Last year a supermajority of voters in Key West passed three ballot initiatives restricting the size and capacity of cruise ships utilizing their municipal port, and giving priority to ships with the best environmental and health records. The referendums were driven by concerns over water quality and the impact of cruise ships on the area’s imperiled and irreplaceable coral reefs. The Florida Keys are home to the world's third-largest barrier reef and an ecosystem so fragile that it is designated a State Area of Critical Concern. For decades, local anglers, divers, and recreators have observed the negative water quality impacts from massive cruise ships in Key West. The ship channel runs directly through the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and in the immediate vicinity of some of the most sensitive ecological preserves in the hemisphere, including the Key West National Wildlife Refuge. 

Unfortunately, the Florida Legislature is moving to undo the deliberative and democratic efforts of Key West citizens. House Bill 267 (Rep. Roach) and Senate Bill 426 (Sen. Boyd) seek to overturn the Key West ballot measures. Worse still, the bills would take away the ability of all local communities to regulate their seaports through similar initiatives. Despite major public opposition, the legislation has already passed the Florida Senate and is now headed to the floor of the Florida House of Representatives for final votes.  

We urgently need Floridians to ask their State Representatives to vote NO on HB 267 (SB 246). The Florida Legislature must respect local elections and allow communities to participate in the regulation of their local ports. Please send your email now.

Every year, billions of, utensils, napkins, condiment packets, and other accessories are included in take-out and delivery food orders even if customers don’t want or need them. The waste from these unused accessory items pollutes the planet, threatens human health, and means that restaurants are literally throwing money away.

The solution is simple. Customers need to ask for these items! If you need foodware accessories, you can get them. And if you don’t need them, you can prevent the waste by exercising your right to #SkipTheStuff.

Bill Int 1775B asks restaurants, food delivery apps, and online delivery platforms to provide single use utensils, condiments, and napkins only if requested by the customer. This legislation is simple, saves restaurants money, and reduces unnecessary waste.

Take a few minutes and send a message to your Council Member asking them to support this legislation!

Have you ever wondered if there was an alternative to those tiny hotel toiletry bottles? There is! Hotels can use large, reusable, and refillable containers for products like shampoo, conditioner, and lotion. 

Making such a switch saves hotels money, that’s why Marriott International is already planning to stop using mini bottles, estimating that they will avoid throwing away 500 million such bottles every year.

But most hotels and motels have yet to adopt refillable toiletry containers, so let’s ban them in New York! Bills A5082 and S543 would do just that, taking effect January 1, 2024 for all hotels with more than 50 rooms, and one year later for all smaller hotels. This gives hotels plenty of time to adapt.

Besides wasting shampoo, these bottles are made of plastic, which is made of oil. We are all familiar with the plastic pollution crises happening on our planet, polluting our bodies and our ecosystems. Production of plastic additional contributes to the negative impacts from climate change and disproportionately affects communities of color.

Take a few minutes and send your elect officials a message that it’s just common sense to move to refillable hotel toiletry containers, by banning individual sized bottles. Thank you!

The Surfrider Foundation is working closely with allies in the Capitol to reintroduce bold federal legislation to tackle the plastic pollution crisis. The legislation is entitled the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act. 

Every year, about 11 million metric tons of plastic waste escapes into the ocean from coastal nations. The United States generates the most plastic waste per capita of any country in the world and is among the top contributors to plastic pollution in the coastal environment, either illegally dumped in the U.S. or collected in the U.S. for recycling and exported to countries where it was inadequately managed. This bill recognizes that we cannot recycle our way out of this problem and provides a comprehensive approach to reduce plastic pollution, including policies to reduce unnecessary plastic packaging and shift responsibility to producers, as well as to improve recycling infrastructure.

