Showing posts with label surfrider. Show all posts
Showing posts with label surfrider. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Spy Launches New Eco Collection of Sunglasses with Surfrider Foundation

PRESS RELEASE by Transworld Business: CARLSBAD, Calif.—SPY® is happily introducing the “greenest” sunglass frame ever made—the SPY + Surfrider Foundation Helm—as a part of its new eco-friendly Recompose™ Collection.
With a shared passion for surfing and the common goal of environmental awareness, the SPY + Surfrider partnership aims to highlight Surfrider Foundation’s Rise Above Plastics campaign while advancing the development of environmentally conscious eyewear built from sustainable sources.
“SPY’s longstanding relationship with Surfrider Foundation made them an easy choice to collaborate with on our launch of the most environmentally responsible sunglass frame ever made,” says Michael Marckx, SPY President/CEO and Surfrider board member. “As an active member of the Surfrider Foundation for the last 20 years, I’ve seen the tremendous good the Foundation has achieved with over 225 successful campaigns, including the ongoing Save Trestles initiative. Now, the Rise Above Plastics campaign is more crucial than ever and we have to do our part as lovers of the oceans, beaches and waves.”
With both frame and hinges made from 100% biodegradable Plantate™, an all-natural plant polysaccharide material, the SPY + Surfrider Foundation Helm is a breakthrough in environmentally mindful eyewear. Even the recycled packaging, organic cotton protective baggie, soy inks and cleaning cloth are all part of the ethos built into SPY’s new eco-friendly Recompose™ Collection—which is launching with this first partnership between SPY and Surfrider Foundation on Earth Day, April 22, 2013.
Purchasers of this biodegradable sunglass frame from SPY will be happily supporting the goals of the Surfrider Foundation, as $5 from each pair sold will go to aid their mission of protecting oceans, waves, and beaches. MSRP for the SPY + Surfrider Foundation Helm is $110 and can be found at a local retailer near you.
For more information on the SPY + Surfrider Foundation Helm and environmentally conscious Recompose Collection, go to http://www.spyoptic.com/collection/recompose.html. To learn more about Surfrider Foundation and their Rise Above Plastics campaign, go to http://www.surfrider.org/rap. For more information about SPY, log-on at www.spyoptic.com, www.facebook.com/spyoptic, Twitter @spyoptic and @spyoptic on Instagram.
About SPY Inc.:
We have a HAPPY disrespect for the usual way of looking (at life). This mindset helps drive us to design, market and distribute premium products for people who “live” to be outdoors, doing intense action sports, motorsports, snow sports, cycling and multi-sports‹the things that make them HAPPY. We actively support the lifestyle subcultures that surround these pursuits, and as a result our products serve the broader fashion, music and entertainment markets of the youth culture. Our reason for being is to create the unusual, and this is what helps us deliver distinctive products to people who are active, fun and a bit irreverent, like us. It¹s what makes us HAPPY, and our customers, too. Our principal products‹sunglasses, goggles and prescription frames‹are happily marketed with fun and creativity under the SPY® brand. More information about SPY may be obtained from: www.spyoptic.com, www.facebook.com/spyoptic.com, Twitter @spyoptic and Instagram @spyoptic. 
About Surfrider Foundation:
The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of our world¹s oceans, waves and beaches through a powerful activist network. Founded in 1984 by a handful of visionary surfers in Malibu, California, the Surfrider Foundation now maintains over 250,000 supporters, activists and members worldwide. For more information on the Surfrider Foundation, visit www.surfrider.org.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Surfrider and POW join forces‎


The Surfrider Foundation, the leading name in beach and coastal protection, has teamed up with Protect Our Winters, the top non-profit from the world of snow sports to offer a combined membership that will allow boardsports enthusiasts to protect where they play.

Founded three short years ago, Protect Our Winters has quickly established itself as the leading environmental voice in the snow sports industry. During that time the group has successfully worked to place several solar energy projects in rural communities, appeared before Congress on Capital Hill, and inspired the environmentally-themed film project “Generations.”

For over twenty-five years the Surfrider Foundation has led in beach and coastal protection.  As the original and largest non-profit in the action sports community, Surfrider Foundation been instrumental in keeping our coastal waters clean through their Blue Water Task Force program, and protecting world-class beaches and breaks such as Trestles from development.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to be teaming up with Protect Our Winters,” says Surfrider Foundation CEO Jim Moriarty. “This is a great opportunity for outdoor enthusiasts to support two great organizations in protecting our playgrounds, be they sea or summit.”

