Oceans, Waves and Beaches

I podcast to share the gold.
(re-posted from mid-2008)
A few days ago I had breakfast with Julia Chunn. She was born and raised in San Diego, became smitten with the ocean while perched on the front of her dad’s longboard as a kid, came up through the ranks of the San Diego chapter, went on to [...]

I’ve written about the various flavors of “surf protection” on this blog before.
Here is a post which explores the range of what that phrase can mean as well as what we feel it should mean in order to have meaningful, long-term protection.
I just heard about the revised New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement which offers protection [...]

N.J. Governor Chris Christie has proposed changing beach access rules to make it easier for towns with inaccessible beaches to get public beach fill (aka beach replenishment) funds.
Surfrider Foundation believes ALL coasts, all beaches should be accessible. The idea of taking access to the coast away from the public and then asking the public to [...]

I love this simple graphic which clearly illustrates how out of whack (let alone local zoning laws) a proposed Waikiki hotel would be. More here.

Having come from the tech/business sector and worked for companies such as SAP, I am often asked what I perceive the major difference is between for-profit and non-profit business. Specifically, there seems to be some cloudiness within the general population as to how non-profit organizations measure success.
This is understandable if one compares a NPO to [...]

If there is a category for the thinking man’s activist, Pete Stauffer is smack dab in the middle of it.
He’s Surfrider DNA through and through; he’s volunteered for three different chapters (on three different coasts), interned for Washington State Senator Kevin Ranker (when Kevin was still Wookie) and is usually just out of the water [...]

A new poll reports more than two thirds of Floridians want the opportunity to vote on whether to ban net new offshore drilling in State waters.
As more and more oil hits Florida’s beaches this issue is becoming very real.
Check out the Spilltracker wiki where locals are sharing what they are seeing on their local beaches.

Yesterday President Obama moved forward in the area of ocean and waterways protection. Specifically the White House announced the release of the Final Recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force. This is a step that many of us in the ocean and coastal protection area have been waiting for.
While this may sound like DC-wonk-speak [...]

When the spill started the Deepwater Horizon was flying the flag of the Marshall Islands.
Why was a rig in US waters flying the flag of the Marshall Islands?
To lessen/skirt US taxes.
If that’s not oil in the wounds… the US government was giving this rig a $225,000 PER DAY tax deduction.
How broken is our [...]

President Obama,
For the last 50 days, we’ve watched in horrifying real time, oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico. We are heartened when we hear that our government officials want to “keep the boot on the neck of BP.” That provides a good sound byte and offers a nice visual.We understand that the blame game [...]