Monday, October 26, 2009

Part 1 of 2; Tree and Shrub Planting Between Marias and Indicators

This past weekend more than 20 volunteers came out to help plant shrubs and trees around the coastal area of Playa Marias. This initiative is a part of our "Sea to Summit" campaign working towards habitat and coastal restoration. Check out the video slideshow below.



Part two of this series will take place on Saturday November 7th from 8 am to noon. We will meet between Marias and Indicators.



A special thanks to Jim Westfall for providing the art.


This work is being done in collaboration with the Department of Natural Resources, the Municipality of Rincon, and HC Wooden Pallets, Inc. We would like to thank them for their generosity in helping in this effort.

Please bring yard tools: shovels, rakes, machetes, and weed wackers. Water will be provided.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Part 1 of 2; Tree and Shrub Planting Between Marias and Indicators

This Saturday, October 24th, at 9am at Playa Marias.

Surfrider Foundation Rincon in collaboration with the Department of Natural Resources, the Municipality of Rincon, and HC Wooden Pallets, Inc. will be planting shrubs and trees from Playa Marias to Indicators. The event will begin at 9 am at Playa Marias. Please bring yard tools: shovels, rakes, machetes, and weed wackers. Water will be provided.



A special thanks to Jim Westfall for providing the art.

The second part of this series will take place on Saturday November 7th. This initiative is a part of our "Sea to Summit" campaign working towards habitat restoration.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Part 1 of 2; 12 new Trash Barrels from Domes to Steps

Below is a slideshow from last Saturday's work installing 12 trash cans from Domes to Steps. Twelve more will be installed in the near future: 4 at the Black Eagle Marina, 2 at Corcega beach (site to be determined), 4 at Parking lots, and 2 more to be determined. If you have a suggestion on an area please let us know. Contact us at salvatrespalmas@surfrider.org




This work is a part of our "Sea to Summit" campaign. The materials were funded by Surf 787 Surf School and Surfrider Foundation Rincon.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

EcoRock at UPRM

October 22nd, 2009 at UPRM at 7 pm click here for an overview of the event

On October 24th, 2009, people all around the world will be gathering together to raise awareness about lowering the present amount of CO2 in the atmosphere from 387 parts per million (ppm) to 350 ppm to insure a safer climate for the world. Below is a video about this mission.



On October 22nd, Campus Verde from the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez will be holding an event called EcoRock. This event is being done to promote the International Day of Climate Action (October 24th)to raise awareness about was to reduce your carbon footprint and help lower the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere.

Below is some text taken from 350.org.

What does the number 350 mean?

350 is the most important number in the world—it's what scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Two years ago, after leading climatologists observed rapid ice melt in the Arctic and other frightening signs of climate change, they issued a series of studies showing that the planet faced both human and natural disaster if atmospheric concentrations of CO2 remained above 350 parts per million.

Everyone from Al Gore to the U.N.’s top climate scientist has now embraced this goal as necessary for stabilizing the planet and preventing complete disaster. Now the trick is getting our leaders to pay attention and craft policies that will put the world on track to get to 350.
Is 350 scientifically possible?

Right now, mostly because we’ve burned so much fossil fuel, the atmospheric concentration of co2 is 390 ppm—that’s way too high, and it’s why ice is melting, drought is spreading, forests are dying. To bring that number down, the first task is to stop putting more carbon into the atmosphere. That means a very fast transition to sun and wind and other renewable forms of power. If we can stop pouring more carbon into the atmosphere, then forests and oceans will slowly suck some of it out of the air and return us to safe levels.
Is 350 politically possible?

It’s very hard. It means switching off fossil fuel much more quickly than governments and corporations have been planning. Our best chance to speed up that process will come in December in Copenhagen, when the world’s nations meet to agree on a new climate treaty. Right now, they’re not planning to do enough. But we can change that—if we mobilize the world to swift and bold climate action, which is what we're planning to do on October 24th.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

"The Edge of the Sea" film

"The Edge of The Sea" is a 26 minute documentary film that tells of a group of fishermen and their fight to stop a mega development that would privatize one of the last untouched beaches in the west coast of Puerto Rico. Check out the trailer below.

Produced and Directed by Maria Jose Calderon

Camera and Sound: Molly Snyder-Fink

Music by Melvin López, "Mijo de la Palma"

Production Assistant: Oliver Bencosme



Sunday, October 4, 2009

Installation of New Trash Barrels

Part I: 12 new trash barrels from Domes to Steps

As part of an initiative of our "Sea to Summit" campaign Surfrider Foundation Rincon will be working with local community activists and members to install 12 new trash barrels from Domes to Steps. The materials were funded by Surf 787 Surf School and Surfrider Foundation Rincon. This is the first part of a two part series. This coming weekend, October 10th 2009, anyone who wishes to help in the installation of 12 trash barrels needs to meet at Playa Domes at 8am.

We need people to drive to other sites so we can simultaneously install the barrels and complete the work in less time. Types of tools that we need volunteers to bring include: Cordless power drill with various large drill bits, post hole diggers, 5 gallon bucket for mixing cement, cameras, sunblock, water, and shovels.

Below is an image of where the first 12 trash barrels will be installed. DRNA Aquadilla gave us permission to do this work.


Below is an example of what they will look like with an estimation of the scale.



This work is support by the Municipality of Rincon


9 Ways We Can Save the Ocean, and Save Ourselves

After all, it covers three-quarters of the planet...


