Welcome to Episode 19, Surfriding to a Cleaner, More Plastic Free Environment. In this episode we share more about impacts of plastics seen in remote places 20 or so years ago and then we meet up with Liz, the Volunteer Coordinator of the Olympia Surfrider Chapter, discuss a little background of Surfrider and their programs, the impacts of plastic bans on plastics in environment, and opportunities for you to connect and volunteer!

Although we had planned on going right into part two of our spotlight on plastics this month, after we interviewed Liz with the Surfrider Foundation, we decided we had enough juicy bits for a whole episode, which is Surfrider focused, but we still talk a lot about plastic pollution! We learned a lot from Liz and Amy learned that Jen has a problem saying, “Can you tell us more about your volunteer programs,” which is almost as difficult as Amy saying synthetic. Amy laugh cried as Jen struggled for a good five minutes of the interview and I’m sure we both impressed Liz with our verbal agility. In Jen’s defense, we were having a real life echo created from our long distance recording with three mics. But you’ll just have to wait for that amazing blooper reel, cause it also got edited out…one day.

Next month we are planning on focusing on Long Live the Kings so we can remind you all about Survive the Sound, which has their sign-up in April with the actual “competition” in May. Then in May we will finally get to part two of our plastic spotlight, getting deep into plastics and their impacts on environmental and human health.

There is no GIS segment this month, but hopefully that will pay off big time with a sweet Jen designed map in the future.

Last month we shared some background on plastics, how plastic recycling isn’t working, the plastic ban from China, oh and a bunch of depressing plastic facts. So, if you haven’t listened to that episode and want a little more background before we delve into this episode check out Episode 18 first.

We shared a correction to Episode 17: The State of the Sound. We do make mistakes and we want to share corrected information when we become aware of those mistakes...because that’s how science do. If you catch a mistake we’ve made, please let us know so we can correct it! You will get all of the gold stars!!!

Before we get to our fun interview, Amy brings us down, yet again, with some stories of plastic and beach trash ruining some of her vacations 20 years ago (you know, before she was born…because she’s so young now). Most of the pictures accompanying this blog post were taken by Amy the Poop Detective on Sunset Beach, near Trujillo, Honduras in 2004. The problem has been around for a long time, even though plastic has only been mass produced for less than 60 years.

Interview Time!

You’ll have to listen to the episode to get all of the juicy, laughter inducing details, but below are some of the sweet resources we that were referenced from Liz. Thanks Liz!

Olympia Surfrider:

Check out the Olympia Surfrider Chapter Website for more about who they are and what they do!

Beach cleanups, butt pickups, meetings, movie nights and more are posted on the Events calendar.

Events and other relevant information are also on their Facebook page and Instagram @OlySurfrider.

Want to be more involved?

Sign up for for the Surfrider Newsletter (scroll to the bottom) for a monthly email about upcoming events, legislative updates, and other local Surfrider news.

Come to a chapter meeting, the last Wednesday of every month, 7:00-8:30 p.m, see their website for the location (rotates every month, but usually at an Ocean Friendly Restaurant).

Eat at one of our local Ocean Friendly Restaurants and tell them why you're there and how much you appreciate their efforts to reduce our use of disposable plastics. Or encourage one of your favorite establishments to become Ocean Friendly!

Become a Surfrider member and support their work locally and nationally.

Attend a cleanup, help them table an event, or join our Executive Committee and help Oly Surfrider continue to grow and improve our coastlines - email OlySurfrider@gmail.com for more information!

Call your legislators and tell them to support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act.

Join the Blue Water Task Force and help collect samples to monitor local water quality .

Marine debris resources

Beachapedia is a Surfrider Foundation-produced online resource collection house of coastal environmental topics from experts and activists. It’s full of great information and a great place to get lost for a while.

Surfrider’s Cleanup Tool - we count and weigh everything we pick up at our cleanup events and enter it into this database. Check out the real-time results of Surfrider efforts worldwide.

Ocean Conservancy’s Clean Swell app - allows you to easily track your own cleanup efforts and contributes to the worlds largest marine debris database. Jen and Amy definitely plan to check this out!

Surfrider's 2019 State of the Beach Report - annual Surfrider report evaluating beaches nationwide on criteria like sedimentation, armoring, Sea Level Rise, and development

Join the Marine Debris listserv, moderated by Open Communications for the Ocean (OCTO), which provides several marine science focused services. They also host a great webinar series, and the next one is Fighting Marine Debris on the US West Coast – Effective Actions and Tools

If you live on the coast and love seabirds, the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST) uses community scientists to conduct trash surveys on beaches (with transect lines and quadrants) in addition to their seabird work.

Thanks for joining us!

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