A little piece worth sharing by Steve Snow of the Newport Chapter:

“That’s a drop in the bucket.” Old man Evans said, eyeing the bag of plastic trash I held.  “It will just keep washing in forever, there’s no stopping it.”  His eyes were watering, either from age, the wind or from frustration.  I don’t know exactly what causes blindness, but I suspect in the end it is frustration. “Look, another dead bird.” He yelled as he shuffled away. The setting sun was bearing down on his back and he was stepping hard on his shadow.  I could see his point, it all seems too big to solve, too big to fight at times.  As old man Evans slogged through the sand to his home over the dune, two Bald Eagles glided out of nowhere and landed at the ocean’s edge.  Magnificent birds as regal as warlords, with their shinning helmets of white and those quick sever sniper eyes.  They seem ambivalent toward humans, perhaps because they can see so much better than us.  I called out to the bitter old man but he was at the top of the dune and didn’t or wouldn’t look back.

This stretch of beach doesn’t get many visitors so most of the trash comes in on the tide.  I have my favorite hated items, the plastic shotgun shell, evidence of a crime scene out at sea against mammals, fish and birds.  The half-filled disposable plastic cigarette lighter, with its payload of leaking venom and perhaps the most hideous of all, those death trap single use plastic bags that wash down our streets, fly out of hands, cars and garbage trucks to blow out into the water and kill.  Old man Evans is correct of course, picking up trash is just a drop in the bucket.  It will take a much wider view to stop the plastic pirates from fouling the ocean and coastlines.  It takes stopping the pollution at the source and seeing ourselves as the greatest problem.  Handing over our money to polluters is wasting our vote, our values, our voice, ourselves.  It’s short sighted.

The Eagle pair suddenly flew off, climbing high together circling over the little creek where last fall I watched seventy Chinook salmon struggle through a few inches of water to gain their ancient spawning grounds. The year before, I had seen less than twenty and the year before that, there were none.  The eagles tumbled and swooped at each other, a promising breeding pair enraptured in their courtship.  I wondered if old man Evans had ever seen them. Having climbed the very same dune, I decided to stop at his home and take the time to explain in great detail the incredible things I was still seeing, and where if he would be willing, he could also look and perhaps he would see them too.

The pack goats help haul loads at Beverly Beach

Big kudos to all the volunteers that showed up for the annual SOLVE beach cleanups, especially our Surfrider captains up and down the coast that made this event such a success! Zone captain Vince Pappalardo for the Newport area which includes Otter Rock, Beverly Beach, Agate Wayside and Nye Beach reported over 5,000 lbs of trash collected by over 300 volunteers within the zone. Big props to our local haulers for coming and picking up the loads -  North Lincoln and Thompson’s Sanitary.

Statewide the cleanup turned out about 3,750 volunteers and removed an estimated 58,800 pounds of trash! Some of the highlights along the central coast in the haul were the excessive amounts of nails from beach fires where pallets and construction debris is often burned. Equipped with magnets, volunteers removed seven, 5-gallon buckets of nails. This serves as a reminder that cleaning up after your beach fire is critical for keeping our beaches safe and continuing to enjoy these freedoms on our beaches!

Nails collected from beach fire sites

Join us for a movie night this coming Thursday, 03/15 – 7pm at the Visual Arts Center in Newport, upstairs. A double feature, we’ll be screening Sofia, followed by Sliding Liberia.
Sofia is a one-hour documentary film that uncovers the spirit of surfer Sofia Mulanovich, the first female World Champion athlete from Peru. Sofia tells the story of how an unlikely heroine has inspired a new energy within her developing nation.
Sliding Libera is a film that crosses genres. Conceived of by Stanford filmaker Britton Cailouette and Stanford PhD student Nicholai Lidow, this surf film/social documentary follows a group of young surfers to Liberia in search of more than perfect waves. As they travel through the West African country, devastated by decades of brutal civil war, they record the stories of people they meet along the way.

They’ve done it agin! Barefoot Wine and Bubbly teamed up with the Newport Chapter for an awesome weekend of FUNdraising at the Seafood and Wine Festival. Thanks to the coordination and massive support of Rachel Swanson, this year’s event raised over $6500 benefiting Newport, Portland, Siuslaw chapters and the South Coast organizing committee of the Surfrider Foundation. These funds are directly utilized by the chapters for water quality monitoring, beach clean up activities, educational and campaign work, all for the protection and enjoyment of oceans, waves and beaches. Big shout out to our partners at Barefoot who always know how to market the event and make our booth buzzing with engaged festival goers. And of course to all of the volunteers who donated their time and energy for this incredible event! Special thanks to Newport chapter vice chair, Beth Hawkyard coordinating such a great event with all of our chapters engagement!

Looking for that 5 minutes of fame? Newport Chapter of Surfrider Foundation is teaming up with SOLVE next Sunday - 02/26 11am-1pm – to help film some stock footage for beach cleanup training videos. We’ll be running our standard sweep of Agate Beach Wayside but under the eye of the SOLVE camera lens. Our very own beach cleanup coordinator Vince Pappalardo will be captaining the cleanup event. SOLVE registration details are here or email Vince for more information!

The extended four day extravaganza begins this week and we’re very proud to be partners with Barefoot Wine and Bubbly again for the event! Come visit our booth at the Seafood and Wine Festival in Newport and get Barefoot! Last year we raised over $5,000 through the partnership for our water quality efforts, campaign work and local programming! If you are volunteering at the event you must participate in the OLCC training and receive your temporary servers permit if you are not already permitted or licensed by OLCC for pouring alcohol. Volunteer questions, email Beth, for the rest of you, we hope to see you at our booth again this year! Please remember to be careful and drink responsibly this weekend.

Ocean Frontiers: The Dawn of a New Era in Ocean Stewardship
www.ocean-frontiers.org

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

7:00-9:00pm (doors open 6:30pm)

Q & A to Follow

Special Guest First Lady Cylvia Hayes (invited)

$5 suggested donation (all ages)

Newport Performing Arts Center

Newport, Oregon

Big props to all who came out and supported the beach and highway cleanups over the past couple of weeks. Special thanks to Ryan Parker of OPRD for helping with the haul, recycling and disposal. Next cleanup will be on Sunday, February 26th from 11am-1pm at Agate Beach Wayside. Information and details on volunteering, contact Vince Pappalardo here!

Our first cleanup event of the year, hwy 101 from 10am-noon on January 21st – Join us at Moolack Beach parking lot!

Our second cleanup event of the year, in partnership with OCCC student govenment – South Beach on Jan 28th!

Volunteer – Contact Vince.Pappalardo@HP.com