Bon Voyage Dinner

After a week in my condo with a dozen bottles of Barefoot Wine, I had plenty of bottles left to have a happy hour gathering at my place. And my last night in town seemed the perfect opportunity to do that. And finally, after a week out here, I got a chance to meet some of the most important people that were responsible for getting me out here.

I had just gotten home from Huntington and the beach clean up with Kitty, when Laura and Matt came by to set up. While they were preparing for our guests, I was busy trying to clean up my mess from the past week. I pretty much threw everything into my bedroom and shut the door. A few minutes after all the prep was done, Tanvee from Barefoot Wines and Marieke from Hunter Public Relations, the PR firm that works with Barefoot and Surfrider arrived. Since Barefoot Wines was the unbelievably generous sponsor that 'foot' the bill for getting me out there I was excited to tell Tanvee and Marieke about all my experiences in San Clemente.

After a few glasses of Barefoot Bubbly and some appetizers, we headed down to the White Horse, a restaurant less than a minute walk from my place. I knew then that I was going to miss being able to walk 500 feet to the ocean once I got back to Buffalo. Despite that I figured I would make the most of my Farewell dinner and my great company.

I've dabbled in a lot of seafood before I arrived in California but I'm always open to new foods. I never ate a lot of seafood as a kid, and I think my girlfriend has only gotten me to enjoy sushi in the past few months, but I was determined to try something different for my last dinner. So I went for Prawns. What's a prawn you might ask. Well, I think it seems to be a mix between a shrimp and a lobster, kind of a like a cray fish or craw dad. Basically some kind of little crustacean. Either way it was great. As was the wine that went with dinner. As was my entire week.

Find the Weirdest Trash, Win a Prize

I couldn't think of a better way to spend my last day that a drive up to Huntington Beach and spend the day at the beach. Not surfing or laying around, but volunteering at a beach cleanup. There is something rejuvenating and refreshing about watching the energy and enthusiasm of volunteers.
Although I was about 45 minutes late, thanks to the bumper to bumper traffic in Laguna Beach, I did make before the volunteers arrived. When I arrived at Bolsa Chica State Park, I was supposed to meet up with one of the most active members of the Huntington Beach/Seal Beach Chapter, Kitty. I saw the Surfrider tent and sure enough there was a Kitty. Full of energy, ready to clean, and psyched to have me there, Kitty is part of the resurgence of action on the Huntington beaches. While her chapter sets up five beach clean ups a month, today's clean up was specifically with a group of middle school kids from South Pasadena. The clean up would only be part of their field trip to the beach. But it would hopefully be the most rewarding.
When the buses unloaded, Kitty and I were all set for the kids. We handed out bags, gloves, and their seemed to be mixed emotions amongst the kids. But once Kitty mentioned prizes, their eyes and ears seemed to perk up. For anyone who found anything weird or unique, a special prize awaited. The kids instantly ran off and got to work.

The kids came back over an hour later with bags full of plastic, bottles, and plates. And a soccer ball, a bone, what looked like part of a boat, and some other random things. After the clean up, Kitty lead a talk about the importance of taking care of beaches, recycling plastics, and other user friendly ideas for kids to help the environment. Creating a connection with the water and the beach for these kids will hopefully grow into a lifelong bond.
While the kids were off cleaning, Kitty and I talked about Surfrider, the Trestles campaign, and all kinds of things. Periodically, people would stop by and ask what we were doing. In addition to telling them about the clean up, Kitty had to two petitions there for interested individuals to sign. All afternoon we didn't have one person that did not sign the petition opposing the toll road that would run through San Ofore State Park. Also, we had tons of support for a petition to ban the use of plastic grocery bags in the city of Huntington Beach. I'm used to reusable bags being encouraged, but no one at home is considering a legal, city wide ban on them. How awesome is that though.
As I drove back to my condo for one of the last times, I thought about the lessons to be learned today. The whole event was set up and run by a volunteer, Kitty. It is really the dedication of volunteers that make Surfrider, and many other similar organizations, as powerful as they are. The key to making any real successful steps in our society's efforts to protect the environment is the inclusion of regular citizens. Involving residents and people in cleanups and educating them on issues like coastal development is essential to have campaigns that start from the ground up. Creating a strong and viable movement is much easier and legitimate when the grassroots activists bring up the issue, instead of the other way around. Too many times, a struggle is discovered and an organization has to try to rally people around it. Building a strong network of involved citizens could reverse this.

