Oceans, Waves and Beaches

Great piece by John Tierney in the NYT today.
Images by Victor Koen (I added greater than/less than symbol)

I grew up as a skater, was weened on punk rock and then went into tech for a lifetime. Each of those “worlds” has it’s own lexicon and it’s own lingo.
I’m chock full o’ jargon.
Jargon is a funny thing as few people think they use jargon. Yet they are quick to point out that others [...]

When I was a kid my dad would always remind us to turn the lights off. He came from a generation that understood scarcity. His generation and one prior didn’t take things for granted like we do. Things shifted, today kids grow up with a phone in their backpack, a bottle of water in their [...]

Great piece today in the NYT on a latter stage to the environmental movement. It’s called “Well, Doctor, I Have This Recycling Problem.” It’s worth a read.
I’ve heard some buzz about related issues for a while. A few months back the phrase “green guilt” entered my lexicon. In fact that term is so mainstream that [...]

We’ve all been there.
You’re buying something… you’re at the register paying and you come to the realization that you don’t have a bag with you… and worse, someone has already packed your stuff into a single-use plastic bag.
Refuse the bag.
Just say no.
Unpack the bag yourself. Carry your stuff out loose. Put all your loose items [...]

By now everyone knows I’m a bit of a geek. Before I came to Surfrider I had been steeped in software and the web. Now I’m hip-deep in coastal activism.
Technology and activism not only intersect. They share DNA.
In this post I want to talk about two concepts that keep swirling around in my head; grassroots [...]

So many things are out of whack regarding water. We hose down driveways with… drinking water, we import water from thousands of miles away to drink, the list goes on and on.
A couple of years ago we decided it was time to redo our front yard. Truth is that it was probably the ugliest front [...]

Any movement with a small target market… isn’t a movement at all.
I love the idea of going beyond the small group approach to environmentalism… beyond the greenie secret handshake. I love the idea of engaging all types of people.
I love the idea of a multitude of onramps into the environmetal movement. I love the personalization [...]

Three months ago I attended CGI and was given the customary swag bag full of goodies.
More and more I’ve started to not accept such gifts (swag bags) as they are usually full of junk I’ll never use and the bag itself is usually another backpack for which I really have no incremental need for. The [...]

I was in tech for while before I came to Surfrider. Shifting industries is an invigorating experience. It’s like learning a new sport and pursuing it immediately as a professional. You find yourself reaching for familiarity and instead being handed a blank canvas. I’ve loved it.
The transition has caused me to pause a few times. [...]