The reintroduced Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act will:

• Require producers of packaging, containers, and food-service products to design, manage, and finance waste and recycling programs.
• Launch a nationwide beverage container refund program to bolster recycling rates.
• Ban certain single-use plastic products that are not recyclable.
• Ban single-use plastic carryout bags and place a fee on the distribution of the remaining carryout bags, which has proven successful at the state level.
• Establish minimum recycled content requirements for beverage containers, packaging, and food-service products.
• Channel massive investments in U.S. domestic recycling and composting infrastructure.
• Prohibit plastic waste from being shipped to developing countries.
• Protect state and local governments that enact more stringent standards.
• Require EPA to partner with the National Academies of Science to conduct a comprehensive study on the environment and cumulative public health impacts of incinerators and plastic chemical recycling facilities.
• Establish a temporary pause on permitting new and expanded plastic production facilities while the EPA creates and, as necessary, updates regulations on plastic production facilities to protect frontline and fenceline communities from direct and cumulative impacts on public health.

Surfrider Foundation encourages our members and supporters to contact your federal elected officials and urge them to support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act.

The Department of Interior has invited the public to submit written comments on the future of oil and gas leasing on U.S. public lands and waters. Comments received will inform the agency's next steps on energy development and stewardship of public resources. Specifically, it will inform the next 5-year offshore drilling plan which the agency will begin work on later this year.

Please tell the Department that you oppose new oil and gas drilling on public lands and waters!

Fossil fuel development is a dirty and damaging practice that puts our natural environment and human communities at risk. Such development is also an environmental justice issue as communities of color are disproportionately impacted. Finally, new oil and gas leasing will exacerbate the effects of climate change as our nation and world struggle to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Now is the time to demand that our federal government boldly transition away from oil and gas energy sources!

There are so many problems with beach replenishment--from creating dangerous swimming beaches, impacting marine life, damaging recreational resources important to fishing and surfing, to just plain washing away. The whole process is simply unsustainable. Furthermore, beach replenishment projects in NJ have made certain beach access issues worse and created others. We can't just keep throwing money at more and more sand, without thinking of different solutions.

This is exactly what NJ State bills S1071 and A639 plan to do. Right now $25 million a year goes into the "Shore Protection Fund" from the NJ Realty Transfer Taxes; these bills would double that amount to $50 million yearly.

We welcome efforts to make beach replenishment better and to address the problems mentioned above. We also want to see some of the "Shore Protection Fund" go towards buyouts and relocations of vulnerable properties in hazardous areas.

Please take action and tell your NJ State elected officials and the Governor that you don't support throwing more money and sand at our sea level rise problem! Tell them NO on S1071 and A639.

Globally, 33 billion pounds of plastic enter the marine environment every year, devastating the world’s oceans. Plastic does not go away, instead it breaks up into smaller pieces that can be mistaken for food by marine life, often with dire consequences.

Expanded polystyrene, often known as StyrofoamTM, is a form of foamed plastic commonly used for food containers and packaging. This disposable packaging is usually thrown away after a single use and often falls apart easily into smaller pieces that are hard to clean up and can persist in the environment indefinitely. Plastic foam is frequently among the 10 most commonly picked up items at beach cleanups. 

Expanded polystyrene is not accepted in curbside recycling and is not easily recycled. We simply cannot recycle our way out of the plastic crisis — only about nine percent of all plastic ever produced has been recycled. 

Portland, Ashland, Eugene, Lincoln City, and Medford have already passed similar ordinances prohibiting polystyrene in food service, and now it’s time for our state legislature to act.

And there’s no time to lose. Without immediate changes to the way we use plastics the total amount of plastic waste generated is expected to double in the next five years.

By passing the Foam Free Oregon Bill (currently HB 2617), Oregon can lead the way in drastically reducing the production and use of harmful and wasteful single-use foodware and ensure we transition towards more sustainable alternatives for the betterment of our environment and our communities.

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging bills have become the new battleground in the fight to rid our bodies and the environment from the onslaught of plastic pollution. 

EPR for packaging bills attempt to comprehensively address many plastic items that have not been targeted yet, like yogurt cups, chip bags, bread bags, shipping packaging, and much more. While some EPR for packaging bills only cover plastic, New York’s bill addresses all types of packaging including paper, glass, metal, and cardboard.

Another main point about EPR bills is that they switch the financial burden of dealing with the disposal, recycling, and cleanup of these products from local government waste management programs and taxpayers—back onto the manufacturers that produce them.

Forcing the taxpayer to foot the bill for these products is not only unfair, it leads to more waste. Hard or impossible-to-recycle packaging is what we get when manufacturers aren’t incentivized to consider sustainability or the costs of managing waste when designing packaging for their products.

