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| Successful Holiday Party! |
| What a wonderful holiday party! The evening included a quick recap of what our chapter accomplished this year, a fun game of bingo with lots of prizes, and a social hour full of laughter! A huge thank you to Burke Gilman Brewing for hosting our event! Another thank you to Marlin Ray and Oceans Unmanned for supporting our cause with great prizes! And lastly, thank you to everyone who was able to make it out! |
| Plastic Free Holiday Gift Ideas |
| With the holidays in full swing, it's even more crucial to think about your plastic impact. Whether it's decorating, dining out, or giving gifts, there are plenty of ways to make all of these activities more sustainable. From repurposing decorations, eating at Ocean Friendly Restaurants, hand making your gifts, or shopping local, you can find more ideas and info here. |
| Year in Review |
| by Drew Albenze (Chair) |
| Hello friends and ocean activists, As the end of 2021 approaches, we take a moment to reflect upon the year and look back at the year's successes, legislative victories, and fun times. Just like most, we started this year with a sense of hope, energy, urgency–and a fair amount of uncertainty. We began the year by rallying around two legislative bills that were moving through the WA state capitol in the winter / spring. Both of these important bills, SB 5022 (recycling bill) and SB 5145 (seabed mining), passed both houses of the WA legislature and were signed by Gov. Inslee. The passage of SB 5022 provides an expanded polystyrene ban, minimum percentage of recycled material on many common household plastic packaged products, and take out utensils on request only. SB 5145 restricts seabed mining and protects our delicate marine ecosystems off the coast of WA. To top off the good news from Olympia, we also celebrated the implementation of the WA state plastic bag ban earlier this year! Nationally, representatives from the Seattle chapter attended Hill Lobby Day and met virtually with our representatives working in DC. Our focus nationally remains the Break Free From Plastics Act and the Ocean Based Climate Solutions Act. As our lobbying efforts wound down for the summer, we began to plan our first in person event in over a year! Much like many of you, we were both anxious and thrilled to see our friends, partners, and supporters' faces in person at our first Clean & Cruise event in July! It was a perfect day; we cleaned the beach at Seward Park and went for a community paddle. We followed this success with an August in-person chapter meeting at Burke Gilman Brewing. Our second Clean & Cruise event took place in September at Golden Gardens. We finished our beach clean up series on the “island” of West Seattle. Online, we hosted short, ocean-themed film screenings in February and screened Voice Above Water with special guest Director Dana Franko joining us for a post-film Q&A at our October virtual chapter meeting. Also in October, the Executive Committee attended the Surfrider Cascadia Conference. While we were not able to all meet in person, we found plenty of virtual time to connect with friends from chapters throughout WA, OR, and BC. We shared stories, plans, and ideas as well as a much-needed dance party! Looking back on 2021, one thing is clear – while we all continue to live with much uncertainty due to the pandemic, we know our community is strong, resilient, and ready to defend our oceans, waves, and beaches. A big giant thank you to all who attended and volunteered at our events, sent us messages, and helped us spread the news of our work. As an all-volunteer chapter, we truly and deeply appreciate our supporting members, friends, and partners. We hope that all can find a space with us if they desire. Moving into 2022, there is much work to continue. We hope to expand our Clean & Cruise program, continue lobbying opportunities, and grow our Ocean Friendly Restaurant program, and much more. To that end, we are always looking for volunteers who share our passion. Join us at a beach clean up or chapter meeting….we are looking for the next set of local chapter leaders for our executive committee, too! Thank you and we look forward to seeing you next year! |
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| Membership Drive |
| A friendly reminder to renew your Surfrider Membership through the Seattle Chapter page. Or become a member if you aren't already! The Seattle Chapter page is here. Members are people who contribute one gift of $25 or more per year. By becoming a member, Surfrider will continue to build its collective voice at the local, state and federal level. Join our network and help us tackle the issues that face our ocean, waves and beaches. Beyond making lasting protections for our ocean and coasts, you will receive membership benefits beginning at the $25 level with a membership card, decal and discount to the Surfrider online store. |