By Laura Oergel
Many of us know that Men’s Journal Magazine’s March 2015 issue voted the city of Ventura the best place to live in the United States. (Still gloating) The article cites that Ventura’s draw is that it remains “refreshingly unpolished”. The one constant in between the ever changing weather and eclectic Main Street is the joy of being on the Pacific Ocean.
Larger than usual waves and tides from an El Nino winter caused extreme erosion of our beach area at Surfer’s Point. Back in December a palm tree and concrete planter fell over threatening the promenade. Behind the scenes, the Surfrider Foundation and others have been talking with the City of Ventura staff to encourage the most environmentally friendly way to rebuild the revetment.
The Surfrider Foundation, founded in 1984 in Malibu and now head quartered in San Clemente, is a largely volunteer-based non-profit environmental organization that works to protect and preserve the world’s oceans, waves, and beaches. The Ventura chapter was created in the early 1990’s to help protect the surf break and beach at Surfers’ Point from beach armoring that would have destroyed it. How different would Ventura be today if Surfrider’s activism hadn’t been successful?
Besides the Surfers’ Point Managed Shoreline Retreat program, the Ventura chapter of the Surfrider Foundation currently has campaigns that welcome volunteer help such as Ocean Friendly Gardens, Rise Above Plastics, Ocean Friendly Restaurants, beach clean ups, Matilija Dam Eco System Restoration, Know Your H2O and Ventura River Parkway.
The chapter meetings are every first Tuesday of the month from 6:30-8 at Patagonia. Patagonia – Great pacific Iron Works is located at 235 W. Santa Clara St. It’s a great way to learn about what’s going on and how you can volunteer. Walk-ins are welcome.
I want to share a quote from Patagonia’s mission statement: “For us at Patagonia, a love of wild and beautiful places demands participation in the fight to save them, and to help reverse the steep decline in the overall environmental health of our planet. We donate our time, services and at least 1% of our sales to hundreds of grassroots environmental groups all over the world who work to help reverse the tide.” One of my favorite quotes is from Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard who said “If you love something, you have to protect it.”
There is and always will be a tug of war between developing a beautiful place to live such as Ventura and preserving it and the wildlife that we all appreciate and enjoy every day. Organizations like the Surfrider Foundation, it’s volunteers and the people of Patagonia, all helping us and future generations preserve our beautiful oceans and waterways, are some of the best examples of conscious living in Ventura.
Create momentum. Educate yourself, then educate others.
