Hope

There is a divisive and controversial issue in the California coastal community right now regarding the Marine Life Protection Act. Fishermen and environmentalists are not getting along over how to manage and protect marine life in California's coastal waters. Perhaps we can learn something from this news.

Published in the New York Times on July 30, 2009:

Can we have our fish and eat it too? An unusual collaboration of marine ecologists and fisheries management scientists says the answer may be yes. In a research paper in Friday’s issue of the journal Science, the two groups, long at odds with each other, offer a global assessment of the world’s saltwater fish and their environments.

Their conclusions are at once gloomy — overfishing continues to threaten many species — and upbeat: a combination of steps can turn things around. But because antagonism between ecologists and fisheries management experts has been intense, many familiar with the study say the most important factor is that it was done at all.

Read the full story here.

I Love My Beach

"Pacific Solution"

Positive solutions to clean up the trash in our ocean:

Thursday, 16th July, Oceanic Survey Institute, Berkeley, California – Scientists and Ecologists are proposing a radical solution to the 100 million tons of plastic waste circulating in what's known as the North Pacific Gyre. “It's estimated that there are 46,000 pieces of plastic, most no bigger than a penny, floating on every square mile of the North Pacific, which is devastating marine life.” says the Institute's head of research Sylvia Watson...

Read the full story here.

;-)

Mercury and Power Plants - NY Times article

(Blogger's note: This New York Times editorial, published last Friday, July 24, addresses the very toxic problems beyond "climate change" that coal power creates for us. Read article intro below:)


"When it comes to the environment, Washington’s attention is fixed these days on the Congressional battle over legislation to control greenhouse gas emissions. But there are other pollutants — so-called ground level pollutants, as opposed to those that rise into the atmosphere — that also need urgent attention, starting with toxic mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants.

"For various reasons — mainly heavy industry lobbying — these emissions have escaped federal regulation, whereas mercury emissions from other sources like incinerators and cement kilns have not..." * Read the full New York Times editorial here.

Guerrilla Pirate Eco Activist Film:

Coming to a theater near you: limited release on July 31, wide US release on Aug 7:

Monday

Here's a great surf photo I took during some travels away from home - to start off our week on the good foot.

And here is what happens when you mistime the jump off the rocks:

You're Invited to My Party

This Thursday at 6pm, an evening of fine music by Kapakahi and screenings of the following short surf films:

- B Version B (an alternative view of the WCT surf contest in Arica)
- The Surf Magazines Don't Talk About Lapsed Catholics
- Dopamine 2 by Insight
- All Points South

* plus a special surprise adventure film about the grey-suited men living underwater at the Farallones Islands!

* 1000 Great Highway * The Park Chalet * Ocean Beach, San Francisco

Shark Bite!

This sometimes happens when you are a seal in northern California: (note large teeth gashes in seal's rear end)



Photo by Benji, June 26th 2009. I encourage you to educate yourself and your friends about how fragile and important sharks are. Sharks have been in the oceans for hundreds of millions of years - since before dinosaurs - but they might not survive human pressures on them from global warming, pollution, shark finning, by-catch fishing, and other environmental problems.

P.S. - today marks the third year of my blog! Thanks to Save The Waves, Proplaya, and The Ocean for all the awesome support. And thanks to you for reading. I love you.

Thirsty Third Thursday on July 16

A fundraiser for Save The Waves:



Kapakahi will rock hard for us on July 16, 6pm - 9pm, at the Park Chalet: 1000 Great Highway, San Francisco.
Featuring live music and innovative new surf films such as The Surf Magazines Don't Talk About Lapsed Catholics and more.

Positive Solutions

My friend Kyle Thiermann, a Santa Cruz surfer and activist, produced this video about coal power and how it's funded. Excellent! We are showing this movie next week at 6:30pm on July 16 at Park Chalet. Located at 1000 Great Highway, Ocean Beach in San Francisco.

West Virginia Ain't Cool With Coal

It's been three years since I started this blog, and my new inspiration is: environmental activism with no bullshit and no nonsense.

You'll notice a recurring message this year in my blog posts: "CLEAN COAL" IS A LIE. Coal mining creates a path of destruction of mountains, homes, health and water. The "clean coal" myth of carbon sequestration is a stop-gap measure and a lie created by the very well-connected and well-funded coal industry. If we don't change our electricity consumption habits, coal power will destroy the human race with toxic pollution.

"Carbon sequestration" means the capture and underground storage of the carbon burnt in coal. It's meant to fight global warming. It is a prohibitively expensive process, it is unproven, but more importantly, there are many other poisons associated with coal electricity power that are destroying us: mountain top removal in West Virginia, Australia and China; fly ash pollution causing massive asthma problems; mercury and heavy metals poisoning our waters; and more. Coal will destroy the health of our oceans and waterways. You can help by spreading the word that clean coal is a dirty lie, and you can help by changing your electricity consumption habits at home and at work to make coal power unnecessary. We don't need the dirty electricity created by coal power.

The Surf Magazines Don't Talk About Lapsed Catholics

This is a great "surf film" like no other out there. It is a beautiful commentary on suffering, surfing, and being human. We are showing it next week on July 16 at the Park Chalet in San Francisco and we will show it this Fall at the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival.