Round 4 and 5 @ Snapper....

Part 5 - Boycott McDonald's in Yamba...

Is Ronald doing a runner?

IT APPEARS OUR BOYCOTT HAS WORKED or IS WORKING..!!!

Word on the street in Yamba is that McDonald's is cutting its loses and shutting up shop by Easter 2012..! Which is huge for local people, small business and families,,, if of course that is the case..???

BUT, before we celebrate (& we will throw a good riddance party TBC), we should all ensure its demise by extra support of local eateries and spreading the word (pass this post on to your social network!)...

Apparently the Yamba restaurant has been supporting the existing Ballina restaurant by running below par stock so that Ballina Profit +Loss looks far greater than it actually is... Which would explain why those who have supported the Yamba restaurant have experienced multiple product lines out of stock and no eggs, WTF..? Dodgie...

According to a reliable source, Yamba will be shut by Easter, the existing Ballina one will stay open until they build another on the new Ballina by-pass...

Great news for all those who strongly support the "NO Maccas in Yamba" campaign..

Think global, act local...

Stay tuned, peace...

Paul Gilding on The Great Disruption...

Paul Gilding former CEO of Green Peace talks about his new book The Great Disruption, published in the US, UK, and Australia by Bloomsbury Publishing.

Quik Pro the best waves from round 2...!

Dane Reynolds best waves of 2010..

He's the best free surfer in the world by a country mile, the footage is sick, and its 2 years old.....

Apocalypse Later, Surf Now

Bon Iver - Perth (Deluxe)

Brilliant AV, peace!

Surfrider Foundation - Beer Ring...

Our Oceans aren't the only ones in danger....

The Surfrider Foundation is dedicated to the protection & enjoyment of oceans, waves & beaches through a powerful activist network.

Donate today http://www.surfrider.org/

Surfing in the Desert, Kizza style...

Friend of FM, Kieren Taylor has been a fish out of water for the past 3-4 years working as a Pilot seeding clouds to help make it rain in the United Arab Emirates...

Lately he's been test riding and fine tuning the Wave Pool at http://wadiadventure.ae/ with a surf pool capable of making 3.3 meter high waves every 90 seconds..!

For someone who's barely surfed a proper coastal wave in years I think its safe to say Kizza's ripping on SUP & shortboard,,, yew!

Come Hell or High Water... Changing lives...

After the Australian release of Come Hell or High Water Patagonia Australia received this heartfelt message from Coffs Harbour based parents Greg and Donna Edwards. Kyan, their 8 year old son has autism. After watching the film their lives were changed forever.

I would like to share our little breakthrough and in some small way, say thanks for making Come Hell Or High Water film possible.
Come Hell Or High Water has changed our lives.
Put simply, our 8 year-old son Kyan has Autism. We have had a very difficult time bringing him up and up until last week, we had given up on the idea that he would ever be comfortable at the beach. The bright sunlight, sand and wind create a ‘sensory overload’ for our little boy and most often he will scream and scream when we take him anywhere near the ocean. My wife and I both grew up surfing and we feel completely at home in the water. Some days, the two of us have wanted nothing more than to be able to take our kids down onto the sand and swim.
Last week, we watched Come Hell or High Water and were so touched by the story of Don and Beau King. The footage of Beau diving under the waves was an inspiration. We watched the film a couple of times and so did our two sons. Kyan was absolutely spellbound by the beautiful images and by Beau King’s smiling face. When we turned the TV off, we noticed him running round the house with his arm outstretched. He started to imitate the surfers he’d seen.
Kyan has limited language and he finds it very difficult to talk. He was walking around the house yelling “Don’t cry Beau…”. He ended up running towards his mother saying “beach… surfing”. I think it was the next day that we all decided to go down to the water and just see if Kyan’s enthusiasm remained. Sure enough, he ran down onto the sand without screaming. He ran out into the water and he began wading out toward the waves!! We were still pulling our fins on when we noticed him (in disbelief I might add). That day, and every day since, have been remarkable! Our son has discovered the ocean. He now feels at home in the water. His confidence is growing and he is catching his first waves!!
We can’t tell you what an incredible gift this has been. We can’t tell you how grateful we are. If it all ends tomorrow, so be it — we have had an amazing week with our son. We pray it continues and that this new-found enthusiasm becomes a life-long passion. We have enclosed a few shots of Kyan out in the surf. There’s one shot that’s particularly blurry, but you can make out his smiling face as he races down his first wave!!
I would love it if, somehow, this could be passed on to the filmmakers of Come Hell Or High Water. Just so that we can say thank you!
Yours faithfully,
Greg and Donna Edwards