The Protect Our Winters / Surfrider Foundation memberships are just $40 annually – a $5 savings off buying both memberships separately.  To sign up, simply click HERE!

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Volcom’s V.CO-Logical Series Supports POW, 1% for the Planet, and Others


If you’re not familiar with our V.Co-logical Series…it’s time to get familiar with it. Here’s why:

Volcom’s V.Co-Logical Series represents Volcom’s environmentally conscious movement towards sustainability. Their goal is for materials and processes used here to eventually find their way into the rest of our collection, making V.Co-logical a sort of “testing ground” for a better future.  Additionally 1% of every dollar you spend in this category goes to select environmental protection organizations by way of their 1% for the Planet Membership.

1% for the Planet is a growing global movement of companies that donate 1% of sales to a network of environmental organizations worldwide. We are proud to be a member by way of our V.Co-logical Series, and since 2006 our Volcom V.Co-logical Series has contributed 1% of sales to local and international non-profit environmentally focused organizations. Learn more about them at www.onepercentfortheplanet.org

We are pleased to announce the recipients of our 1% for the Planet dollars for the 2009 year (better late, than never, right!).  We handpicked the organizations that we feel truly help protect the environment and the sports we choose to pursue.  Please go to their websites to see more about what they do and what you can do to get involved in their efforts.

V.Co-logical thinking is not only in this product range, but in our company vision as well. Please stay tuned here for updates on the progress we are making and post a comment for any environmentally focused non-profits you’d like us to consider for partnership in 2010-2011.

-Alaska Wilderness League www.alaskawild.org

Alaska’s wild lands — including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) — are under attack. This extraordinary treasure trove of lands, set aside decades ago to be protected now and in the future for the benefit of the American people, is in severe danger of being destroyed forever by short-sighted politicians and the extractive industries. They want only the resources these pristine areas can provide, regardless of the resulting devastation to the habitat, wildlife, and cultures.

-Save the Waves Coalition www.savethewaves.org

Save the Waves is an environmental coalition dedicated to preserving the world’s surf spots and their surrounding environments. Our goal is to preserve and protect surfing locations around the planet and to educate the public about their value. Save the Waves works in partnership with local communities, foreign and national governments, as well as other conservation groups to prevent coastal development from entering the surf zone.

-The Ecology Center www.theecologycenter.org

The Ecology Center is a nonprofit organization that aims to serve as Orange County’s premier eco-educational learning center and is driven to inspire and educate people across Southern California communities in the areas of environmental sustainability and stewardship. By providing hands-on activities, quarterly exhibits, on-site demonstrations and informational seminars promoting practical and ecologically sound solutions for the household and community.

The Ecology Center is located at South Coast Farms in the suburb of San Juan Capistrano and seeks to create a healthy and thriving environment where clean air, water and power are economically, ecologically and elegantly enjoyed. And with its rich cultural heritage and agricultural tradition, it’s no wonder that The Ecology Center has upheld its credibility as the ultimate local, one-stop resource committed to proactively solving some of today’s most pressing environmental problems.

-Protect our Winters (POW) www.protectourwinters.org

Protect Our Winters (POW) is a tax exempt, non-profit organization dedicated to reversing the global warming crisis by uniting the winter sports community and focusing our collective efforts towards a common goal.

Climate change is a serious issue for all of us who are passionate about our winter sports and in some cases, it’s how we make our living. If we harness our collective energy and put forth a focused effort, we can have a direct influence on reversing the damage that’s been done and ensure that winters are here for generations behind us.

-Orange County Coastkeeper www.coastkeeper.org

The Mission of Orange County Coastkeeper is to protect and preserve Orange County’s marine habitats and watersheds through education, advocacy, restoration, and enforcement.

-North Shore Community Land Trust www.northshoreland.org

The mission of the North Shore Community Land Trust (NSCLT) is to protect, steward, and enhance the natural landscapes, cultural heritage, and rural character of ahupua‘a from Kahuku Point to Ka‘ena.


The mission of the Miocean is to clean up our local shoreline using a business approach and applying expertise, passion and resources for measurable improvements.

