As you know, our Surfrider Foundation chapter has initiated a program called Skip the Plastic to raise awareness and advocate for changes that will reduce disposable plastic litter and help clean up the Coastal Bend.

On May 29, the Skip the Plastic team will go to Corpus Christi’s City Council meeting when they consider adopting a fee on single-use plastic bags. As Brownsville has shown, a fee helps to motivate shoppers to bring their own reusable bags and decrease the number of plastic bags littering their city.

We need your help in emailing the Corpus Christi City Council members, urging them to adopt such a fee. Please take a minute to copy and paste the message below into a new email and send it to the City Council. Feel free to customize it if you like:

Dear Mayor Adame and Council members,

As someone who values clean beaches, parks and neighborhoods, I urge you to take bold action and instruct City Staff to prepare an ordinance for a fee on single-use plastic bags.

Plastic bags impact the city's reputation as a tourist destination and as a place in which to live. They also detract from natural scenery and threaten marine wildlife. A combination of a bag fee, public education and better anti-litter enforcement will be the most effective approach to creating a real solution to the city’s litter problem. The fee is integral to the solution since it will motivate shoppers to change their habits and avoid disposable plastic bags. It will also fund projects such as cleanups, public education on litter, reusable bag giveaways and better code enforcement.

I would appreciate your action to ensure that Corpus Christi will once again deserve the title of "The Sparkling City by the Sea".

Please vote to support a bag fee.

Respectfully,

{Your Name}

Here are their emails, which you can copy and put into your email: joea@cctexas.com, johnmarezdistrict2@yahoo.com, cadler106@gmail.com, lelizon@citgo.com, mscott@sanjacintotitle.com, kelleyallend1@yahoo.com, neldamartinez@nuecestitle.com, DLoeb@landlord-resources.com,priscillalealdistrict3@yahoo.com,rono@cctexas.com

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Photo by George Gongora

Check out this Caller Times article on the event:

Surfriders sooth warriors' wounds with waves

• By Mike Baird
• Posted May 13, 2012 at 3 a.m.

 

CORPUS CHRISTI — Flanked by helpers who lifted him from a beach wheelchair onto a surfboard in the Gulf of Mexico, Curt Oswalt, 40, on Saturday surfed for the first time.

"I haven't been able to get into the ocean since I got blown up in Iraq 10 years ago," Oswalt said, while rubbing red knees after half an hour on the board. "I felt safe — welcome — and the support is overwhelming."

Oswalt, a former Air Force Arabic linguist from San Antonio, suffered nerve damage and traumatic brain injury from the concussion of an artillery shell air burst close to the jet aircraft he was in.

"You're left feeling pretty much kicked to the curb," he said, looking at his wife, Beth, through dark shades that help with his eyes' sensitivity to the sun. "This was awesome today."  [read more]

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The Texas Coastal Bend Surfrider Chapter will be hosting a surf camp for Wounded Warriors on May 12 & 13 at 9:30 AM in front of the Holiday Inn on the seawall on North Padre Island. Volunteers needed! Surfing equipment will be provided.

Please help if you can, we need to give back to those who have given us so much.

Contact John Adams at jsahips@me.comif you wish to help.

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