Success!
CALPIRG’s Wave of Change 2010 Spring Break Tour
Instead of going to Cancun for their spring break, 50 CALPIRG students spent a week doing something different: road-tripping up the coast to build support for protecting the oceans by passing a statewide ban on single-use Styrofoam take-out containers. The Wave of Change 2010 Tour started in San Diego and traveled up the coast making seven stops ending with a lobby day at the state Capitol. At each stop students held beach cleanups, beach themed press conferences, and collected photo petitions with beach-goers.
California’s beaches and coastline are some of the most beautiful in the entire world. The ocean is key to our tourism, ecosystem, and economy. Unfortunately many of our beaches are affected by plastic pollution, which injures or kills 267 marine species each year. A pile of trash twice the size of Texas sits 1,000 miles off the CA coast! One of the worst kinds of plastic pollution are single-use Styrofoam takeout containers. Styrofoam never fully biodegrades, (and it’s almost impossible to recycle).
Day 1: San Diego and Newport Beach
We kicked off the tour in San Diego! UCSD student Amber Siddiqi was joined by Environment California, San Diego Coastkeeper, and the UCSD student government president who said, “Sustainability is our generation’s fight.” Next was a stop in Newport Beach, one of the 38 municipalities that have already banned Styrofoam: “Original Pizza” managers said, “we’ve been using alternatives to Styrofoam and our customers actually prefer it.”
Day 2: Los Angeles & Santa Barbara
Day 2 began with a clean-up at L.A.’s Cabrillo Beach, one of the 20 dirtiest beaches in the U.S. Sonia Diaz of Heal the Bay joined the tour and the L.A. Times caught a “Ban Styro” chant in action. Next stop was Goleta State Beach where KCOY news interviewed Will Palamino, UCSB senior. Goleta Mayor Eric Onnen, City Councilmember Margaret Connell, and Santa Barbara City Councilmember Das Williams also stopped by the beach to speak in support of reducing plastic pollution.
Day 3: Santa Cruz
After a long drive up the Central Coast, the Wave of Change splashed down on the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. The Santa Cruz Daily Sentinel, KION, KSBW, and local radio interviewed Coreen Weintraub, tour organizer and UCLA senior, while Mayor Mike Rotkin, Assemblymember Bill Monning’s District Director, and Save Our Shores called on the state to follow Santa Cruz’s lead with a statewide ban.
Day 4: Berkeley
Heading slightly inland for a view of the San Francisco Bay, the Wave rolled into the Berkeley Marina to highlight another city that has banned single-use Styrofoam containers. City Councilmembers Kriss Worthington and Jesse Arreguin reminisced about Berkeley’s 20-year-old ban and even sported our Beach Guard tops for the cameras. UCB
A.S. Senator Eunice Kwon highlighted the role students’ play to impact policy on and off campus.
Day 5: Sacramento
The Wave of Change made its last stop in Sacramento where UC Davis student Kelly McBee posed for our 400th photo petition with Assemblymember Julia Brownley. Assemblymember Brownley authored AB1998, a statewide plastic bag ban, which would have a huge effect on reducing plastic pollution. The Spring Breakers had over 25 meetings to urge legislators to support this bill, including Assemblymembers Davis, Feuer, and Fong and Senator Maldonado.
CALPIRG (the California Public Interest Research Group) is a statewide student-run and student-funded public interest organization. CALPIRG consists of ten student chapters, including eight UCs, USC, and Santa Monica College. The Wave of Change Tour was the 3rd annual spring break tour.