-Newport Bay Naturalist and Friends www.newportbay.org

Our mission is to preserve and restore the ecosystems of Upper Newport Bay and to educate the public about the ecological value of the Bay and its watershed and help ensure compatible public use.

-Stratford Ecological Center www.stratfordecologicalcenter.org

The Stratford Ecological Center is a non-profit educational farm and nature preserve dedicated to the education of children and adults in understanding the relationships between living things and their environment, thereby fostering an appreciation of the land and all life that depends on it.  In its own small way, Stratford is acting locally and thinking globally.  Its unique location allows for opportunities to share this special world of discovery with children and adults of all ages.

-Action Sports Environmental Coalition (ASEC) www.asecaction.org

ASEC is about progressive eco-education and empowering people to adopt a sustainable lifestyle in a way that embraces their existing lifestyle and enhances it. We think sustainability is fun and sexy; simply put, we throw a better party! ASEC works to inspire the action sports industry and its participants to value and take action toward social and environmental responsibility. That goal is achieved through many different programs, each providing an exciting environment in which to learn.

-Algalita Marine Research Foundation www.algalita.org

The Algalita Marine Research Foundation is dedicated to the protection of the marine environment and its watersheds through research, education, and restoration.

In keeping with our mission statement, the Algalita Marine Research Foundation (AMRF) is engaged solely in (1) Protection of the marine environment and its watersheds, through investigative research on the impact of plastic marine pollution; and (2) Providing authoritative, educational findings to the public, private and scientific communities.

-Bolsa Chica Land Trust www.bolsachicalandtrust.org

The Bolsa Chica Land Trust was formed in 1992 by a small group of Californians who believed that one of the last standing wetlands ecosystems in Southern California was worth preserving for future generations. The Land Trust now includes more than 5000 members from throughout California and twenty other states.

The mission of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust is to acquire, restore and preserve the entire 1700 acres of the mesa, lowlands and wetlands of the Bolsa Chica, and to educate the public about this natural treasure.

International Contributions:

-Amane (Brazil) www.amane.org.br

THE AMANE, Association for Protection of the Northeast Atlantic Forest, is a non-governmental organization, for the environment, without financial profit. The organization operates in the interest of the conservation of biodiversity in the Northeast Atlantic and the development of socio-environmental benefits and was established in 2005 by means of the Pact Murici, agreement made by eight non-governmental organizations to protect the region of Murici.

-Surfrider Foundation Europe (France) www.surfrider.eu

Surfrider Foundation Europe is a non profit organization, dedicated to defending, saving, improving and managing in a sustainable manner the ocean, coastline, waves and the people who enjoy them.

From its creation, efforts have been concentrated on coastal issues, but today our scope of interest and involvement is spreading to related areas of lakes and rivers.

-Sumatran Orangutan Society (Indonesia) www.orangutans-sos.org

The Sumatran Orangutan Society is dedicated to the conservation of Sumatran orangutans and their forest home. Our international branches raise awareness of the threats facing wild orangutans, and raise funds to support grassroots conservation projects in Sumatra. Together with a team of committed Indonesian conservationists, we work with local communities living alongside orangutan habitat. We plant trees to restore damaged ecosystems and provide training to help the local people work towards a more sustainable future for their forests.

-Reef Check Australia (Australia) www.reefcheckaustralia.org/

Reef Check Australia is a not-for-profit environmental organisation that engages the Australian community in coral reef conservation at a unique level. We are part of a global network of volunteers who regularly monitor and report on reef health, bringing Citizen Science to environmental issues.

We aim to protect and help to rehabilitate Australia’s valuable coral reefs through a successful recipe of: 1) community education, to raise awareness of the key issues, and 2) scientific research, to collect data that contributes to solutions.

-Surfbreak Protection Society  (Australia) www.surfbreak.org.nz/

Surfbreak Protection Society is a Society dedicated to the conservation of the “treasures” of the New Zealand Surfing Community – our surfbreaks – through the preservation of their natural characteristics, water quality, marine eco systems and low impact access for all. We strive to be Aotearoa’s Kaitiaki “Guardians – Trustees” of our surfbreaks and the natural environments that compliment them.

-WetlandCare Australia (Australia) www.wetlandcare.com.au/
WetlandCare

Australia (WCA) is a national not-for-profit, non-government science-based organisation, with a mission to support the community in the protection and repair of Australia’s wetlands. We do this through action-based partnerships with governments, landholders, natural resource managers, researchers and the community. Our focus is on onground community engagement in project delivery and the provision of technical expertise, education and local advice on best practice wetlands protection, biodiversity conservation, and management and rehabilitation.