We are asking the New York Legislature to pass Bill S1185B, the Extended Producer Responsibility Act. 

Help us pass this EPR bill in NY! Thank you.

Kenilworth Park, an area of about 130 acres located right on the border of the Anacostia River. For almost 30 years, this tract of land located in DC’s 7th ward was an open-burn landfill site. The harmful smoke it produced would make its way to the communities that surrounded it, a population mainly made up of BIPOC. The injustice reached a tipping point in the late 1960s, when a young boy named Kelvin Tyrone Mock died after accidently getting trapped in its flames when playing with his friends nearby. After this tragic incident D.C.’s mayor at the time ordered the burning to stop, however dumping continued to be a problem even as recently as the late 1990s.

Shortly after burning was halted, a cap of soil was placed on top of the estimated 4 million tons of raw refuse, incinerator ash, and other burned residue located at the site. Athletic fields currently occupy the northern part of the park while the southern part remains undeveloped. Due to the hazardous nature of what the site was before, it is now classified as a superfund site and as such has been under review process outlined in CERCLA. 

The National Park Service (NPS) is working to create a Proposed Plan for the site, which is open to public comment. The NPS found that that exposure to contaminants in surface soils posed an unacceptable excess lifetime cancer risk (above one in one million) to park visitors, primarily due to arsenic, dieldrin, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) Aroclors, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs); and that lead exceeded the screening level in select locations in subsurface soil, posing an unacceptable hazard to site workers. Furthermore, there is an unacceptable risk to excavation workers associated with potential for exposure to contaminants in buried waste, methane gas, and the possible presence of buried unexploded ordnance.

There are five options to determine how to clean-up the park, which include (1) No Action, (2) Limited Action/Institutional Controls, (3) Containment/Selective Placement of Clean Soil Barriers & Institutional Controls, (4) Containment/Site-wide Clean Soil Barrier & Institutional Controls, and (5) Removal/Landfill Removal & Shoreline Stabilization. 

Surfrider is advocating for option number 5 to remove waste and restore wetland habitat, but with some caveats. We want to ensure recreational opportunities such as kayaking, hiking, biking, and more and that the National Parks System listens to the local communities that live near the park - for too long they have suffered the impacts of air pollution and should be front and center when developing the restoration plans. 

Please send a message to the National Parks Service supporting option number 5 while ensuring that local communities are heard.

To the surprise of many, our nation’s beaches and ocean are plagued by spills of raw and under-treated sewage. Much of our wastewater infrastructure is outdated and failing, releasing harmful pollution into our waterways. Raw sewage threatens public health, coastal ecosystems and tourism-based ocean economies. Years of neglect have left our wastewater infrastructure vulnerable, and sea level rise and increasing coastal hazards associated with climate change will only make the situation worse.

Join Surfrider in calling on congress to allocate $100 billion ($10 billion annually over 10 years) for the Clean Water SRF.

EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) provides assistance to states and local communities for wastewater infrastructure improvement projects, including green stormwater projects and necessary upgrades. However the Clean Water SRF hasn’t been properly funded for decades, despite the well-established economic returns and stimulus that occur from investing in America’s water infrastructure (every $1 in water infrastructure investment results in $2.40 of economic returns). 

A potential reconciliation bill, such as an economic stimulus infrastructure package, provide an important opportunity to catch up with the sewage infrastructure needs of our growing communities across the country, enhance infrastructure resilience for the future, better protect clean water for all people, and provide a much needed boost to our local economies.

In the U.S., billions of unused foodware accessories including utensils, straws, and condiment packets are tossed away annually. This “zero-use” trash clogs landfills, pollutes our streets and waterways, and adds to the global glut of non-recyclable plastic production.   

Restaurants currently offer foodware accessories regardless of request, when many customers already have their own reusable utensils, straws and condiments at home. Moving to an on-request model reduces waste and ultimately saves businesses money: it is a win-win-win for establishments, their patrons and our communities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased reliance on food delivery and takeout and thereby increased the use of single-use items. In light of pandemic mandates, restaurants are depending on to-go and delivery options to survive, and the amount of single-use foodware and, according to an estimate by the International Waste Association, the amount of accessory items wasted has skyrocketed by approximately 250-300%.   