For more information on Don, Julianne and Beau King check out their award winning movie, Beautiful Son and the Hawaii Autism Foundation.

Klean Kanteen - Reflect interview...

Scott Rolfson, marketing director of Klean Kanteen, about the "Reflect" bottle that launched in spring 2011. Completely plastic and paint free, made of stainless steel, bamboo, and silicone.

 

I LOVE WHERE I LIVE .. so do these groms.

I got home the other day to find this drawing that had been slid under my front door.. So cool!!
A mate of my nephew drew this.
Amazing to live in a place with such good natured, creative kids skating around the neighborhood :)
Thanks TAI!

Dan

MAVERICKS - Mark Healy.

Last week Nav posted a shot of Twiggy at Mavericks, then i stumbled across this one of Healy.
Awesome photo!

Life Changing Events PRESENTS: WASTELAND

Filmed over nearly three years, WASTE LAND follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base   in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of "catadores" - or self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz's initial objective was to "paint" the catadores with garbage.

However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both dignity and despair as the catadores begin to re-imagine their lives. Walker (DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND, BLINDSIGHT) has great access to the entire process and, in the end, offers stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and the alchemy of the human spirit. 

Monday 5th March, 2012 @ the Gold Coast Arts Centre
Doors open 5:45pm. Movie at 6:30pm.
For one night only!

Bookings are Essential..
www.trybooking.com/BELV

Enquiries 0404 534000 For catering purposes and ensuring you are totally nourished...

   Tickets     View Trailer

World Water Day - 22 March 2012...

There are 7 billion people to feed on the planet today and another 2 billion are expected to join by 2050. Statistics say that each of us drinks from 2 to 4 litres of water every day, however most of the water we ‘drink’ is embedded in the food we eat: producing 1 kilo of beef for example consumes 15,000 litres of water while 1 kilo of wheat ’drinks up’ 1,500 litres.

When a billion people in the world already live in chronic hunger and water resources are under pressure we cannot pretend the problem is ‘elsewhere’. Coping with population growth and ensuring access to nutritious food to everyone call for a series of actions we can all help with: follow a healthier, sustainable die; consume less water-intensive products; reduce the scandalous food wastage: 30% of the food produced worldwide is never eaten and the water used to produce it is definitively lost! produce more food, of better quality, with less water.

At all steps of the supply chain, from producers to consumers, actions can be taken to save water and ensure food for all.
And you? Do you know how much water you actually consume every day? How can you change your diet and reduce your water footprint? Join the World Water Day 2012 campaign “Water and Food Security” and find out more!

For More info and event in your neck of the woods, go to

http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/events

Ok Go - Needing/Getting Official Video...

It's been a while between tunes, so here's a cracker...

Maybe a little more EXCESSIVE/OBSESSIVE...

And a must see behind the scenes...



Peace..

PATAGONIA---VIP SALES EVENING--- 24 FEBRUARY 2012--- 5-6:30pm

VIP Sale evening this coming Friday from 5-6:30pm at Patagonia Burleigh Heads...

URGENT by the 24th February 2012...

Sea Shepherd need your help to create history by creating the largest marine sanctuary for the protection of our oceans.

The Coral Sea is a place where whales swim freely in warm tropical waters and coral reefs pulse with amazing colourful life. Now is our chance to protect this rare and unique place forever, but we need your help to get it over the line.

Click here to take action

It will only take a minute of your time that will set aside a future for our precious marine life, for the benefit of future generations. International submissions are also accepted.
Check out my new video message here.