Our mission: Supporting the community to protect and restore Australian wetlands since 1991

Click here to view the current Volcom V.Co-Logical product or ask for it at your local shop and you will be helping to contribute to these and other environmental groups in the future.

Story from the Volcom New Future Blog - http://newfuture.volcom.com/?p=226

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

O’Neill, Surfrider T-shirt Supports Gulf Coast Clean Up


O’Neill has partnered with the Surfrider Foundation to create a line of limited edition T-shirts with sales benefiting the Gulf Coast oil spill cleanup and raising awareness about the dangers of offshore drilling. T-shirts are available online at oneill.com and killerdana.com. Here’s some additional information:

Proceeds from sales of O’Neill’s ‘Oil and Water Don’t Mix’ t-shirt will support the Surfrider Foundation’s ‘Not The Answer’ offshore drilling campaign, which includes monitoring and response efforts in the Gulf, as well as Surfrider’s ongoing efforts to reinstate the federal moratorium on new offshore drilling.

“Protecting America’s oceans and coastal communities is vital, and this initiative with Surfrider Foundation is our first step against more offshore drilling,” said O’Neill CEO, Toby Bost.  “We are proud to be supporting Surfrider’s efforts in this way and will do our part to help a great coastal region of the country.  The ‘Oil and Water Don’t Mix’ tee is just one way that O’Neill will help create awareness for coastal projects this summer, and we hope others will join us in the fight to take back our beaches.”

“Once again, O’Neill is leading the charge to help protect our oceans, waves and beaches,” added Matt McClain, Director of Marketing and Communications for the Surfrider Foundation.  “The Surfrider Foundation is excited to be partnering with O’Neill to address the continuing environmental disaster in the Gulf and work to ensure that this type of catastrophe never occurs again.”

On Saturday, June 26, a number of activists, surfers, musicians and celebrities including Rosario Dawson, Amy Smart, Jason Mraz and Laird Hamilton attended the worldwide ‘Hands Across the Sand’ events in Santa Monica and Oceanside, Calif. that protested proposed offshore drilling projects.

O’Neill team rider, Jordy Smith, said:  “From growing up in South Africa and travelling on the Tour, I’ve been given the opportunity to surf some of the nicest beaches around the world. So when I see what’s happening in the Gulf Coast, it’s a sad reminder how badly offshore oil drilling can damage our oceans and marine life. Hopefully this t-shirt will help bring more awareness to the issue and keep oil companies away from the waters we love.”

For more information and to support the cause, visit www.oneill.com  and www.surfrider.org.


Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Surfrider Discusses Environmental & Economic Damage of Gulf Coast Spill



As more devastating information is released daily about the recent BP oil spill off the Gulf Coast, people within the surf industry and beyond are increasingly left wondering how this disaster will continue to affect the region on both an environmental and economic level. Surfrider’s Marketing and Communications Director Matt McClain stopped by TransWorld headquarters last week to discuss what the organization has been up to in the weeks since the spill, what activists can do right now, and the lasting impact  the spill will undoubtedly have on the Gulf Coast for generations to come.

Watch an interview with Matt McClain on TransWorld Surf, where he explains the latest development in the oil spill involving fragmentation of the piping under the ocean floor causing oil to permeate up through the ocean floor, hundreds of feet from the actual well head.

Working with SkyTruth.org, the Surfrider Foundation has been able to build a real-time map of beaches and coastline on their website, NotTheAnswer.org, where tarballs from the oil spill have washed ashore. The organization is also working to deploy members from several of its Texas chapters who are trained in Hazmat clean up to the regions that are being affected in Florida, Louisiana and Alabama. According to McClain and recent media reports, the economic damage from this spill may ultimately have an even more profound effect on the region than the environmental repercussions.

What is the current state of the oil spill at this time, as you understand it, and what is Surfrider’s take on the way it’s being handled?

It’s been so hard because there’s been so much misinformation about the situation from the start.