Reflection

After I ate some fish tacos at Pedro's on the ride home from Trestles, I thought about the battle to save this break, the park, and, when you really get down to it, the soul of Southern California. As Bryson and I walked the 20 minute walk down to the beach, you could tell this was different from your average beach in Southern California. First of all, once you get past the highway, you don't see a house, car, or pavement beyond the path. While I've only been in Orange County for less than a week, an opportunity to take a walk amongst some trees seems to be a rarity. I couldn't see any condos, mansions, or shopping malls.

The walk to Trestles and the beach itself is within San Onofre State Park. Putting a toll road through a park starts the slide down a serious slippery slope. If they can put a road through a formerly preserved area, opening it up to new development, where else could they do it?

I ended last night with dinner at a San Clemente restaurant Beachfire with Matt from Surfrider. When I asked what was good, Matt said everything. I went for the 'panko crusted halibut'.Pan seared fresh Alaskan halibut with a panko crust and jalapeño buerre blanc, roasted garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed vegetables. Not sure what panko crust or buerre blanc is? Don't worry, neither did it. But it was absolutely great. Great way to end a great day.

Want a free bar of wax? Take our survey

The first time I had learned about the fight to save Trestles was three years ago, on my first visit to San Clemente. At that time, I had been surfing (or what my two friends and I liked to call surfing) for about a month. I had no idea where Trestles was or what Trestles even was. But I was immediately attracted to Surfrider's ground-up, grassroots public awareness campaign. Seeing stickers and shirts everywhere caught my attention. Through Surfrider's website and newsletter, Making Waves, I was able to stay on top of the battle. Today, I was able to join fellow Surfrider intern Bryson at the famous surf break personally.

The goal of our trip to Trestles was to gather more data for Chad's research of the economic impact of surfers through in person, face to face surveys. Chad's prior research and analysis were drawn from online surveys from Surfrider members and any individual who chose to take the survey while on Surfline, a website that features surf conditions and forecasts. The online survey, while providing tons of valuable information, does have several limitations. For example, only individuals with access to a computer and the Internet can fill out the survey. Chad and his research team have decided to fill these gaps and gather new information with the in person surveys. At the end of the in person survey period, results will be compared to the online survey results to look for trends and patterns.

So Bryson and I hiked down to the entrance of Trestles and set up camp (shown in picture). Armed with clip boards and a bag of wax, we eventually collected 20 surveys from surfers of all types. (We had to stop at 20 because we ran out of wax) For the most part, surfers were cooperative, unless they were in a hurry. Many people were more than willing to talk to us about where they came from, where they live, what kind of spending (shopping, eating/drinking, rental, etc.) they would doing in San Clemente today, and what the household size and income is like. It's hard to assume any trends from my limited experience with the survey but I check Chad's blog frequently to see the results.

A long way from home...

Paddle, paddle, paddle, paddle.....

Oh man, Surfrider BBQ at San Onfre tonight. Nice longboard wave, good long ride. Yeah, if I could get to them. Maybe its the past four days of surfing everyday, the fact that my arms are out of shape, or it was just a rough day out there but I am beat. But hey, I got out there and gave it all I had. It was good having Surfrider tech guy Alan out there feeling my pain of the continual paddle. Especially when Jim or Mike cruised right by us. No pictures of me surfing out there. It wasn't pretty. At least now I can relax with a nice, cool beer on the patio.

Trestles survey work tomorrow. Hopefully word doesn't get out to them about my surfing last night.

California Coastal Commission & Desalination

You might be asking yourself "Why would a guy from the a city on the shore of the Lake Erie, part of the largest freshwater system in the world, be so excited about going to a public hearing on a desalination plant in Southern California"? What does this have to do at all with an environmentalist's work in the Great Lakes? Well, in short, it has everything to do with the Great Lakes, our water, and our future.

This morning's California Coastal Commission hearing (featured in picture) dealt with the findings and conditions of an approved desalination plant in Carlsbad, CA. The desal plant was approved at the Commission's meeting in November. While many people anxiously await the construction and opening of this desalination plant to help out their communities during a state wide drought, some environmental groups and leaders have concerns.

From an outsider's prospective, the proposition of desalination plant is pretty wild. For thousands of years, humans have not drank ocean water. For thousands of years, humans did not create large unsustainable communities in desert climates. In the past few decades, both of these events are occurring in our world and right here in Southern California. A true coastal desert, the water demands of this continually growing region are becoming harder and harder to meet.

So what is to be done?