Additionally, Coastal Cleanup Month data shows that in September 2020 in LA County, volunteers collected and recorded over 40,000 pieces of trash to total 4,320 pounds. This data shows an increase in food delivery and takeout waste, with foodware accessories the fourth most commonly found item and takeout containers the fifth.

Join Surfrider Foundation LA and South Bay Chapters in demanding that the City of Los Angeles enact a Foodware Accessories Upon Request Ordinance which will reduce a major source of pollution while saving local businesses money in the long run.

(This action alert is available only for City of Los Angeles residents.)

Help Surfrider's Delaware Chapter pass Delaware State Bill SB24, which would ban the intentional release of balloons in Delaware!

California, Florida, and many municipalities have passed similar legislation.

Most people don't think about what happens to a balloon after it is released, but what goes up, must come down. Often balloons end up in our oceans, where they can choke marine life like turtles and whales who mistake them for food, or animals can get tangled in the ribbon.

We aren't talking about a child accidentally releasing a balloon. We want to ban the act of releasing a bunch of balloons on purpose, which often happens at special events like memorials and weddings. 

Please take two minutes and send a message to your elected officials and Governor Carney. Fill in your information to the right, then click the button that says "Next Step." Then click "Send My Message."

Let's stop this senseless littering in our oceans! 

Photo Credit: Ann Richardson

During 2020, the climate crisis unleashed wildfires, hurricanes, severe rains, oppressive heat waves and unusual weather that caused massive damage across the world. Our global society can no longer ignore the existential threat of climate change, especially as sea level rise and extreme weather continue to devastate coastal communities — taking both an emotional and economic toll. 

That is why citizens across the U.S. are demanding Congress enacts climate change policies that protect the ocean, coasts and local communities before it's too late!

Specifically, we need Congress to pass Ocean Climate Solutions legislation that can leverage the ocean’s potential in the fight against climate change by permanently protecting our coasts from offshore drilling, promoting offshore renewable energy, helping communities adapt to sea level rise, protecting blue carbon, supporting climate-ready fisheries, and expanding marine protected areas.

Please send a message to your representatives and demand that they act on climate change by supporting Ocean Climate Solutions legislation. 

Help the Virginia Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation pass House Bill 1902, which would ban the use of expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam (commonly known as Styrofoam™) food containers by July 1, 2025. This includes foam cups and "clamshells". Bills similar to HB 1902 have passed in more than 150 municipalities in the US, as well as statewide bills in Maryland, New York, Vermont, New Jersey, and Maine.

EPS foam is part of the deluge of plastic pollution that is contaminating natural areas and threatening human health in Virginia. Plastics have now been found in our air, water, and in our bodies. EPS foam is consistently one of the top ten items found in beach clean ups.

HB 1902 allows five years for small businesses in the state to comply with the ban on EPS foam foodware. This gives businesses plenty of time to find economical alternatives, and the COVID-19 pandemic will be history.

EPS foam (resin number 6) is not economically feasible to recycle as it has little to no value and high contamination from food residue. New York City’s Dept of Sanitation has done extensive research on the recyclability of EPS foam and found that, in the eight largest recycling programs in North American that collected EPS foam, none were recycling EPS foodware.

EPS food containers pose a human health risk, as they can leach small amounts of the toxin styrene when they come into contact with warm food or drink, alcohol, oils, and acidic foods. The US National Library of Medicine states that chronic exposure to styrene in humans results in negative effects on the central nervous system, such as headaches, fatigue, weakness, depression, and hearing loss. 

Pollution from the incineration of plastics, including EPS foam, does not fall evenly on Virginia communities. A 2019 study found that 79% of garbage incinerators are located in black, Indigenous, and people of color communities and the pollutant fumes produced by incinerating plastic have toxic effects when inhaled.

It has become clear that EPS foam foodware is not worth the health risks to our families, and the degradation of our beautiful Virginia natural areas, waterways, and coastlines. This bill gives adequate time for the food industry to find alternatives to this dangerous material.

Help us pass HB 1902 into law!

Help Surfrider's Ocean City Chapter pass Maryland State bills HB391 and S716, which would ban the intentional release of balloons in Maryland!

