Introduction: Let’s celebrate the biggest achievement to reduce plastic pollution in the ocean this past year with this post from Marcus Eriksen of the 5 Gyres Institute.

 December 29, 2015 at 9:24am--As we say goodbye to 2015, it's great to celebrate that we are also saying goodbye to microbeads too. President Obama has officially signed the Microbead - Free Waters Act. The law makes it illegal to manufacture microbeads starting July 2017. We are launching an action kit to help you get rid of microbeads from your home + office in the New Year. Sign up here to be notified when it's ready!” http://bit.ly/ActionKits www.5gyres.org/

January:    We learned the Santa Cruz Rotary President and the Sargent of Arms were inspired and saved an entangled Seagull at the beach in Santa Cruz the day after and our presentation! (We filmed this presentation on Nov. 14, 2014 and made a video.)

5:        (Presentation at the Oakland Rotary Club to be rescheduled.)

February 24:    (Presentation at Castro Valley Rotary to be rescheduled.)

March 5:    (Presentation at the Bay Club Santa Clara. I understood they cancelled for not supporting the plastic bag ban!)

April 20:    Seven presentations at the SV High School and scientist kit delivery – presentations to 7 classes/periods- partnering with teachers Adi Welch and Angelique Jezequel and David Crawford Director of the International Bachelor (IB) Program

May 9:        Presentation at the San Lorenzo Valley Club.

June 6/9:    Attended the Rotary International Convention in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Participated in the Inauguration meeting of the Environmental Rotary Sustainability Action Group (ESRAG) and worked on the booth to gather members.  

The ESRAG is now an officially approved Rotary action group and has 600 members. ESRAG has a proposed amendment to include environmental sustainability in Rotary projects to be voted in March 2016 at the RI Council of Legislation.

10:    Ramesh Hariharan, Rotary President of the East Palo Alto Bayshore Rotary Club reported the club is no longer using plastic water bottles!  (Presentation on Dec 2, 2014) https://www.facebook.com/160615420760135/photos/a.175628762592134.1073741826.160615420760135/502957659859241/?type=3

July 20:     Presentation at the Scotts Valley Rotary. (We used the presentation video and received great feedback to continue using the video including in school presentations.)

26:    Organized the Festival of the Book- feeding approximately 700 children as the manpower for the Santa Cruz Library.

August:    Posted free Internship with the UCSC program for a student helper at: http://envs.ucsc.edu/internships/available-internships/new-internships/index.html .  Recently we received the blessing of the District Governor to proceed with the Intern, so will re-post for next academic year.

Sept. 16:    Members participated in the E-Waste event.  http://scottsvalleyrotary.org/Stories

29:    Attended Santa Cruz Sunrise Rotary for presentation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) re. the Ocean Guardians Program, with up to $4,000 grants per school for plastic pollution awareness and related campus improvements.

30:    Submitted Letter of Intent to partner with the Rotary Club of Madison for an international sustainability humanitarian project in Guanabara, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, mirroring the NOAA’s Ocean Guardian’s Program.  Other Club was selected. 

October 8:    Presentation at the Huaren Rotary Club of Silicon Valley.  http://www.meetup.com/rotaractfremont/events/208393012/

20:    Met with Seaberry Nachbar and Naomi Lyall, coordinators of the NOAA Ocean Guardians Program at the Sanctuary Exploration Center.  The partnership details are still to be worked out. http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/education/ocean_guardian/

 

Nov.:     New member joined the Committee: Birgit Berr. She was instrumental in arranging the presentation at the San Jose East/evergreen Rotary Club. Thank you Birgit!

Nov. 19:     Presentation at the San Jose East/ Evergreen Rotary Club.  Representatives from the East Side High School District of Silicon Valley attended and we passed on the info to 21 schools (List available upon request.  Any of these schools could choose to become part of the Ocean Guardians Program.  It would be neat to have enough manpower in our Committee to follow up and document progress.)

December:     Susan Valenta, the Rotary District Governor sent a recommendation forward listing Patrizia Materassi as a speaker for the District. This will help us to schedule presentations. We also need to attend Cabinet mtgs. and have a booth at major conferences. The goal is to reach 60 clubs in 5 years along with the students connected to the respective Rotary Club to make them aware of ocean plastic pollution and solutions. (So far we have presented at 9 clubs, 8 High School classes, 1 professional org, plus info passed on to approx. 30 High Schools.)

Next Activities:    

-Attend next Cabinet Mtg. to help schedule presentations

-Participate on the ESRAG legislative amendment, (Patrizia Materassi is the Youth Board member); 

-Partnership with NOAA Ocean Guardians Program; Follow up with the Intern at UCSC

-Development of member’s new ideas, and the international project; 

-Keep posting plastic pollution updates and solutions on the Sustainability Committee Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SVRSustainability/; etc.