Introducing Matt Gove!

by Matt Gove, DC Surfrider

Hello MOP blog readers! My name is Matt Gove and I am currently running the Music Outreach Program for the DC chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. If you have been following our blog you may have noticed that I have been in this position for about a year. Last year we made it to 15 events, so thank you to all my MOP Volunteers who came out to help! I couldn’t run the program without you.

I’m going to come clean readers: I am not a surfer! I have attempted to surf 3 times, with water-logged and sand-scraped results. I am an ocean enthusiast however, snorkeling, diving, and fishing whenever I get the chance. I also work in the blue world, working with coastal managers for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). I am very excited to be volunteering for an organization that I have been watching peripherally for years—Surfrider is definitely well known in the ocean and coastal professional world!

For those of you not familiar with Surfrider’s Music Outreach Program: basically we spread the Surfrider message at concerts. Specifically, we partner with venues and artists to talk to concert-goers about Surfrider’s national and local initiatives, hoping to spark action or awareness in the general public. It’s extremely rewarding to have discussions with people about our oceans and coasts—and their favorite bands!

If you are in the DC area and want to volunteer, please send an email to govematt[@]hotmail.com and I will get you on the email list. Last year we were at shows for State Radio, Mason Jennings, Rogue Wave, Ben Harper, and the Dave Matthews Band. You don’t need any skills or knowledge to volunteer, just a love for our oceans and a willingness to help out. Thanks for reading!

Surfrider at the DC Environmental Film Festival

Surfrider will be representing at the DC Environmental Film Festival at the end of March. Come check out the film Bag It Sunday March 28^th, 2:45 at the Carnegie Institution for Science (Elihu Root Auditorium, 1530 P St., NW). “This film chronicles the global production, use and disposal of plastic bags and other plastics, documenting the environmental consequences of these products, including the effects of plastics on a wide range of species, lands, waterways and oceans. The film also identifies smart alternatives and solutions” Surfrider volunteers will be on hand to talk plastic bags, particularly about the recent bag fee that was implemented in DC and has already reduced usage by 60%!

Rogue Wave at the 9:30 Club

The Music Outreach Program represented Surfrider at the 9:30 Club last Friday. Thanks to Ed Stack at 9:30 and Justin Little at Zeitgeist Management for allowing us to be at the show! Beth Gunter and Matt Gove talked up the crowd about plastic bags and other garbage that ends up in our waterways and ultimately the ocean. Rogue Wave sounded great and a full crowd was on hand!

And this 2009 Surfrider Wavemaker Award goes to ...

Congratulations to DC Surfrider Chapter Chair Julie Lawson, amazing supporter of the Music Outreach Program, who is the recipient of the 2009 Surfrider Foundation Wavemaker Award for Chapter Leadership.

The Surfrider Foundation's Board of Directors gave out several 2009 Wavemaker Awards in different categories. Here's a photo of all of the 2009 Wavemaker Award Recipients. It was taken by Marketing Assistant Kyle Lishok at the February 2010 Awards Dinner in San Clemente, CA.


photo: Back Row (L-R): Jerry Collamer, Brock Wilson, Randy Renick, Julie Lawson, Rick Saveri, Kerry O'Bryan, Manase Mansur, Julie Steinleitner. Front Row (L-R): Belinda Smith, Kirk Holmes (AVEDA), Robb Havassy.

Read about all of the 2009 Wavemaker Award Recipients here in this Surfrider HQ press release. Here's an excerpt:

Chapter Leadership Award
Julie Lawson – Washington, DC Chapter

Julie’s efforts have made the Chapter a viable, credible and well-organized group. Her work has included a leadership role in the passage of the Washington, DC Bag Tax Bill, and assistance on other bag bans and bills. Additionally, Julie has worked tirelessly to recruit and train new activists, served as a mentor to other chapters and participated in numerous EarthShare presentations, leading to a 35% increase in pledges for the Foundation.


photo: Julie giving her award acceptance speech at the 2009 Wavemaker Award Dinner.

As an example of Julie's work, check this out - on April 1, 2009 the DC City Council held a hearing on Bill 18-150 "The Anacostia River Cleanup and Protection Act of 2009." Julie was invited to testify at the hearing, on behalf of Surfrider DC. This is her testimony -



Julie also testified at the January 20, 2010 DC City Council Committee on Government Operations & the Environment's hearing on Bill 18-521 "The Human and Environmental Health Protection Amendment Act of 2009."

Watch her testimony here. She is introduced about 23 minutes into the start of the hearing.


Another 2009 Wavemaker Award Recipient, also a friend of MOP, is Belinda Smith from the Surfrider San Diego Chapter. Belinda received the Distinguished Service Award, in part for her leadership on the development of a brand new Surfrider film “The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water." This film coincides with Surfrider's "Know Your H2O" campaign.


photo: Belinda

Here's the film's trailer -

The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water - TRAILER 1 from Surfrider Foundation San Diego C on Vimeo.

“The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water" will premiere on March 21st, World Water Day, in San Diego.



Congrats again to the 2009 Wavemaker Award Recipients!

Thanks to Kyle, Laura, Vickie, Belinda, and Ed, who all helped me gather the photos for this post.

Music Outreach Program featured in Surfrider CEO's Podcast

posted by Nicole Parisi-Smith, Surfrider San Francisco's Music Outreach Program Coordinator. A post very similar to this one appears on her personal blog, Pop Culture Activist.

Surfrider Foundation CEO Jim Moriarty has a podcast called "On The Beach."

Some info about the podcast, from the Surfrider website:

Surfrider Foundation is made up of a mosaic of amazing people. These people come at the idea of coastal conservation from many angles and have different life stories. What they have in common is a love of our oceans waves and beaches. Twice a month we will explore this mosaic by releasing an audible interview with a key player in our movement.

Jim's most recent podcast features DC Surfrider Chapter Chair Julie Lawson.

This is what Jim had to say about his talk with Julie:

Everything about this podcast fascinated me.

The Washington DC chapter is one of the few non-coastal chapters in our network. Julie Lawson and the DC crew have created muscle that is not only tied into the local watershed and the distant beach, but also the federal government around them. Lastly, rather than working to pass a blatant plastic bag ban, the DC chapter worked with other groups to tie the plastics issue to economics.

Julie and I sat down and walked through these issues and a few others. Don't let her humility fool you, this woman is a rock star.

Julie Lawson, recorded on the streets of Washington D.C.

Listen here!

You'll hear Julie and Jim talk about Surfrider's volunteer-run Music Outreach Program.

Thanks to everyone who helped me start the program - especially Julie and Laura Mazzarella, Surfrider's Marketing Manager.

Thanks, too, to DC Surfrider members Eli Kiljanek, Eric Dean, Jason Rubin, Joyce Rosado, Megan Kelley, and Mike Childs who not only supported me, but who literally stood by my side and helped me represent DC Surfrider at MOP's first few shows.

For a full list of "Friends of MOP" please see this blog's sidebar. Thanks, too to Surfrider San Francisco and DC Surfrider's Music Outreach Program Coordinator Chris Woods, who help keep it strong!