Surfrider Foundation of Huntington Beach and Seal Beach Chapter Spreads Awareness Instead of Waste
By 2050, there could be more plastic swimming in the world’s oceans than fish in weight. This prediction was made by various renowned sources such as The United Nations and Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Society is well aware of the first step to the solution in solving this ecocatastrophe: pick up your trash and dispose of it in the correct color bin. Getting everyone to care enough to take action-based steps and turn them into daily eco-friendly habits is where the difficulty lies. Cue Surfrider Foundation (SF), a nonprofit organization of coastal defenders with over 82 chapters worldwide.
In particular, the mission of their Huntington/Seal Beach (H/SB) chapter is to fight apathy by cultivating community-based awareness through digestible education targeted at the youth, and reducing (and eventually eliminating) plastic pollution in the ocean with their diverse range of programs.
At every beach cleanup hosted by SF H/SB chapter, expect several blue canopies set up with registration tables displaying various educational tools on how to take care of our planet—colorful, reusable water bottles, samples of water testing, several wide-mouth plastic jars filled with cigarette butts and young, eager volunteers greeting fellow volunteers with a warm welcome and a reusable bag for the beach cleanup. Adjacent to the registration tables sits another blue canopy known as their “pit.”
The pit, spearheaded by Stephanie Pedroza, the Chair of SF H/SB chapter, is where the central point of change occurs. All collected trash goes to the pit. Then its separated into the correct category: hard plastics, straws, bottle caps, cigarette butts and syringes.
“The pit is where most of the action takes place…everybody’s role is important,” says Pedroza.
Loudly situated on the outskirts of the pit are more educational tools to demonstrate the wastefulness and damage we are doing to our oceans. These are a large wheelbarrow filled with plastic straws, a clear storage bin brimming with plastic bottle caps and several informative signs. One of the signs reads: “We may think that one straw…doesn’t make a difference. But accumulated together with everyone else’s straws, it does.”
The chapter hopes ecological action and education at the pit will inspire volunteers to rethink using single-use plastics for convenience. “It’s all about awareness—that’s what we’re there for,” explains Pedroza.
“We’re here to expose and educate people on the effects of single-use plastics.”
After every beach cleanup, Pedroza and her pit crew weigh the amount of garbage gathered from the cleanup. SF H/SB’s website holds seven years of data from previous beach cleanups. On May 4, 2019, the chapter’s beach cleanup at Beach Blvd. State Beach gathered 683 volunteers who collected 591 pounds of trash and left with camaraderie, fulfillment, and a shared purpose.
Beach Cleanups is just one of SF H/SB’s 10 programs. They have many other coast-protecting program. Some of these are: Blue Water Task Force, Help Your Harbor, Ocean Friendly Restaurants, Rise Above Plastics, Ocean Friendly Gardens and many others.
“When you have education at the beach like this, the little kids remember why they came down,” says Tony Soriano, the former Chairman of SF H/SB. He has been with the organization for 14 years.
“That’s what was created here at our chapter. Bringing awareness to the community and awareness to education for the students at all levels.”
From presentations on pollution to launching student-led environmental clubs, SF H/SB empowers the next generation to spark real change. Led by Manuel Florence, their Blue Water Task Force raised funds and secured grants to build water testing labs for Edison High and The Pegasus School in Huntington Beach.
The goal of SF H/SB’s education is to teach the younger generation from the beginning how to practice good habits. They want them to understand that every decision they make in this materialistic society has potentially large outcomes for the fate of the earth.
However, preventative steps can be taken now by everyone. It is everyone’s responsibility. Pedroza says that you can start by taking responsibility for the garbage you use and create. “I see a lot of apathetic people. People don’t really think twice about throwing something out the window, which is a shame, but it still happens,” she says.
“They don’t really make the connection that those things go into storm drains and get washed down into the ocean.”
By taking action and spreading awareness, SF H/SB is cultivating a responsible community. They provide education on how to save and preserve the beaches we love and the earth we live on. “It is easy to get involved and participation is important. But just being proactive within themselves works too. If every person just changed one thing—for example not buying single-use plastic water bottles—that would make a world of difference,” explains Pedroza.
Planet Plastic or Planet Earth?
You decide. Surfrider Foundation
Surfrider Foundation Huntington/Seal Beach
@hsbsurfrider Surfrider Foundation
@surfrider Surfrider Foundation
Written By: Annie Kim
Photographed By: Celine Haeberly Surfrider Foundation
