Day Without A Bag

Celebrate Day Without A Bag with Surfrider Foundation, the Bag Monster and Zero Waste Seattle.

Day Without A Bag is raising awareness and initiating a small change in our behavior that will help reduce plastic waste in our oceans. Join Surfrider Foundation, the Bag Monster and Zero Waste Seattle in giving up single-use disposable bags while shopping this Thursday.

Need a bag? Surfrider Foundation, the Bag Monster, Seattle City Councilmember Mike O'Brien and the Zero Waste Coalition will be passing out free reusable bags in Seattle.

Bag Monster handing out free bags
Thursday, December 16th, 12-1PM
Westlake Plaza 400 Pine St (between 4th Ave & Westlake Ave)

The simple action of using a reusable bag while shopping will help eliminate debris on our streets and in our ocean and save taxpayer dollars. Learn more about the environmental harms of single-use plastic bags by visiting www.riseaboveplastics.org.

Surfrider Foundation Notches 150 Coastal Victories

A coastal victory is a decision made in favor of the coastal and ocean environment that results in a positive conservation outcome, improves coastal access, or both.

A Victory is also one of many ways in which Surfrider Foundation measures our success. In 2005, we set an ambitious goal to attain 150 coastal victories by the end of 2010. Today, we are excited to announce that on December 1st, we achieved this milestone when the Obama administration announced that it would ban new offshore drilling in the continental United States for the next seven years.

learn more: http://oceanswavesbeaches.surfrider.org/

Announcing the 2011 Environmental Priorities

The Environmental Priorities Coalition believes that we can have a strong economy that provides everyone with the opportunity to prosper and a clean, healthy, and safe environment for ourselves and our children. This year, the Environmental Priorities Coalition has chosen four priority proposals to support during Washington State's legislative session that achieve these goals.

The 2011 Priorities are:

Budget Solutions for Our Environment
Coal Free Future for Washington
Reducing Phosphorous Pollution
Working for Clean Water

The 2011 Priorities will help ensure clean water, create new jobs, reduce threats to our families’ health from the poisons emitted by our state’s single largest polluter, and strike a balance that even in hard times will protect our public health, economic future, and quality of life in Washington.

For more information about the 2011 Priorities, please visit the Priorities Coalition website.

VOTE! Yes on R-52, No on I-1053 and I-1107

Our ocean and coasts need you to VOTE! So get that ballot in the mail by Tues.

And please, vote YES on Referendum 52 and NO on Initiatives 1053 and 1107.

A YES on R-52 is a win-win for our kids, our environment, and economy! R-52 will repair our aging schools, help save energy and reduce global warming pollution, and put people to work.

A NO on I-1053 allows the legislature to use a majority vote for tax increases and new taxes to raise funds to clean up runoff pollution.

A NO on I-1107 keeps in place a temporary sales tax on soda, bottled water and candy, some of which funds support environmental programs.

Get Out The Vote. If you live in Seattle or vicinity join a phone bank this week: Wednesday, and Thursday and next Monday (11/1) from 5:30-8:30 pm at WEC/WCV offices, 1402 Third Ave Suite 1400. Pizza, snacks and beverages served for the volunteers!

Westport's eyesore

The Links golf course at Half Moon Bay is up for public auction. The property provides critical coastal habitat and lies adjacent to one of our most popular recreation beaches on the coast. Watching this property be cleared for the golf course upset many ocean users who love these beaches. What will become of the Links course now?

The property will be auctioned off to the highest bidder at 9:30 AM, November 12th, on the front steps of the main entrance of the Grays Harbor County Courthouse, 102 West Broadway, in the City of Montesano, Washington.

cool picture from the International Conference

Surfrider Foundation CEO, Jim Moriarty, posted this picture on his blog from Surfrider's international conference in Kamogawa, Japan. South Sound Chapter's Jared Gerritzen had scribbled it on the back of a napkin. And, as Jim says in his blog, "it captures the essence of who we are, what we do and how we optimize our impact when we work together."

If you haven't checked out Jim's blog, it's oceanswavesbeaches.surfrider.org.

Videos of stressed fish in Hood Canal

http://nwgeogirl.smugmug.com/The-Beautiful-Briny-Sea/lowo220100927/13955430_ECSLC#1025350039_GjzTp

This sad video footage shows fish sluggish from low-oxygen levels in Hood Canal. In case you have missed the news, oxygen levels in Hood Canal have been lethally low, killing hundreds of fish and thousands of spot prawns.

Read more: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/oct/02/researchers-pondering-possible-solutions-to-hood/#ixzz11hPjKY5t