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President Fisher opened the meeting by announcing next week everyone will be required to fill out a survey to help determine what the Club will be doing for the 2024/2025 Rotary year. He then asked David Stover to read the 4-Way Test (does anyone know it by heart?). This was followed by thanking PP Diane Good for greeting and hosting the meeting today, Roozbeh Farahanipour leading the pledge after explaining his love for the USA, PP Ed Gauld leading the Club in singing The Marine’s Hymn”, and David Stover giving the Thought of the Day relating why people should be accountable for their actions.
There was one guest (besides the speakers) who is becoming a transfer member of the Club from the Fullerton Club, Bob Simon!! Welcome Bob to the warm and friendly Westwood Village Rotary Club!!!
The speakers for the day were introduced, Eric Schlobohim and Eugenia Ermacora from the Surfrider Foundation. The Surfrider Foundation USA is a U.S. 501 grassroots non-profit environmental organization that works to protect and preserve the world's oceans, waves and beaches. It focuses on water quality, beach access, beach, and surf spot preservation, and sustaining marine and coastal ecosystems.
Eric began by explaining the program he is most passionate about, which is the Ocean Friendly Restaurant Project which focuses on reducing the use of plastics by restaurants, especially those near the oceans. Single-use plastic is particularly detrimental as bags, bottles, straws, expanded polystyrene foam, and food wrappers consistently top the list of items our volunteers collect at cleanups. This pollution is impacting our marine ecosystems and wildlife including seabirds, dolphins, fish, turtles, and whales. Plastic fragments are even displacing plankton as the base of the food chain. It is not just ocean life at stake - plastic contains toxic chemicals that can transfer from containers, cups, cutlery, and straws directly into the food we eat. He then showed a very powerful video of what plastic does to the eco system, marine life specifically and how it ends up in our food! YUCK!
While the problem may be complex; the solution is simple - we need to stop plastic at the source! The Surfrider Foundation’s Ocean Friendly Restaurants program does just that. We recognize restaurants that are committed to cutting out wasteful single-use plastic and offer a simple, straightforward framework to help them make sustainable choices for our ocean. The result is a community of like-minded restaurants we can promote, support, and lift up as examples of success to influence plastic reduction legislation. The larger we grow our network of Ocean Friendly leaders, the more mainstream the concept of plastic-free becomes. There are currently 573 restaurants who have signed on for this program across the USA. There is a list of Ocean friendly restaurants on Surfrider’s website: surfrider.org which all are encouraged to support.
Eugenia has been with Surfrider since 2002. She focuses on beach clean-ups and helped to organize one last year for District 5280 at Sunset Beach. She also helps to oversee many of the programs offered such as: Climate Action Program, Rise Above Plastics, Ocean Friendly Gardens, and the Blue Water Task Force programs. All of which you can read about on their website.
They are always looking for volunteers, donations, and people of action. Since they are the largest network of coastal defenders in the world, they encourage everyone to get involved even if it means just writing to your representatives to voice objection to offshore drilling.
It was an interesting presentation and one to make you think about your use of plastics and how to become better at protecting the environment, especially our oceans! In the near future, look for an announcement from the Club about participating in a beach clean-up!
President Benjamin ended the meeting once again on time with a quote: Nothing is impossible. The word itself says, “I’m possible!” by Audrey Hepburn.
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