appears to be. "While no cat can be called ordinary, Leonard is definitely no ordinary cat. In fact, he is an alien, sent on an earthly sabbatical and mistakenly given the body of a rather scruffy stray."  

 

And so, the story begins. A story about Leonard, a galactic traveler who came to Earth on a beam of light planning to spend a month as a Yellowstone Park ranger and instead ends up in the body of a cat. It's a story that will change the life of Olive, the girl who befriends Leonard, and teach Leonard more about what it means to be human than he could have imagined.

SurfWriter Girls loved every page of this charming book and were excited to see what would happen. How would Leonard communicate? What experiences would he have? How would he get to his rendezvous point to go home?

 

A fun, surprising and kind read for children and adults, Leonard (My Life as a Cat) shows that friends can come in all forms and that the most powerful force in the universe is love.

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.