I was just reading some recent blogs from Jim's site while squeezed into my tiny bunk on the research vessel I work on, and one of the articles I read I decided to link to here on our local Surfrider site. I did so hoping that you, my dear reader, may have the opportunity to have a brief and simple primer on Policy and Activism and what it means to protect a wave. But, perhaps you will also be taken further by the article as I was, into an era before your time, or perhaps into a time you do remember, or even into an experience that is unfolding somewhere around you.
As for the gist of the article on policy and activism, the one line that stands out is: If no one stands up to protect something, it will be taken away. I want to impress upon you the ever-changing need of more and more people to engage themselves and ACT. To act with their brains, their feet, their hands, their mouths...whatever they feel comfortable with, to protect what they love. And for many of us tied to Surfrider, it's about protecting not only access to the local surf breaks, the coastal zones, and clean water in our local communities, it's about protecting everything in our environment. Many of us at Surfrider do realize how deep our connection is to EVERYTHING in our natural world. The fact of the matter is too many people on our planet don't realize this connection.
We are the ones that must be the voice with the clear and focused mind to protect what we love. There is no one else to do it. And, with the federal government becoming less and less capable of providing the services we have depended on in the past, we will have more responsibilities and roles on our shoulders in the near future. We will need to strengthen our core with more and more people who care enough to act.
This can easily be achieved with each of you spreading the word about your volunteerism and stewardship. By just having a casual conversation with a friend, or even a stranger, about an upcoming beach cleaning, or a Surfrider event at a local venue, or a gardening project, or a surf contest (you get the idea), you will be surprised how many people actually want to get involved in the things we do for our community. Many just need someone like you to plug them into just one little event. I won't go into how I came to be part of Surfrider in this article, but it really came down to one very random 20 second conversation with someone I didn't know all that well. And here I am now. Fully immersed and stoked on it!
So with that said, from this point on, if you aren't doing so yet, please make more of an effort to randomly mention to a couple of people a week something you are getting involved in for the betterment of the local community, regardless of what it is. You just may be the ignition source of a candle that will burn bright and long in the fight to protect what we all love and are connected to.
And as for the article I read, even though I was born and raised in SoCal, I never knew about Dana Point having a wicked right before the harbor was put in during the mid-sixties. This was a bit before my time, and the only Dana Point I ever knew was a very sterile and unassuming port, and an occasional gateway for trips across the channel to Catalina Island. After being spurred to dig a little by the article, I learned a little bit of local history that tied in nicely with Policy and Activism, even though it was from a different era than I. Perhaps after you read the article, you'll be able to learn something new about a break you know (or knew), or one that maybe you'll head to so that you can help protect it before it's too late.
Enjoy the ride.