The Surfrider Foundation Is Not A Fashion Statement - Activism Begins With You

I spent last week down in San Clemente, California's 'Mecca' to the surf industry, and home to many legendary surf spots and countless professional surfers. Surfing culture runs deep in the community of San Clemente, making it difficult to go anywhere without seeing surf brands on t-shirts, boards on cars, and wetsuits drying on almost every balcony.

After my morning session, I went to the Bagel Shack on El Camino Real, which is a local institution known for great post-surf breakfast satisfaction. The locals have voted, and this place is PACKED with folks, both young and old. Most of whom show up with wet hair having just come from the water.

I noticed immediately that the Bagel Shack proudly sports a large Surfrider Foundation booster sticker both their front and back doors, which made me feel proud that I was part of a tightly knit surfing community, where surfers support local businesses, and businesses support local politics and policies in alignment with their community. However, when my name was called, I stepped up the counter to pick up my order, and the grom behind the counter handed me a STACK of styrofoam containers to carry my food away in. I was mortified, since the City of San Francisco passed legislation banning restaurants from using styrofoam two years ago.

Styro Stack

I then took a couple of moments and looked around, thinking why haven't these surfing customers delivered a strong message to the Bagel Shack management that they don't want to receive their food in styrofoam containers anymore. (given the great food product they put out, I'm sure they'd oblige).

I also wondered why the loyal patrons of the Bagel Shack, seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that the trash cans at the Bagel Shack were OVERFLOWING with styrofoam.

Overflowing Styro garbage off to the landfill

When I checked out the parking lot, it was tough to miss that over 80% of the cars in the lot were LARGE SUVs. Most of these big trucks had surf brand stickers and MANY had Surfrider Foundation stickers proudly displayed. (???)
Bagel Shack parking lot packed with SUVs

Styrofoam is BEAT, and none of us should accept our food to be served to us repeatedly in this material, so speak up.

Any surfer that spends time in the ocean, and wants to preserve their local beaches from the scummy scourge of styrofoam washing up everywhere should get active and speak up. Vote with your dollars, and encourage businesses that you like to support to support your interest in preserving the cleanliness of our beaches and atmosphere. You'll get a great deal of satisfaction from acting locally, and you'll likely be surprised by how many merchants are thrilled to change their practices to better serve the preferences of their patrons.

[Now...a bit of a personal note] Surfing has been fashionable for some time, and it's FANTASTIC that environmental activism is increasingly embraced as a badge of honor to proudly display on your bumper. However, there is something fundamentally wrong with sporting a Surfrider sticker, and being oblivious about the impact of your own purchasing decisions and consumption patterns on the planet.

Environmental activism is not something that anyone should think of outsourcing to Surfrider. The Surfrider Foundation amplifies our collective voice, and acts as a strong agent of change, but the model only works if surfers actually use their brains and act locally. Vote with your voice and with your dollars, because the Surfrider Foundation takes styrofoam seriously.

Surfrider Campaign Against Styrofoam

Keep it clean!
-Noserider