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08.30.10

Surfrider Activist/Mom to Finish 'Seattle to San Diego' paddle at the P4CW!!

On July 3rd ocean activist Margo Pellegrino, 43, launched a two month paddling journey on the Pacific Ocean in her outrigger canoe. Beginning in Seattle, she plans to complete her voyage in San Diego at the Surfrider Foundation Paddle For Clean Water on September 12th. During the two months of her journey, she will paddle approximately 1,500 miles making around 60 stops along the West Coast.

Pellegrino is not a full time adventurer. She's simply an environmentally conscious mother and paddling enthusiast who is pushing herself to the limit in the hopes that she can show her children how to make a difference in the world and inspire others to take an active role in the stewardship of our oceans.

She made the similar journeys in the past, paddling 2,000 miles from Miami to Camden, Maine in the summer of 2007. She followed that trip in 2008 with a “short” 500 mile trip from New Jersey’s Long Beach Island to Washington D.C. In 2009 she covered 1,500 miles from Florida’s Atlantic coast around the Gulf of Mexico into New Orleans. With those paddling journeys under her belt, the Pacific coast is just the next coastline to tackle. The colder waters, rockier shorelines, and bigger waves make it her most physically difficult challenge to date.

Coastal paddling journeys are Margo’s way to call attention to the need for healthy oceans. Diego to raise awareness about four key issues facing our oceans: acidification, plastic pollution, overfishing and pollution from storm water runoff. “An effective public education campaign is critical for advancing public policy”, she says. “We need to ensure that a healthy oceans policy isn’t afflicted by legislators noticing a lack of public interest from their constituents.” Her choice of tackling the coasts in a manner that promotes high public visibility is designed to reach the local markets of the 150 million people (half the U.S. population) who either live or work within 25 miles of some part of the U.S. coast.

Margo's journey can be tracked online at www.seattle2sandiego.com

Join us on September 12th in Ocean Beach to welcome Margo and to make a statement for clean water simply by showing up!