Surfrider Foundation -- California Coastal Issues Network

Friday, March 30, 2012

Surfrider Foundation Rocks 5th Annual Ocean Day

All 73 Advocates!

Imagine what the halls of our state Capitol would like with 73 ocean advocates and experts (from 45 different organizations) running around. It was a sight to see! Surfrider Foundation is on the Steering Committee of Ocean Day and we were deeply involved with organizing the day. We sent a diverse group of people to attend—including Staff members (Angela Howe, Sarah Damron and Stefanie Sekich-Quinn,); and superstar activists from southern California (Belinda Smith from the San Diego Chapter and five high school students who participate in Surfrider Clubs in Orange County).

Lawn Event

In just one day, we managed to meet with 100 decision makers to discuss ocean issues and potential threats. In addition to our legislative meetings, Ocean Day was comprised of other great events including: a kick off with Assemblymember Brownley, a lawn event highlighting the value of our oceans, a CSU COAST luncheon, and Monterey Bay Aquarium Sustainable Seafood reception featuring Governor Jerry Brown speaking.

Assemblymember Brownley giving Kick off speach

The overarching theme of Ocean Day was focused on the economic importance of our ocean and coastline. Our ocean economy contributes $46 billion dollars annually to the state and provides over 400,000 jobs for California’s economy.

Gov Brown speaking at reception

We focused on the fact that clean water/beaches/watersheds equal dollar signs for businesses, tourism, and local economies. And of course, we also stressed that irresponsible coastal development, overuse of the ocean resources, and pollution put our ocean economy at risk—in turn, impacting jobs, lessening economic input and causing harm to environment. Finally, we highlighted the 40th Anniversary of California’s Coastal Program and the Clean Water Act in which we discussed success stories.

Ocean Day wasn’t all about being philosophical with elected officials—we were there to lobby specific bills! Here are some of the issues and bills we talked about:

Climate Change Impacts: 80% of California's 38 million residents live within 30 miles of the coast. Sea level rise; huge, storm-driven waves; beach erosion; ocean acidification, and other climate change impacts pose direct threats to the state's valuable coastal resources and communities. ACTION: Support the State Coastal Conservancy to direct funds for work addressing climate change impacts for the public benefit, SB 1066 (Lieu).
Desalination: Currently, no statewide desalination policy existing to provide rules for building a desalination facility consistent with the law, hence it is irresponsible to consider fast-tracking desalination projects. ACTION: Oppose Desalination Streamlining, AB 2595 (Hall).
Protect the Coastal Act: California‘s coastal communities draw approx. 200 million visitors each year, resulting in $6.1 billion in direct state and local tax revenues. Protecting coastal resources from increased development is critical for maintaining sustainable economic growth. ACTION: Oppose weakening the Coastal Act, AB 2211 (Jones).
Plastic Bag Ban: $300 million is spent each year by California agencies to pick up and dispose of litter along with countless volunteer hours. We use 10 billion plastic bags per year – 500 per person annually. Over 40 communities in our state are currently covered by a plastic bag ban. ACITON: Support a statewide plastic bag ban, AB 298 (Brownley)
Polystyrene Ban: Expanded polystyrene or "foam” is a petroleum-based plastic that is not recyclable and doesn’t biodegrade. Foam containers can also be toxic to humans by leaching chemicals into our foods. Pieces of foam are ubiquitous at beach cleanups and the California State Water Board found that foam is the most prevalent trash on beaches. ACTION: Support a ban on polystyrene, SB 568 (Lowenthal).