This ocean wilderness is a hotspot for whales, dolphins, sharks, turtles and powerful fish like tuna and marlin. Located next to Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef, the Coral Sea is home to 28 species of whales and dolphins and pods of up to 400 melon-headed and false killer whales have been sighted. 26 of these magnificent species are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red list of threatened species, including the endangered Blue, Sei and Fin whales as well as bottlenose, spinner and striped dolphins.

Sharks are in deep trouble globally. Fortunately in the Coral Sea great numbers still swim in its clear waters, just as they have for millions of years. 46 internationally threatened species of sharks and rays live around the Coral Sea’s reefs, seamounts and vast open ocean. The endangered squat and scalloped headed hammerhead shark, Great Whites and Makos, Manta Rays and spotted eagle rays also call it home.

Surely a place where 341 Red Listed threatened species are found deserves our greatest protection!

With much of our global waters fished to the brink, polluted with toxic water, or littered with oil and gas developments, the Coral Sea is truly a special place. But it needs your help to stay this way.

Our Federal Environment Minister is now considering protecting the Coral Sea in a marine park and whilst his vision for the Coral Sea is encouraging - his plan would leave over 90% of the reefs unprotected. How can we protect the Coral Sea without protecting its coral reefs?

It’s not just the reefs that are missing out. The underwater volcanoes of the Coral Sea act like an oasis in the desert. Nutrients swell around these ancient landmarks drawing sharks and other predators from the miles around. Incredibly many of these amazing features and the animals they sustain will still fall victim to industrial scale longlining under the Minister’s Coral Sea plan.

Coral reefs occupy less than 1% of the worlds ocean surface, yet they provide a home for 25% of all marine species, with over one million species believed to be dependant on coral reefs for their survival.

One fifth of the worlds coral reefs have already perished and half the remaining reefs may disappear in only 20 years. The Coral Sea is one of the last great relatively unspoilt marine ecosystems left on earth.

We’ve only got until the 24th of February to make our voices heard. Please stand up and be the voice of the whales, sharks, dolphins and other marine life in the Coral Sea today.

Please make a quick submission today.

Peace...

The Plastiki Tour

Was talking to Andrew Dovell today who designed The Plastiki, so I thought I'd show you around it..

Check out the 3D tour at http://www.theplastiki.com/exploreplastiki/

World Surfing Reserve Manly-Freshwater Beaches Chosen...

One of the epic curls you'll find at the Manly-Freshwater World Surfing Reserve. Photo: saltmotion.com

MANLY-FRESHWATER BEACHES IN SYDNEY CHOSEN FOR ‘WORLD SURFING RESERVE’ HONOUR
100 YEARS OF SURFING IN AUSTRALIA

Kelly Slater named to officially declare Australia’s first ‘World Surfing Reserve’

February 16, 2012 – A century after the first surf board hit the waves on Australian shores at Manly and Freshwater beaches in Sydney, this historic site will be enshrined as Australia’s first World Surfing Reserve (WSR).

World Surfing Reserves recognize and help protect the finest surfing sites in the world, inspired by UNESCO’s World Heritage model recognizing outstanding zones of universal value. Manly-Freshwater will become only the third WSR to be declared in the world to date.

Kelly Slater, WSR Ambassador and 11-time world surfing champion from the USA, will officially declare the WSR honour at a civic ceremony on Saturday, March 10, 2012 at Manly Beach. It will be the first time Slater has undertaken such a duty outside competition, as he has stated that ‘Australia has the world’s best beaches’ and rates many waves among his ‘favourites’. The Sydney event will also mark the Centenary of surfing in Australia. Governor Marie Bashir will also attend the ceremony.

“I'm very stoked to be working alongside WSR to lend a voice and help ensure we honor and recognize the beaches that have brought all of us the lifestyle we love so much,” said Slater.

The ceremony will officially establish this 4 km prime surfing coastline as a World Surfing Reserve, joining other iconic surfing locations already enshrined including Malibu, California (2010) and Ericeira, Portugal (2011).