Wicomico, Queen Anne’s, Montgomery, and Frederick counties have already passed such legislation, so it makes sense to take the idea statewide.

Most people don't think about what happens to a balloon after it is released, but what goes up, must come down. Often balloons end up in our oceans, where they can choke marine life like turtles and whales who mistake them for food, or animals can get tangled in the ribbon.

We aren't talking about a child accidentally releasing a balloon. We want to ban the act of releasing a bunch of balloons on purpose, which often happens at special events. 

Please take two minutes and send a message to your elected officials and Governor Hogan. Fill in your information to the right, then click the button that says "Next Step." Then click "Send My Message."

Let's stop this senseless littering in our oceans! 

Photo Credit: Ann Richardson 

As Marylanders, the health of our waterways, beaches, and fisheries is critical to our local economy and our way of life. Plastic bags are one of the most common forms of plastic pollution found in beach clean ups and pose a significant threat to our waterways, wildlife, and seafood. Maryland can reduce plastic bag pollution by passing bag legislation that is currently introduced in the legislature!

Maryland House Bill 314 and Senate Bill 223, ban thin plastic bags at the checkout counter.

Plastic bags not sent to landfills are often put in recycling bins, where they clog recycling machines and cost recyclers and taxpayers money to remove. Plastic bags pollute our natural areas, waterways, and ocean waters. 

Help us pass a bag fee bill in Maryland so we can keep our beautiful natural areas clean of plastic bag litter, reduce tax payer dollars spent on clean ups, and keep plastic bags from poisoning wildlife and seafood.

Take a few minutes and help us support MD HB314 and SB223! Edit the message on the next page for extra impact.

Tell your elected officials that water safety education should be mandated across schools in NY State!

Surfrider Foundation, Laru Beya, and Swimstrong have united to advocate for water safety education for schools because we believe that water safety education is an essential right for all!

Unfortunately, not all young people have access to water safety education and resources. The lack of consistent aquatic education costs lives. According to the CDC, approximately “one in five people who die from drowning are children 14 and younger. For every child who dies from drowning another five receive emergency department care for nonfatal submersion injuries."

When young people have access to water safety education, they learn how to act safely in and around water, giving them confidence and opening up an array of opportunities for them - including jobs, hobbies and social interactions. By providing water safety education in schools, the barriers to accessing these resources such as socio-economic factors can be mitigated, helping to create a more inclusive recreational water community. 

Let's start making water safety an essential right for all by telling your elected official to support Bills S2207 and A728.

The Surfrider SLO Chapter is concerned with continued degradation of Oceano Dunes from impacts of off-highway vehicle (OHV) activity. For decades, California State Parks has failed to enforce its own rules and regulations, and the community and creatures have been paying the price: the area has chronic air pollution issues and dune buggies regularly kill snowy plovers, a listed shorebird under the Endangered Species Act, under their tires. Additionally, the people who live in and visit Oceano are unable to enjoy a restorative recreational experience due to their beach being, in essence, a highway. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Oceano Dunes was closed in March to all vehicle activity. Since the closure, the dunes and beach have transformed into a vibrant, safe and clean environment for beachgoers of all kinds.

Please ask State agency leaders to keep Oceano Dunes closed to OHV use until the recent Public Works Plan, the Habitat Conservation Plan, and the Environmental Impact Report have been approved.

California State Parks has drafted a Public Works Plan, a Habitat Conservation Plan and an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for Oceano Dunes, which are collectively meant to clarify and mitigate impacts from the Park. These plans and the EIR must be reviewed and approved by state and/or federal agencies before they can be implemented. However State Parks intends to reopen the park to vehicle use before these plans get approved. This reopening will reimpose immediate threats to wildlife, sensitive habitats and community health and safety.

Until State Parks receives these approvals, the park should remain closed to OHV activity to prevent continued violations of the Endangered Species Act, the California Coastal Act and the Local Coastal Program. In the interim, all parties should develop solutions that advance real conservation of natural resources and environmental justice for local communities.

Southern California Edison has been storing 3.6 million pounds of spent nuclear waste at the recently decommissioned San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), within 100 feet of the beach. SONGS has always been exposed to the risks of earthquakes, bluff erosion, storm surge, and wave events.  

