East Coast Wahines

I was in the bookstore the other day and started skimming through a book called “The Toxic Sandbox.” It’s geared toward parents concerned with the chemicals and pollutants that are effecting children as early as inside the womb. I spent most of my time reading the chapter about plastics. It really has reinforced my want to get the most plastics possible out of my life. My first step was over a year ago when I purchased the reusable, collapsable bags from my local grocery store. They are well-made, hold a lot of weight and I keep a few in my car and home at all times. At my local Surfrider Foundation meeting the other night we talked about a campaign against plastics- not just bags, but bottles, take-out food containers, plastic cutlery, etc. A little lightbulb went off in my head and I realized I had managed to stop using plastic at the grocery store, but I was still guilty of accepting  bags from Target and other similar stores.                  (Image note: that’s a bag not a jellyfish! Photo from NOAA)

I am now researching all the ways I use plastic in my life and what within reason can I get rid of. Did you know your plastic shower curtain is full of pollutants, or when you nuke cling-wrap covered food in your microwave you are cooking chemicals right into your food? I’m no expert on plastics, but I am definitely concerned enough to try and find an alternative wherever possible. I would love to hear any ideas on how you have stopped using plastics. Glass jars for storing food items? A cloth sack for produce? What can we use in place of Zip-locks?

Funny that I should be blogging on plastics, as just a few minutes ago I coincidentally received this message from StopGlobalWarming.org :
New York’s City Council passed a bill requiring large stores and retail chains to collect and recycle plastic shopping bags. According to a New York Times report: “New York is by far the largest American city to enact so broad a measure to limit the environmental impact of the bags. Altogether, each year the country is estimated to use 86 billion bags, which end up blowing down city streets, or tangled in the stomachs of whales, sea turtles and birds, or buried in landfills where they enjoy free rent for 1,000 years.”

Other cities like Melbourne and San Francisco have banned bags outright. San Francisco was the first city in North America to ban non-recyclable and non-biodegradable bags made from petroleum products. Africa has moved toward a continent-wide plastic bag ban, and just last week, China’s cabinet issued a directive banning their production, prohibiting stores from handing out free plastic bags after June 1st and imposing fees on their usage. People in China use up to 3 billion plastic bags daily! Help keep the momentum going here in the United States and just say no to plastic bags!

So maybe I’m on the right track. And I’m not stopping there. I have big issues with junk mail, disposable coffee cups, and what’s happening to China. But, for now, here are a few useful links regarding plastics

http://www.checnet.org/HealtheHouse/education/articles-detail.asp?Main_ID=24 http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Plasticizers/Out-Of-Diet-PG5nov03.htm

I was in San Clemente, California over the New Year digging through some boxes in our storage closet when I came across a box filled with old photo albums. The one I lingered upon the longest was filled with photos of surfing. It began with the first annual East Coast Wahine in 1997. After getting over the shock of how young, thin, and physically fit I was then compared to now, I was able to rejoice in the memories. There were photos from Eastern Surfing Championships in 98, my first trip to California, US Champs in Hawaii, and several other East Coast Wahines. Familiar faces like Marty Mentzer, Sara and Maggie Willis, Eileen O’Connor, Barbara Corey, Kelly Kane, Erin Whittle, Katie Coryell, Patti Hook, Mimi Munro, Shannon Sommers, Colleen Hanley, Elisabeth Funderburk, Karen Allison, Paula Bushardt, and the list goes on and on of the women I’ve surfed and traveled with. The experiences I’ve shared with so many of you and the waves we have ridden together. I feel like my venture to the west coast and into the heart of the surfing industry- starting out with Surfing Girl Magazine and moving onto Surf Life for Women, all while continuing to direct the East Coast Wahine could have never have happened without all the women surfers I’ve met along the way. I felt like all the east coast girls were rallying for me, keeping me afloat in the big bad “bro” world of surfing. You all have been my inspiration and my motivation.

Just now, as I write, tears well up in my eyes. I honestly didn’t know I was going to write this, share these emotions that tug at my heartstrings and pull me back to the east coast over and over from so far away. So while I’m so open and raw I’ll just say it. It’s time to move on, to let go, to set myself free. For ten years I’ve given my heart and soul to the East Coast Wahine Championships. I don’t want to see it go. I don’t want to let it go, but I must in order to grow.

There are options for the East Coast Wahine Champs to continue. I have three ready to go in my head. But I’m going to hold them here awhile, hoping that someone is going to come along with a likewise or better idea. I’ve always felt that surfers should give back to the sport they love. The East Coast Wahine has been such a joy- quite possibly the best thing I’ve ever done with my life (aside from marrying my husband and birthing my daughter). If it is to keep on keeping on, then I’m holding the space and will gladly share all the intricacies of running the first-ever and longest running all-women’s surfing contest on the east coast. If it’s the end, so be it. Nothing is permanent.

Thank you east coast wahines, every single one.

-Anne Beasley Weber 1/6/2008