The numbers have just been reforecasted. The government and BP have minimized the numbers. BP is liable for $4,200 per barrel spilled. And the revised estimate is 40,000 barrels per day, so this could easily bankrupt them. In a recent Rolling Stone article it talks about how for a long time Obama was anti-offshore drilling but then when he came into office he worked it into his energy package. His administration has reversed position once and now it seems like they are reversing positions again. Now we are in a situation where two principle players are trying to downplay this and it’s kind of in your face right now. The challenge is that we don’t know when we are going to contain the spill, we don’t’ know how we are going to contain the spill and it’s just getting worse day by day. So a lot of people are asking us, “Ok what are we going to do?” Sending guys out there to try to clean the beaches is almost pointless because this thing is still gushing and  if it continues to gush for weeks or months – or even years, heaven forbid that is a possibility – how do you mitigate for that? I’m not sure.  It’s kind of unprecedented.

I would say this is going to be the defining environmental event of our life.  I think if you believe in climate change that’s probably going to be number one, but the one thing about climate change is that it’s not as obvious. This is obvious. There is already those heartbreaking pictures of birds and turtles all over the news. The effects will be that much more profound and immediate.  It’s going to be something that’s a big issue for us  and could be a big issue for generations to come.

Speaking of legislation, you touched a little on Obama reversing his position. He recently reneged on overturning the moratorium earlier this year, but what does that mean, and is there any additional legislation coming out that we should be focused on?

Here’s what happened, I’ll go back thirty years. In 1981 congress enacted the moratorium on new offshore drilling and that was off the continental shelf, so that means no drilling 50 miles off the coast, and states could decide their own policies. Then in 1990 Geroge Bush, Sr., in response to the Exxon Valdez spill, enacted a presidential moratorium on all new offshore drilling. Keep in mind the oil companies are sitting on tens of thousands of existing leases, they can put wells in those at any time - they don’t need any permission from anybody. There is not really even a need for them to open up more sites for offshore drilling, if they wanted to put wells in right now they could do that. Their plan was to open up areas off the Gulf of Mexico that were not being drilled which is the eastern part, the part that we all surf – the panhandle and the Atlantic Coast of Florida within state waters and then off of Virginia and New Jersey and up in Alaska.

Go back two years ago, President Bush decided not to renew the presidential moratorium, and Congress decided not to renew the congressional moratorium. It was shortly after that when Surfrider started speaking out about the potential of what could happen if they open up new drilling sites. The danger is what they have there isn’t safe. We were hoping that when Obama got in office that he would at least put one of the two moratoriums back in place. We had a big rally in San Francisco in May 2009. We closed our whole office and took everyone up there, got about 2,500 people to appear before Secretary Salazar to speak about offshore drilling. They made their decision back in March of last year, and it was that of all the areas they were going to open up the coast of Florida, Virginia and Alaska. Obviously we were disappointed, but we were glad that California didn’t get lumped into that. Now we’ve had to shift our campaign from fighting on a national level to a state-by-state level.

Now, 52 days ago we get the spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Shortly after that happens, Obama puts a moratorium first on new drilling, putting a hold on some of the projects that had been green-lighted, and then on top of that he puts a 60 day moratorium on all deep water drilling, which only actually accounts for about one percent of all oil drilling.

Our position for the last year is that we need to get a moratorium on new drilling. We can deal with the existing wells later but right now, we are behind where we were two years ago and we don’t want to get any deeper than that.  We’ve really been trying to rally our members to make calls to President Obama. We have an action alert on our Not The Answer site and I think so far we’ve sent 15,000 emails to President Obama asking him to reinstate the presidential moratorium. There’s a new bill in congress that’s been introduced by Congressman Frank Pallone from New Jersey called the No New Drilling Act, but its not getting a lot of support right now in Congress, oddly enough. What we’re doing is trying to get people to call local representatives and have them support that bill.

It’s still kind of hard because of everything we’ve been seeing on the news. People want to know what are we going to do about oil. We’d love to move towards clean energy, we’re not saying let’s stop all oil [drilling] right now, that’s never been our position. Our position is to say no new drilling, and the reasons that we gave for that are still the same. It’s not going to ween us off any dependence on foreign oil; we consume far more than we produce. The second thing is the notion that most of our foreign oil is coming from the Middle East. While we do get a fair amount from there, our number one trading partner is Canada.  Some of it comes from Mexico – the Gulf – and then Venezuela is number four, and we also get some from Nigeria. There is a lot of places outside of where we traditionally think. A lot of people use the argument of the war, and they think America can be self-sustainable with oil, and that’s just not going to happen.