Proven to be the ‘birthplace of Australian surfing’, with the earliest surfing activities conducted in the late 1880’s, Manly and Freshwater beaches in Sydney are iconic. Surfing has helped mold the unique culture of Sydney, the largest city in Australia, combining the vibrant and cosmopolitan character with a natural coastal lifestyle.

“Manly hosted the first World Surfboard-riding Championship in 1964, which was won by Australian’s ‘Midget’ Farrelly and Phyllis O’Donnell. Since those days, there has grown a long list of locals, including surfers and surf lifesavers, who have won national and world championships,” said Mayor of Manly Jean Hay AM and Chair of the Local World Surfing Reserve Steering Committee.

The history that Manly-Freshwater encompasses is a vital part of Australia’s heritage:

•       It was the site of Australia’s first legal daylight bathing in 1902
•       It hosted the first known body surfing contest in 1908
•       It was the launch site of Australia’s first official surf patrol boat
•       The first surf board riding was performed here in 1912
•       Freshwater hosted Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku in Australia’s first ever surfing demonstration in 1914

"This spot marks the genesis of surfing in Australia, a sport, pastime, industry and culture emblematic of our nation’s image,” said Brad Farmer of World Surfing Reserves. “Surfing in Australia has come of age after a century, with Kelly Slater encouraging coastal users to think about the real value of these irreplaceable resources. This is a historic moment for all Australians and their long and patriotic love affair with surfing and beaches,” said Mr Farmer.

In addition to its cultural and historical significance, the coastal and marine environment of the Manly-Freshwater World Surfing Reserve provides habitat for an important ecosystem. The Reserve boasts one of the largest resident populations of protected weedy sea dragons and a number of threatened and protected species including the eastern water dragon lizard, the grey nurse shark and little penguins. Additionally, more than 160 species of fish have been recorded in the waters of the Reserve.

“What better spot than Manly-Freshwater for a World Surfing Reserve?” remarked Mayor Jean Hay AM. “This place has it all, and I’m delighted to see it get the recognition it deserves.”

“Manly-Freshwater can now take its rightful place in the history of world surfing. Manly-Freshwater is where surfing started its journey as one of Australia’s national obsessions,” said Michael Regan, the Mayor of the Warringah Council which also has jurisdiction of the Manly-Freshwater beaches.

About World Surfing Reserves
World Surfing Reserves (WSR) proactively identifies, designates and preserves outstanding waves, surf zones and their surrounding environments around the world. WSR is an initiative launched by Save the Waves Coalition (USA) in 2009 in conjunction with National Surfing Reserves (Australia) and other partners.

For more information: www.worldsurfingreserves.org 

Service in the Sun 1957 edit from Gary Crockett on Vimeo.

Life Changing Events presents "OCEANS"

Monday 20th February, 2012 @ the Gold Coast Arts Centre
Doors open 5:45pm. Movie at 6:30pm.
For one night only!
For catering purposes and ensuring you are totally nourished...
Bookings are Essential..
www.trybooking.com/BCWS
Enquiries 0413 672 940

“Oceans” an award winning underwater documentary narrated by Pierce Brosnan
After four years in creation “Oceans” an ecological drama/documentary is at last making its Australian cinematic debut at the Paradise Room in the Gold Coast Arts Centre on the 20th of February 2012.

‘Oceans’ narrated by Pierce Brosnan, takes viewers on an underwater journey which allows them to witness the vanishing wonders of the sub-aquatic world. Viewers are guaranteed to experience a wave of emotions as they are both educated on the dangers and captured by the beauty, abundance of colour and life in our oceans. You will experience thrills and meditation as the mysteries that lie beneath the waves came to life.

Kym O’Connell, founder of the Life Changing Events production company, teamed up with directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud with the goal of creating a production aimed at educating viewers on the beauty and ecological importance of the ocean and its inhabitants.

This award winning documentary will take you to the four corners of the world, answer your wildest curiosities and allow you to delve deep into the mystical depths of the ocean, making it a must see for all ages. It’s a powerful celebration of our underwater world; a world that requires our attention.