Each year, SONGS is increasingly threatened by rising sea levels, growing rates of coastal erosion, elevating groundwater tables and likelihood for more frequent and severe storms resulting from climate change. These conditions require that nuclear waste must be removed from the dynamic and vulnerable coastline as soon as possible.  

The federal government is the only entity that has the authority to supply a long-term solution for storage of nuclear waste offsite. You deserve to know that your coastal areas are safe and protected - call upon our federal elected officials to step up and address this important and pressing issue TODAY.

The safe removal and long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) away from the coast is a national issue, affecting many communities in California and throughout the United States. To date, the U.S. government has failed to produce a solution for the safe, long-term disposal of spent nuclear fuel, despite the millions of pounds currently stored at operating and decommissioned nuclear power plants across the country. Surfrider asks that the federal government take the best course of action to develop federal legislation that includes:

• Long-Term Storage, including a plan for the safe removal of SNF;
• Consent-based Siting, with consent from affected communities for future siting for SNF storage and disposal;
• Federal Accountability, including timeline requirements, incentives for sites to accept SNF, and viable enforcement mechanisms; and
• Environmental Review and Resource Protection, including a grant for states to perform an environmental review over the future transportation, storage and siting of SNF

For years, the Surfrider Miami Chapter has advocated for fertilizer restrictions to reduce the flow of nutrients into Biscayne Bay and other local waterways. Biscayne Bay suffers from high nutrient levels, and overuse of fertilizers is posing a dangerous threat to the Bay and marine wildlife that reside in it. 

Biscayne Bay is of immense economic value to the City and County, it is estimated that a healthy Biscayne Bay is worth $3.3 billion and the Bay drives numerous economic and recreational opportunities for snorkeling, diving, wildlife viewing, recreational fishing, and more.

Excessive nutrient levels from sewage, animal waste and fertilizers stimulate plant growth in waterways, leading to algae blooms, surface scum and mats of seaweed that suck up most of the available oxygen when they eventually decompose. Without sufficient dissolved oxygen, fish and other aquatic species suffocate, causing massive fish kills like those experienced in August 2020 in Biscayne Bay.

Join us in asking the Miami Dade Mayor and County Commissioners to enact a fertilizer ordinance to protect Biscayne Bay and prevent it from becoming a dead zone. 

There are currently an estimated 155 plastics manufacturers and molders in the state of Texas, but current state laws are too weak to prevent them from discharging these plastics into waterways. This has led to extensive plastic pollution in state waters, not the least of which are the millions of plastic pellets discharged by Formosa Plastics into Lavaca Bay.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality ("TCEQ") is in the process of revising its surface water quality standards and procedures, and as part of that process the agency is proposing changes to the standards and procedures so that the discharge of pre-production plastics (a.k.a. "nurdles" as well as powders and flakes) becomes specifically regulated.

TCEQ is proposing to establish a prohibition on discharges of plastic as part of stormwater and wastewater permits, meaning no plastic will be allowed to be discharged, and that is a big step forward. However, there are details of the standards and procedures for implementation that need strengthened to ensure that the zero discharge intent is achieved.

Please send a letter to TCEQ administrators to let them know you support a strong set of standards and well-designed implementation procedures to ensure that the intent of the prohibition on the discharge of plastics is upheld.

Help Surfrider's Jersey Shore and South Jersey Chapters pass State legislation (A5553) which would ban the intentional release of balloons in New Jersey! Multiple coastal communities have already passed such legislation, so it makes sense to take the idea statewide.

Most people don't think about what happens to a balloon after it is released, but what goes up, must come down. Often balloons end up in our oceans, where they can choke marine life like turtles and whales who mistake them for food, or animals can get tangled in the ribbon.

We aren't talking about a child accidentally releasing a balloon. We want to ban the act of releasing a bunch of balloons on purpose, which often happens at special events.

Many other states, cities, and counties have banned intentional balloon releases, including California, Connecticut, Florida, Tennessee, and multiple municipalities right here in New Jersey including, Asbury Park, Point Pleasant Beach, Long Beach Township, Atlantic City, Brigantine, Cape May, Egg Harbor City, Longport, Margate, North Wildwood, Sea Isle City, Somers Point, Upper Township, Ventnor, Stone Harbor and Avalon.