When is the No More Drilling Act Legislation supposed to come before Congress?

Not for a while, we have a few months on that. In my experience having seen a few environmental acts get introduced, it seems like if they don’t get a lot of support out of the gate then they don’t get passed. You would think it would be a no-brainer.

What we need is to have some public outcry. I think people’s hearts naturally go to the animals and the people that are affected by this. People who are going to lose their business, whose families have shrimp boated down there for a hundred years and what do they do now? The ironic thing is that many of the people down there, even now because it’s so ingrained in their culture, are like “Hey we need help cleaning up the spill, but don’t get rid of the oil wells because we need those.” It’s not an easy question but that’s why we are advocating getting rid of no new drilling and we can deal with all the existing platforms later.

Speaking of business, do you have direct contact with surf shops that are at the beaches that are being affected?

We are starting to. It’s a little more spread out than it is out here.

Yancy Spencer at Innerlight (locations in Destin, Pensacola and Gulf Shores, Florida, and Alabama) is already 80 percent off. If you are a seasonal business, one bad season is all it takes and you could be done. This is not a bad year in like you are down 20 percent, this is 80 percent – how are these guys going to weather that, especially on top of the recession? What are these surfers and fisherman going to be doing? The charter boats –are they still going to go out? Are the surfers still going to go out there and surf? Are they going to get some kind of crazy disease from this stuff?

How many beaches has the spill actually touched at this point?

The government has been saying oh it’s here, it’s not here. Surfrider partnered up with an organization called SkyTruth, who did the whistle blowing during Katrina. There’s a famous press conference where the interior secretary at the time gets on camera and says “Not one teaspoon of oil has been spilled into the Gulf from the hurricanes,” and we come back with the satellite images of fourteen platforms destroyed and all these spills out there. So we’ve been partnering with them for a long time.

So we developed this software app with SkyTruth, where people can go down to the beach, take a picture and it geo codes just like google maps does, and now we have a real time map on our site of where  oil has been washing ashore. We’re tracking that right now and what that’s going to dictate is where a lot of the response gets marshaled. The other thing we are doing right now, is working with activists from our Texas chapters who are actually trained in HazMat cleanup. So we are going to fly them over to Florida and other places and do trainings with our activists. So in some places in Florida where the oil has got to the shore there is a bit more weathered. Keep in mind that in Louisiana and Alabama, the slick is so pervasive and is releasing so many chemicals that it’s not safe for anyone to be there. If we can get enough activists trained in Florida where the oil is washing ashore and is weathered like in tar balls, we feel confident that we can start addressing some of the issues at those beaches. We are putting some funding into that as well. But the big thing is that we need to get this moratorium in place.

What’s the next step after that and how can people get involved?

After that we need to come up with some kind of comprehensive plan to control the situation in the Gulf. Are we going to be able to control this thing? I don’t think anybody knows right now, and I think that many don’t want to admit that the answer might be no. Also, we need a clear understanding of what the ramifications are going to be and then explore whether there’s a potential for clean up, because if somehow we do get it controlled we need to focus on that.

Right now the oil is extending five miles into the wetlands area off the coast of Louisiana. This was an area that we were losing at a football field every thirty minutes. Over the last decade the wetlands off New Orleans have been disappearing because we’ve choked off all the sediment source with all the rivers, and they’ve become the fastest disappearing habitat in the world. Everyone thinks it’s the rainforest, but it’s these wetlands. Now you’re looking at a dead zone that is the size of half of Texas floating out there right now because of all these underwater plumes of oil mixed in with these toxins. We’ve got fishing closures. These guys’ entire livelihood is shut down. You are talking about the loss of entire economies that have been in people’s families for generations. A quarter of our seafood supply comes from the gulf – all gone right now.  Recreational fishing counts for $42 billion a year in the gulf.  All that stuff is going to come to a grinding halt.

We would love to have support from any of the endemic businesses if they want to get involved. So far, O’Neill is going to make some T-shirts for us. Our plan right now is to take that money and try to get it back. We want to try to fund the Hazmat training and get as many activists trained as possible. We have a full-time coordinator position that we pull other money from so we’d like to get that funded. We’d like to continue to build out some tools so people can get involved from their iPhone and desktop, just by pushing a button, to get this moratorium back in place. There are things that surfers and the industry can do to help our efforts to deal with this situation and the larger situation.