Available in 6 languages ‘Oceans’ runs for 104 minutes and was brought by Disney in 2009. Media are encouraged to attend. A fabulous range of organic foods are available from 6pm, the documentary starts at 6.30pm and afterwards a panel of experts will discuss the issue raised by the documentary.

20 February 2012
Paradise Room
Gold Coast Art Centre
From 5.45pm movies starts at 6.30pm
Tickets available www.trybooking.com/BCWS

Grant "Twiggy" Baker

I haven't blogged in a while, just wasn't feeling it...then I stumbled across this pic below..the rest is history I'm back.... Grant "Twiggy" Baker you are a HELL MAN and Maverick's is the pinicle of big wave surfing.

The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water

The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water is a short, animated film made by a collaboration of creative and dedicated volunteers at the Surfrider Foundation. Several local Surfrider Foundation chapters combined their talents and funds to create the film -- and then actor Zuleikha Robinson of Lost, generously agreed to narrate it.

The premise of the film is that the water cycle we all learned about in the 4th grade has been dramatically altered over time, leaving us with a broken system that wastes water and energy, pollutes our natural waterways, harms critical marine life, and poorly deals with flooding and other water management problems.

The film serves to take a holistic look at water management, highlight controversial problems, and suggest solutions that integrate multiple economic and environmental benefits. The intended audience includes entire communities: from homeowners and the general public, to public agencies and elected government officials.

To find out how you can break the cycle of insanity: knowyourh2o.org

REDUCE, REUSE & RECYCLE...

Peace...

Laccadive Hollows...

Patagonia surf ambassador Trevor Gordon, and Chad Konig, explore the remote Lakshadweep islands and find no shortage of barrels.

Namaste... ;-)

Single Fins...

15th Annual Single Fin Festival Burleigh Heads from Billabong on Vimeo.

No doubt we love good old singly's, but its the craftsmanship, built to last mentality that makes them so appealing today, plus the super glide & drive factor...

REDUCE, REUSE & RECYCLE..!

Peace...

Our Common Waters - Dam Nation...

Cut here to enjoy a fresh free-flowing river. Matilija Dam, Ventura County, California. BEN KNIGHT

Cut here to enjoy a fresh free-flowing river. Matilija Dam, Ventura County, California. BEN KNIGHT

Cut here to enjoy a fresh free-flowing river. Matilija Dam, Ventura County, California. BEN KNIGHT

No one knows how many dams there are in the United States, not even the Army Corps of Engineers. Estimates are as many as two million. Even the Corps agrees that as many as 26,000 of these dams are hazardous, obsolete or otherwise derelict. Think of them as jalopies in the backyard, eyesores, but worse because they break healthy rivers, ruin habitat and destroy fish migration. 

Matilija Dam pictured above no longer serves any useful purpose and blocks steelhead migration on the Ventura River in California in Patagonia’s own backyard. We bet there’s a useless dam or two in your backyard. It’s time to take them out. Please join us and American Rivers in removing 100 obsolete dams in 2012.

Help remove 100 obsolete dams in 2012


Since 1973, American Rivers has fought to protect and restore more than 150,000 miles of rivers through advocacy efforts and on-the-ground projects.




Patagonia’s current environmental campaign  spotlights the need to balance human water consumption with that of animals and plants.
Learn more

Surfrider Foundation..

Patagonia - New R1 Suits

Angourie's Future

The amount of local groms pretty much living on the beach over christmas was sooo cool to see. They'd go from surfing, to mucking around on the rocks and swimming, up to the shop for a bag of lollies and then back to surfing!!! loving every second of it. :) Exactly the same as me and my brother used to do as kids.

Here's a pic of Taiig, Harley, Dakota and Jaspur .. and Taiig on the lefts early new years day :).. first one out!!!

Fish Oil - Nutra Sea

This is one of the supplements i take with me on the road (capsules).
I've found them to be the best quality - plus they are a 1% For The Planet member.
Just letting you know in case you were wondering which are the better brands.

Dan.

Omega 3:
- Promotes cardiovascular health
- Reduces inflammation
- Supports mental focus & cognitive function
- Supports positive mood & emotional well-being
- Promotes brain, eye, & nervous system health
- Supports healthy immune system function.