There are a few options. First of all, stop growing. Stop building new developments. But that is a different discussion for a different day. Second of all, find new ways to more efficiently use the water that Southern California currently has access to. While I did hear a public service announcement on the radio about water conservation, more steps need to be taken. One public commenter at the meeting complained about higher water rates, even though they are getting less water. But that same commenter did not mention that they chose to live in an arid climate. Cheap water is not an undeniable right. It is a privilege of areas that have plentiful water.

Another option is wastewater reclamation, or recycling. While public opinion of such projects is mixed, recycled wastewater can actually become cleaner than public drinking water that currently comes out of taps. Recycled water is cleaned and filtered to a very high standard. And if not for drinking, reclaimed water can be used for many other purposes (like watering lawns and other landscaping).

But instead, the California Coastal Commission approved a desalination. An expensive, energy intensive process that may or may not reduce the amount of water Southern California takes from their current water suppliers like the Colorado River. Will this reduce Southern California's dependence on the already over tapped Colorado River? Or will it simply make more water available for new developments to tap into? The picture to the left is the proposed location of the desal plant, next to the Encina Power Station at the Agua Hedionda Lagoon.

All of these initial thoughts came to me as I thought about desal. Today's hearing was actually on two specific parts of the desalination plants' processes: greenhouse gas emissions and wildlife impact. While I was only able to stay for the morning, the hearing went on all day, with a decision being made on at the end of the day. Surfrider staff was on hand to comment on both conditions as were other environmental groups like the Sierra Club and the San Diego Coastkeeper. These groups had to put aside their feelings about the project as a whole and focus on the specifics: keeping the future plant held to the approved California greenhouse emission standards and minimizing the impact of the plant on ocean ecosystems. This will definitely be something I will try to stay on top of when I get back to Buffalo.

After all that, you might still wonder what any of this has to do with the Great Lakes. Diversion proposals from the Lakes are not new or uncommon. And I know many people feel that the Lakes, like lots of natural resources, are inexhaustible. In reality, however, the Great Lakes recharge at a rate of only 1% a year. (The water in Lake Superior itself takes hundreds of years to flow through). Currently, Congress is hopefully in the process of passing the Great Lakes St Lawrence River Water Resources Compact, an agreement amongst the eight Great Lakes states to prevent large scale out of basin water withdrawals. Our hope is that it will pass as quickly as possible.

The lesson to be learned from all of this? There are a lot of thirsty communities out there in our country. And while out of control forest fires are devastating and the financial and emotional loses the cause are terrible, if communities continue to unsustainably expand in arid climates, they may continue. And if they continue to grow, water is going to have come from somewhere, whether its converting salt water to drinking water or shipping fresh water from the Great Lakes thousands of miles away.

Dana Strands and a long walk up from the beach

After Rick and I finished mourning the loss of Killer Dana we drove slightly up the coast to look at a more recent coastal development. A luxury, multi-million dollar residential development on the cliffs facing the ocean. When Rick mentioned that this development was one of the last open parcels on the coast in southern California, I remembered thinking earlier how built up the coast was. Everywhere I looked there were rows and rows of condo and multimillion dollar homes. And they just went all the way up into the hills.

Rick took me to the new development that was contested by Surfrider and is now under construction. The development required new armored protection against erosion at the base of the cliff on the beach. That was the first issue Surfrider had with the project. Huge stone walls at the base of a cliff may protect the hill for a while, but it prohibits the natural processes of a beach. Naturally, hills slowly eroded and they fill in the beach, slowly moving the beach back. If this natural migration is stopped by huge boulders, the entire beach will eventually erode away and disappear. In time, these new homes will have no beach at all and even less of a buffer against the power of the ocean.

Back in the present time however, there is another pressing issue with this development: public access. Currently, there is only one official public access point to the beaches below the new development. Selva Beach is reached after a long walk down the hill. On one side of the walk is construction, temporary fence, and barbed wire at points. On the other side, a very permanent iron fence to separate the walk from another private development. Not exactly the most inviting walkway. (Picture of actually walkway will be posted later, I forgot my camera when we walked down to the beach. To the right, the picture the developer's Web site has for the walkway to the beach)

On the other end of the development was an official path to beach. The developer has agreed to create an official path down to the beach to replace this unofficial walkway, as well as another through the middle of the development. Unfortunately, when Rick and I drove to look at the development from that spot, we were quickly forced to leave by a private security guard. While I realize he was just doing his job, I hoped it wasn't a sign of things to come.

The area on the hill sloping to the ocean is where the development is being constructed. This picture, from the developer's Web site, somehow doesn't seem to feature the construction or what the hill will look like with the new homes.