Planting [sea]trees, growing jobs – sowing hope

We’re keeping the United Nations World Oceans Day vibe alive for the rest of this week by connecting the dots between the related environmental, economic, and social challenges we face – and how regenerating coastal ecosystems helps to address all three.

In West Papua, where we support mangrove restoration, poverty at the village level is one of the leading drivers of mangrove forest deforestation. Every time a brand or individual ‘plants’ a mangrove tree on the SeaTrees platform, it supports sustainable employment for local indigenous communities who live there, while increasing the natural capital of their ecosystem, and protecting them from storm surges and sea-level rise - directly delivering against the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

You're also helping to fund education and awareness - sowing the seed for local ocean-activism. Our planting partner, Eden Projects, trains the local community to care for the ecosystems that bring them income, and when we visited with Pacha Light and Protect Blue earlier this year, we ran workshops with local community activists to provide ocean-health education to their next generation.

For a deeper dive into how SeaTrees is helping to address local issues through ecosystem restoration, check out this piece The Inertia put out on World Oceans Day. While you’re there - watch Pacha in the full version of our latest SeaTrees Resurface video to hear why she thinks it’s time to come together to “take good care of our people and our ocean-planet”.

Thanks for taking interconnected action!

From World Environment Day through World Oceans Day (June 5-8), you helped us raise $663 for GoFundMe’s Justice and Equality Fund - THANK YOU! 100% of the profits from the first run of our new Ocean Positive camp mugs will support organizations focused on pretrial system reform, racial justice, and law enforcement reform.

For the remainder of June, we’re donating $10 from the sale of every Andy Davis x SeaTrees pin to Brown Girl Surf  - the organization behind the Solidarity in Surf event at our local in the Bay Area - working to create a more diverse, joyful and environmentally reverent women's surf culture. 

Get the OCEAN POSITIVE APP

Want to take action to solve this interconnect crisis every single day? On World Oceans Day we launched the Ocean Positive Web-App - your new pocket guide for keeping a finger on the pulse of all sorts of ocean-positive activism - developed with our friends at The Quiver. The app focuses on content relevant to the very economic, environmental, and social issues at hand: community-organized events and demonstrations, plant-based eating, banking, volunteering, choosing gear that’s better for our oceans, and much more.

What is your bank financing? 

Who you bank your hard-earned cash with will have a huge impact on the health of the environment & people. This TED X Santa Cruz talk from Kyle Theirmann (from back in 2011) made us first take note and switch to a better bank.

Today We bank with Bank of the West - because they walk the talk about their commitment to solving climate change and empowering people.  Like us, they also embedded the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals into the way they do business.

 

Eat more Plants

Did you know - going vegan for two-thirds of meals could cut food-related carbon emissions by 60%?  Surfers like Greg Long, Zane Schweitzer and Ricardo Christie have been performing at the highest level on plant-based diets and it definitely isn’t impacting their surfing. And if you need a little more inspiration on why shifting to a plant-based diet is good for you and mother ocean - hear it here from Captain Liz Clark.

Bring your own

We’re all about making and taking healthy snacks for ocean-minded adventures. One of our favs - cut kale, add a dash of olive oil, bake for 15 mins, remove and dress with sea salt and Seaquoia Kelp Seasoning. How do you keep your snacks fresh? We’re loving these recycled plastic to-go options from Preserve.

Ocean Positive surfcraft

Choose gear that is helping to protect where you play. No matter where you are, there are certified ECOBOARD builders on every surfable continent – including black-owned businesses like Earth Technologies in Los Angeles, CA.  With hundreds of brands to choose from there’s no reason your next board (surf, long, SUP, kite, wake, riversurf…) shouldn’t be one made with more sustainable materials. Want your next ECOBOARD to also plant SeaTrees? Checkout: Firewire/Slater Designs, Spooked Kooks, Ashley Lloyd, Route One, Timber Surf Co, NOTOX, and for fins - PushFins.