Remembering a World before Plastic Pollution by Gerry Lopez

Patagonia surf ambassador, Gerry Lopez, shares a story today about life before single-use plastics. Read on for some rarely seen photos from the early days at G-Land and an opportunity to join the Plastic Pollution Coalition.
 

Gerry at G-Land, sometime in the late ‘70s or early ‘80s. Photo: ©Don Kin

I spent a lot of time surfing a spot in Indonesia called G-Land. Remotely located on the edge of the Alas Purwo National Park, on the southeastern tip of Java, it was, relatively speaking, far from civilization. Actually, as the Indonesian sea eagle flies, it was only about 15 kilometers from the nearest village but with the terrain and local inhabitants in between, it might as well have been a million miles. Residents of that area included the Java tiger, herds of wild boars, the Indonesian wild water buffalo, the Komodo dragon, more deadly snakes than one could shake a stick at… well, I often wondered what I was doing out there with no more protection than a few surfboards.

“Early G-Land surf camp. Mike Boyum in gravity boots, Sparky Longley squatting down next to girl, me laying on the cooler getting rolfed by Rick Sword, Japanese surfer Yasunori Kakai in background.” Photo: ©Dick Hoole

In the mid to late 1970s, we were permitted to build a temporary camp with some bamboo tree houses and a shack to cook in. The lack of human presence made the beaches – the only area we frequented – absolutely pristine. We brought our drinking water in glass bottles, the only containers available at that time. We dug latrines out in the jungle and burned all of our garbage. When the coming of the monsoons heralded the end of the surf season, we left.

When we returned the next year, it was like no one had ever been there. One time, we discovered a mound of rubber slippers in a little nook of one of the rocky sections along the shore. Except for some broken pieces of wood that could have been part of a boat or some huge teak log with sawn ends, there was nothing else to indicate the hand of man. The wood we salvaged to use for our camp, and the slippers came in handy to walk out on the exposed reef if we got too impatient to wait for the high tide to come in. I remember how, back in Bali, instead of using tape to secure a package, tied coconut leaves or vines served the purpose. The natural functioning and simplicity of the G-Land camping made me endeavor to leave as few tracks and as small a wake as possible, in a figurative way of living.

“Surfboards were the foundation of our existence out there in the jungle and we handled them with love and devotion. My brother Victor and I compare our equipment.” Photo: ©Don King

“Dinner was serious business. We ate when there was food and went hungry when there wasn’t, but the surf was always a feast. Peter McCabe and I about to lick our plates.” Photo: ©Don King

We enjoyed that simplistic surf-camp lifestyle for about three more seasons. Then one year, the water came in plastic bottles, not the glass ones anymore. In the ferry towns of Banyuwangi and Gilimanuk on the Bali side, we noticed that food sold to those awaiting the ferries, previously wrapped in banana leaf, now came in plastic bags. When we got to the fishing village of Grajagan, we saw the shoreline littered with plastic garbage. A fishing boat dropped us ashore on the far side of the bay and, at first, it looked as though the area around our surf camp was as devoid of humanity as ever. Later on, when we walked further up the beach to paddle out to the break, where the high tide swirled the flotsam and jetsam, we hung our heads in shame. By nautical definition, flotsam is the floating wreckage or cargo of a ship; jetsam is something jettisoned to lighten a ship’s load. Either would seem to have a place washed ashore on this Robinson Crusoe-like beach but what we found was neither. Instead, it was simply trash, almost entirely of plastic packaging of some sort. Clear or colored, it seemed infinitely more dirty and unwelcome than the rubber slippers from season’s past. When we asked our camp boys to help us gather this rubbish and burn it, they looked at us as if we had completely lost our minds.

“Coming in from surfing all day we were hungry, thirsty and tired, and the camp was an oasis where we could just let it all hang out.” Photo: ©Don King

The splendid waves of G-Land never seemed to change and we enjoyed surfing them over the next 20 years. It was a surf paradise beyond compare. And it opened my eyes to how quickly an absolutely pristine, totally natural place can become a mess. Plastic is a problem for all of us. It creates toxic pollution during its manufacture, use and disposal. Recycling is not a solution, every bit of plastic made, still exists. Join the Plastic Pollution Coalition and learn about this epidemic. Maybe it’s not too late.