Please take two minutes and send a message to your elected officials and Governor Murphy. Fill in your information to the right, then click the button that says "Next Step." Then click "Send My Message" on the following page.

Let's stop this senseless littering in our oceans! 

Tell the California Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee to oppose SB 1090 today! SB 1090 would eliminate Coastal Act provisions that protect public access and recreation by allowing private property owners to build seawalls with almost no review. Because seawalls accelerate erosion, the resulting rush to construct more seawalls along the coastline would drastically accelerate the loss of our beaches at a time when we already risk losing up to 70% of Southern California beaches to sea level rise by 2100. We should be doing everything we can to preserve our beaches. The California Coastal Commission has made it clear that seawalls do not provide any quantifiable public safety benefit but can actually decrease the safety of a beach by speeding up how quickly it washes away. SB 1090 flies in the face of the thoughtful planning and policy work that has been gaining momentum in recent months. We must prepare our communities for sea level rise and offset threats to our coastal resources. SB 1090 would lock us into the one method we know is sure to fail and result in the accelerated loss of our beaches. Send a message to the California Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee and tell them to oppose this bill today!

Join us in asking our elected officials in New York to pass NY State bills A207 and S1505, making plastic straws available at bars and restaurants only on request!

Straws and stirrers are often littered, or caught by the wind, ending up in our streams, bays, ocean, and beaches. Plastic straws are frequently cited as one of the top ten items found in beach cleanups.

Plastic does not biodegrade, but breaks up into smaller and smaller pieces creating pollution that is virtually impossible to clean up and ends up in our food chain. Marine life can also be harmed by ingesting plastic straws.

California passed a similar policy and dozens of cities including Miami Beach, Portland, Seattle, and many others have also restricted plastic straws. Let's follow their lead and reduce plastic straw pollution in New York State!

Fill out the information to the right to contact your legislators and make your voice heard!

In 2016 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers agreed to study ecosystem restoration options in the East San Pedro Bay, with goals of improving water quality and water circulation.

Unfortunately, what was delivered in the Draft Report released in November 2019 is not ecosystem restoration, but ecosystem enhancement without any water quality or water circulation improvements. The Army Corps must revisit the study to eliminate ecosystem enhancement alternatives and re-insert the water quality and water circulation goals and objectives.

Please take a few minutes and send a message to the Army Corps telling them to follow their own guidelines and satisfy the original stated goals and objectives for the study.   

The public has expressed a strong interest in improving water quality and ecosystem restoration. The Army Corps needs to listen to the will of the people and follow their own guidelines.

Take a few minutes and send a message to your elected officials explaining that you don't want a dangerous, fracked gas LNG facility to be built on the Delaware River.

We know that we must reduce our usage of fossil fuels to avoid the worst effects of climate change, and this proposed facility will export fracked gas for decades.

The proposal also includes shipping LNG either by truck or rail from Pennsylvania to Gibbstown NJ, a potentially very dangerous situation for communities along the route. The LNG industry has a proven track record of fatal explosive accidents.

This large industrial facility will also be built along the tidal Delaware River, which is sensitive habitat and a recreational driver of the local economy.

Help us stop this poorly thought out and dangerous project!

Plastic straws are one of the top items found in beach cleanups around the world and one of the most over-used items of single-use plastic. Here in New York City, plastic straws are used once and then tossed into the trash or left to litter our beaches, streets, parks, and waterways. Once they get into the environment, they slowly break down into smaller and smaller plastic particles that end up entering the food chain, hurting animals and polluting our food. Whole straws can choke wildlife if they are mistakenly ingested.

So let's do something about straws! There is legislation in New York City that would require restaurants and bars to provide straws only when requested by patrons, instead of being shoved into every drink automatically. This will drastically reduce the amount of straws used, and the amount of straws that then escape the waste stream and enter our waterways, storm drains, and ocean.

Take a few minutes and send a message to your NYC Council Member and the Mayor telling them to support bill Intro 936-A!

Pro Tip: add extra text to your message, making it unique. Unique messages tend to get recorded and counted individually.