Featured Blog: Sending Out an SOS

That Santa Cruzans love the ocean is a statement few would refute.  Whether we surf, sail, or simply sit and stare, season after season we enjoy our amazing coastline unabashedly.   And nowhere is that ardor more apparent than in the activist community, where dozens of local organizations remain unduly dedicated to keeping our waters clean.     Save Our Shores is a founding member of this aquatically-conscious community, some would say the founding member.

Save Our Shores is the Central Coast’s oldest ocean conservation group.  Citizens originally formed it in 1978 to stop offshore oil drilling in the Monterey Bay.  And they succeeded!   Establishing the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary was their next monumental win.  And today, keeping our home an ocean-paradise is a priority for this hands-on and highly effective organization.

And as I learned in my October interview with SOS Executive Director, Laura Kasa, this dynamic organization so active in organizing Santa Cruz Coastal Cleanup Days, tabling at every local environmental event and tirelessly initiating protective legislation must require a huge staff, right?  At least I thought so until I checked out their web site.  There are a total of five SOS staff members (six if you count Denali, the office mascot and dog).

But now our friends as SOS are sending out an…OK I won’t go there – call for help.  For many years, the State of California helped SOS to stay viable by funding dozens of ocean classroom presentations and hundreds of cleanup projects in this region.  But due to the state’s economy, this much-needed funding has now ended.

Save Our Shores will lose $100,000 from the state in 2012, and possibly over the next few years too.  Many of your favorite beaches could face abandonment from government-funded cleanups, and are at risk for imminent closures.  And this is why the board and staff of Save Our Shores is initiating a California Challenge.  SOS needs help from the community to bridge the gap in operating expenses created by this unfortunate loss of funds.   Let’s all become a part of this effort to keep our greatest resources intact!   Take part today to ensure clean beaches in 2012 and to foster our ocean advocates of tomorrow:

You can go online at SaveOurShores.org to donate to the CA Challenge or to learn about the next public beach cleanup in your area.  See you at the beach!