Gerry has lent his voice to the Plastic Pollution Coalition’s mission to bring awareness to the growing problem of single-use plastics, as has acclaimed surf writer, Drew Kampion. Here’s Drew with a rembrance of his own and an invitation for you to join the movement.

 Dear Friend,

Do you remember life before plastic? Before plastic bags and bottles, and the thousands of other objects that are squeezed or molded into all the familiar shapes and colors that now surround us and define and litter so much of our modern world?

I remember walking along the beaches of windward O’ahu in the late 1960s, combing the meandering line of the last high tide for puka shells and interesting pieces of smooth twisted wood, for worn bits of colored glass and pitted chunks of white coral. Now you walk that same beach and it’s rimmed with a nasty lace of plastic detritus.

Above, Gerry Lopez recalled how it was and how it is. We hope you’ll be inspired to tell a story of your own about this great turning point in the way things are. We hope that imagining how it was will help mobilize awareness and energy for putting this genie back in the bottle.

We’re looking for your personal before-and-after story — a glimpse into how your world was before plastic and how you first came to realize that something big had changed. Can be long, can be short, must be true.

1. Email your stories to: story@plasticpollutioncoalition.org
2. Take the pledge to REFUSE single-use plastics
3. Join the Plastic Pollution Coalition

Thanks!
Drew Kampion for the Plastic Pollution Coalition

In this Plastic Pollution Coalition video, Patagonia surf ambassadors, Chris andKeith Malloy, share what they’ve witnessed after years of traveling the globe in search of good waves.

This is a challenge all of us must face on a daily basis. Dianna Cohen, Creative Director for the Plastic Pollution Coalition, has some advice on how to get started: “We can help solve this problem. Refuse single-use and disposable plastics everyday; bring your own canvas bag and reusable water bottle.” 

You can support the efforts of the Plastic Pollution Coalition by becoming a member (members get an organic-cotton canvas tote) and following them onFacebook and Twitter.

[With thanks to Don King and Dick Hoole for sharing their photos with us.]

Slater @ Fiji

Quote of the Day: " Environmentally responsible design should be like dark chocolate"

Paola Antonelli, Critic and curator at the MoMA, on the state of green design: http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/quote-day-environmentally-responsible-design-should-be-dark-chocolate.html

Surfing For Change!

Check out some of Kyle's work!

OkGo - Last Leaf Official Trailer...

Great song, but its the animation by Geoff McFetridge from http://championdontstop.com/site3/champ.html
who also is responsible for the Patagonia Flying Fish and LIVE SIMPLY concepts that makes it...

Enjoy!

Ban the (single use plastic) Bottle...

Our friends and fellow 1% For The Planet members, Volcom have a blog devoted to The New Future, which looks a lot different than today’s future. It is Cleaner, more Conscious, more Renewable, more Efficient, more Regenerative, more Sustainable and Less Impactful. worth checking out http://newfuture.volcom.com/

Here's an example of a post

Sweet Grass

Just had to play this after the combo surf/snowboard post a few back...

Best Wipeouts of 2011...

Got to be many of the best wipeouts of all time...

Highlights from Winter X Games 2012..

Shaun White scores a perfect 100 AND five-peats, both Winter X Game firsts!


Replays of Heath Frisby landing the first front flip ever.


Relive the top moments of Winter X Games Aspen 2012.

THE HUMAN ELEMENT...

PLASTICS IN THE OCEAN = PLASTICS IN YOU.

More and more, the issue of oceanic plastic pollution is becoming a mainstream concern and the creative around the issue is becoming more and more audacious. Some of the most provocative PSAs are being produced by The Surfrider Foundation in Australia.  Check these ads out, and please tell us what you think about them in the comments below or on our facebook fan page.  Too shocking? Awesome? Should there be more information on what you can do help the problem?  How does this make you feel?