Join us for our next quarterly chapter meeting on Wednesday, April 17th, from 6:30-8:30pm at Pandora's Pizza, located at 828 N Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas. This meeting will be focused on our Rise Above Plastics and Hold On To Your Butt campaigns. In addition to our speakers, we will have a fun, social aspect to this meeting. Arrive a little early to order food, drinks and mingle with your fellow Surfrider enthusiasts. Come find out about what's happening in our chapter and how you can get involved!
The Rise Above Plastics presentation will be lead by Bill Hickman, our Rise Above Plastics Coordinator. Bill will provide a brief update on active statewide legislation to reduce plastic pollution, talk about what it takes to pass a local checkout bag ordinance and bring it home with a discussion about Encinitas. Join us to learn more about how you can help make a difference and reduce plastic pollution!
The Hold On To Your Butt presentation will be lead by Dukes Wooters, our new Hold On To Your Butt committee leader. Dukes will provide an overview of the environmental impact of cigarette butt litter on our oceans, waves and beaches, details on what we're doing to address the problem here in San Diego County, and talk a little bit about how you can get involved and help! Join us to learn more about how you can make a difference to reduce cigarette butt pollution!
Bill Hickman - I am excited to be tackling plastic pollution issues that are affecting the marine environment. I grew up on the East Coast and was fortunate to have grandparents who lived near the beach in Delaware. At the age of six, I wanted to be like my big brother so I ‘borrowed’ his surfboard and caught the surfing bug early on. All my early memories are of clean beaches, but later in high school and through college I started to see and feel the impact of litter and pollution. When I moved to California after college I wanted to volunteer for an environmental organization and Surfrider was a perfect fit. After years of volunteering, I applied for a job with the San Diego Chapter where I worked for over five years and now I am stoked to be helping all the chapters to Rise Above Plastics! Surfrider is an easy place to get involved and make a positive impact to protect our coasts, so I challenge you to help out with your local chapter and make a difference!
Dukes Wooters - Albeit I was lucky enough to grow up in a rather clean neighborhood and town it is hard to walk down any road in the industrialized world without seeing some remnants of cigarette litter. Growing up 45 minutes west of New York City in New Jersey, seeing cigarette butts on sidewalks was just a way of life. People in the Metropolitan area liked there city the way it was and that was that. Like so many others, I thought that the most dangerous aspect of cigarette smoke was to the smoker until you see that first single cigarette butt sticking out of the sand and a pit develops in your stomach knowing that that certainly doesn’t belong there. From the lakes of the Adirondacks to the New Jersey Shore to San Diego, I have seen the prevalence of this predicament and jump at the chance to work and lead this Surfrider campaign. No one can run away from this issue, so I hope as many of you as possible will take a stand and jump in the Hold On To Your Butt campaign.
Download a copy of the Rise Above Plastics Powerpoint from the chapter meeting.