When you are trying to do good things, it can be pretty easy to focus on positive stuff. That is awesome and I like to keep things optimistic up here as much possible. But I want to also be in touch with the dark side so that I can be a smarter defender - not just an activist but a FACTivist. There are people out there who don't believe in re-usable water bottles. It's likely that they are good people who have been culturally conditioned to focus only on economics and job creation rather than imagining creative, sustainable ways to create more jobs and save the planet at the same time.
A few organizations work diligently to perpetuate that thinking, while others simply pull the wool over people's eyes by flashing their green-washed sustainability reports and "Earth Events" front and center. They stand in the way of people trying to create real change. The pro-plastic bag coalitions file lawsuits against cities and towns in order to keep plastic bags tax-free and acceptable. The bottling industry bullies down Bottle Bills and Bottle Bill Expansion efforts in order to keep things business-as-usual.
Listed below are companies opposed to Bag Bans and Bottle Bills. I wanted to create a window into that world - even if it is just for keeping tabs. It is scary (especially Save the Plastic Bag and Real Recycling in MA). Some of these coalitions have propaganda denying the evils of plastic, the existence of the plastic in the gyres and that it is killing marine life. There are links to each of the companies and twitter feeds for each. Obviously the customer-facing companies like Ocean Spray, Coca-cola, etc are just shiny happy marketing feeds but they are there anyways.
You can DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
Join Surfrider, attend a chapter meeting, tell your friends, remember your reusable bags when shopping, drink water out of reusable bottles, encourage your loved ones to do the same, recycle any plastics that you come in contact with. Become a guardian of the earth - if others doubt your behavior just be patient and lead by example!
Learn more about the MA Bottle Bill and why it needs updating!
Because even though there is a lot of bad, there are still good people working hard to do good things. And change is happening despite the opposition. And it will continue to happen. Here are a couple.
Everyday we count the hours
Raindrops feed the thirsty flowers
Stop to smell the sweetest ones
Springtime swells have just begun
Sparkling seas and sandy shores
Always need a little more
Gold is gold and silver, silver
Treasure in the rubber shiver
Dream a dream, wish a wish
Ocean's full of many fish
Cast your line, and close your eyes
Underneath the bluest skies
Dawntread, twilight, it's all good
Lose the gloves, forget the hood
Find your place and find the time
Ride the waves, live the rhyme
Kevin from Green Lightning Surfboards working on my mini simms.
Create cloth-covered railguards for your standard pipe insulation to protect the rails. You will need a rugged sewing machine to handle this task. Sew loops on various points where you will feed your cloth ties through to secure the railguard in place. I used old sheets.
I used a serger sewing machine to "finish" the edges of the loops. It is not necessary to have but makes it a lot easier. You can find used ones on craigslist.
Again, I used the serger to cut and finish the edges off the ties which are made of soft, stretchy polarfleece fabric.
With the railguard in place and ties fed through the loops, there is no need for packing tape. Next, feed bubble wrap under the ties. Since the ties are forgiving and stretchy, it makes it easy to squeeze bubblewrap through without popping the bubbles.
Removing the fin should probably be the first thing you do but I didn't. It was at this point that I removed the fin so that I could cover the tail in bubblewrap. After feeding the bubblewrap under the ties do a quick check again on railguard placement and tighten up the ties if needed.
Now place in board bag and add the usual extra protection of towels and other stuff around the nose and tail and you are "bulletproof"... well, let's hope!