By Mickey Z.
Astoria, NY, USA | Thu Jul 16 17:29:00 GMT 2009

Peter Benchley, author of Jaws, and a man who knew a thing or two about oceans, once said: "If we kill everything in the ocean, and if we pollute the ocean to a point where it can't sustain life, we're committing suicide." Perhaps the most important aspect of Benchley's warning is his use of the word "we." Over 40% of the world's oceans are heavily impacted by human activities with few areas—if any—left unaffected by anthropogenic factors. This means we humans—and what we deem civilization—have played a major role in the despoiling of the earth's oceans. It's not some unstoppable force of nature or preordained theology that 90% of the large fish are gone or that the world's worst polluter is the U.S. Department of Defense. Human decisions have led us to where we are now and new human decisions are needed to forge a new, more logical and compassionate path. After all, the health of the ocean reflects the health of the planet. David McNew/Getty Images

Did you know that 80% of all life on Earth is found in the oceans and those same maltreated oceans provide vital sources of protein, energy, and minerals? To that, the folks at Greenpeace add: "The rolling of the sea across the planet creates over half our oxygen, drives weather systems and natural flows of energy and nutrients around the world, transports water masses many times greater than all the rivers on land combined, and keeps the Earth habitable. Without the global ocean there would be no life on Earth."

9 Ways We Can Save the Ocean, and Save Ourselves

1. Save the whales:

Since 5000 B.C., humans have seen fit to hunt these magnificent marine mammals. The results, predictably, have been disastrous for whales and the ocean. Greenpeace reports: "The blue whales of the Antarctic are at less than 1 percent of their original abundance, despite 40 years of complete protection.” Sure, the phrase "save the whales" may sound like punch line but unless we take action, this is no joke. Any creature as large as a whale plays a large role in the delicate balance of the ocean food chain. When that balance is upset, the impact hits us all. Whale eat zooplankton, zooplankton eat phytoplankton, phytoplankton remove carbon from the atmosphere, we have too much carbon in the atmosphere. If whales don't eat zooplankton (because they don't exist) we'll have overgrowth and lose our essential carbon cleaning phytoplankton. See how it's all connected?

2. Save the sharks, too:

As reported by the Humane Society International, between 50 and 100 million sharks are killed each year around the world. Many of these sharks are unintended "by-catch" by vessels fishing for high-value species such as swordfish and tuna, but every year, millions of sharks are increasingly a target for their fins. Sharks may not be the most lovable creature in the oceans, but they need our help. Without such top-of-food-chain predators the ocean's balance cannot exist.

3. Say no to drilling:

Among many other problems, offshore drilling results in a wide range of health and reproductive problems for fish and other marine life, exposes wildlife to the threat of oil spills, and destroys kelp beds, reefs, and coastal wetlands. Let's step up, folks, this is our fight, too.

4. Offer reef relief:

"Coral reefs are made predominantly of stony corals and supported by the limestone skeleton they excrete,” says Jennifer Horton of HowStuffWorks.com. "These rainforests of the sea are home to a quarter of all marine fish species. In addition to the variety of marine life they support, coral reefs are also immensely beneficial to humans, buffeting coastal regions from strong waves and storms, providing millions of people with food and jobs and prompting advances in modern medicine." All too predictably, human behavior is their biggest threat and 70 percent of coral reefs may be gone in less than 40 years if the present rate of destruction continues. To help conjure up solutions, educate yourself and get involved now.

5. Reduce your carbon footprint:

Yep, whether it's ocean acidification or disappearing kelp forest or sea level rise, climate change is a player and therefore all the same suggestions hold true. Until we lower our carbon footprint, real change is not possible.

6. No more plastic bottles:

The planet's largest landfill is floating in the North Pacific Ocean. Thanks to swirling ocean currents, much of the world's trash has accumulated into this part of the Pacific Ocean. How much trash? According to HowStuffWorks.com, every square mile of ocean hosts 46,000 pieces of floating plastic and plastic constitutes 90% of all trash floating in the world's oceans. Step one: Kick the plastic bottle habit.

7. Practice green surfing:

Surfing—unlike, say, motor boats and jet skis—requires the participant to commune with the ocean and trust its power. Even so, like everything else, it could be greener. Listen to the folks at GreenSurf.org: "Traveling to surf can produce a lot of CO2 emissions, and this is what's driving global warming, which spells big trouble for our ocean environments and surf spots." Their answer is the CarbonFree Surfing program, which allows you dudes and dudettes "to calculate the CO2 footprint of your next surf trip, and then to offset it's climate impact with an online donation (tax deductible) that supports the purchase of CO2 offsets, from climate-friendly projects like reforestation in Nicaragua or even clean power from renewable power projects." Perhaps the best place to learn about the green surfing movement is the Surfrider Foundation.

8. Be kind to your beach:

We humans love the beach but that doesn't mean we're always kind to the beach. Our indifference can result in beach erosion and widespread pollution. Don't litter, don't leave trash at the beach, don't use the beach as a toilet, and get involved in beach clean-up.

Erik Snyder/Getty Images


9. Cut back on fish, eat sustainable fish, or quit eating fish completely:

Overfishing is a huge component of the ocean's decline. Those opting for a vegan diet have already eliminated the justification for destructive practices like trawling. The equation couldn't be any simpler: if humans choose to not eat fish, or choose sustainable fish in moderate quantities, the ocean's fish population will have a chance to return. In addition, show some support for the Greenpeace plan to protect 40% of the world's oceans as Marine Reserves.