Santa Cruz’s Blue Wall

Sea turtles off Santa Cruz, a renewed push for offshore drilling, and a grassroots “blue wall” that can actually stop it—this conversation with Save Our Shores executive director Katie Thompson is a masterclass in how local action shapes ocean destiny. We go from childhood dolphin obsessions to data sets that topple bad policy, and the ride never loses steam.

We dig into the hard stuff first: climate change, industrial overfishing, and coral reef collapse. Then we move to solutions with teeth. Santa Cruz wrote the playbook in the late 70s by passing ordinances that ban onshore infrastructure tied to offshore oil. No pipelines or refineries means rigs become uneconomical. That model spread to counties across California and is being updated now for a new era—including a proactive defense against deep seabed mining that could scar the seafloor before we even understand what lives there.

What makes this work stick is people and proof. With nearly 5,000 volunteers and more than 150 cleanups a year, Save Our Shores turns weekend effort into policy leverage. Counting cigarette butts, plastic cutlery, and glass isn’t busywork—it’s evidence that fueled a local first-in-the-world ban on filter tobacco sales. We connect watershed dots too, from river-mouth debris and pallet nails to tide pool etiquette that keeps fragile life intact. Along the way, we talk funding realities, corporate cleanups, how younger donors give by issue, and why the blue economy—tourism, fisheries, ports—depends on a healthy coast far more than a handful of rig jobs ever could.

If you’ve felt stuck between outrage and apathy, this episode hands you a practical to-do list: donate to sustain the work, join a cleanup to see impact firsthand, and add your voice to public comments that shape state and federal decisions. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves the ocean, and leave a review telling us the first action you’ll take this month to protect our shores.

Transcript

Meet Katie Thompson & Origins

SPEAKER_02 0:00

It's on a mock day.

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome to the On the Coast Podcast. Hello, hello, and we're back. This is Brandy Jones with Keller Williams Thrive.

SPEAKER_02 0:11

And to my right is Ryan Buckle, Cross Country Mortgage, and Jerry Seagres with Seagraves Insurance.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Woo-hoo! I'm really excited. Our next guest is the executive director of Save Our Shores, Katie Thompson. She has the best personality about something that can feel so heavy, but there's so much cool stuff with Save Our Shores. First, Katie, welcome. Thank you. Thanks for being thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

I'm happy to be here. And then first, how did you get to Santa Cruz? That's a great question. So before Save Our Shores, I've been executive director there about a year and a half. Before then, I worked in marine conservation field, but internationally. So in the Latin America and Caribbean region. So working on coral reefs, seagrass, mangroves in a lot warmer water than here.

unknown 1:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

And lived actually in first Pacific Grove and then Santa Cruz. So in the Monterey Bay Area for about seven years. Got here because my husband went to grad school at uh Middlebury Institute in Monterey. So was living here and working remotely, traveling way too much, and decided, you know, I'd love to work to protect the ocean that's in my backyard, which is how I ended up at Save Our Shores. You started off somewhere colder, though. Yes. Grew up in the Midwest where there's snow. What's that?

unknown 1:37

What's that?

SPEAKER_00 1:39

So yeah, I was born and raised in Missouri, Michigan, went to undergrad in Ohio, and then spent a lot of time in the Pacific Northwest as well in grad school.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

What was the calling? I mean, what was your calling? Like it's it seems like there's a beacon out there of like, I want to help, but what was it specific for you?

SPEAKER_00 1:58

For me as a child, it was dolphins. I was obsessed with dolphins. Growing up in the Midwest, the closest beach was Florida, at least to the ocean. And so that's where I spent a lot of my vacations. And there's a lot of dolphins there as well. And just really grew a love for dolphins and wanting to protect them. It then transitioned throughout different experiences through love for sea turtles, which now is my favorite marine animal.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

We actually have sea turtles, don't we? Yes. And people don't believe me when I say that. Yeah. See, right?

SPEAKER_02 2:30

I don't think I've ever seen one. I was just gonna say, like, I don't know. I've been in the ocean my whole life.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

They're there, I swear. They're migrating. Thousands and thousands.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Are they the same ones that we like see in Hawaii? Like the are they smaller?

SPEAKER_00 2:42

No, they're bigger. They're bigger. Yeah, they're bigger. There's they're swimming from Japan to the US and Mexico and Hawaii.

SPEAKER_03 2:51

It's incredible. Yeah. Like how big? Three feet around? Because there's some big ones in Hawaii.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Bigger the ones you see in Hawaii, bigger than the green sea turtles you see in Hawaii. Yeah, they're massive.

SPEAKER_04 3:01

Wow. Is this a new development?

unknown 3:03

No.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

They're there.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

I feel like I don't even live in the city. Did you know there's whales too out there? We got a lot to talk about.

SPEAKER_05 3:12

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

I actually heard that they spotted a sperm whale in our city. Yes, I saw that too. That's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

Crab fishermen are not stoked about it, but whatever.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Complex there.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

So not sea turtles, sea turtles are your favorite. And now that the boys know, there's turtles here.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

Turtles are in our ocean. Yeah.

From Midwest Roots To Marine Calling

SPEAKER_01 3:31

And going down to Latin America and the Caribbean, obviously warmer water, clearer water, I would say. Yes. What's what give us the good news and the bad news of your job?

SPEAKER_00 3:43

So the good news is, well, let me start with the bad news, actually. We'll end on a high note. So the bad news is that the ocean today is facing the biggest challenge it's ever faced. Climate change. So the ocean absorbs carbon, it helps regulate our climate. Our climate isn't changing, changing rapidly today than ever before. Overfishing. So industrial fleets of fishing across the world are fishing at increasing rates, going farther to catch the same amount of fish, scraping our sea floors. The climate changes also have an impact on the coral reefs, which host our world's biodiverse ecosystems. So there's a lot of threats, unfortunately, today. But what I've seen in my work and what keeps inspiring me is the people who are dedicated to protect it. These, you know, coastal communities or even far from the ocean, they realize they depend on a healthy ecosystem and a healthy ocean, a healthy coast. And they stand up and you know speak for it because it can't speak for itself. So working with those people here in Santa Cruz, there is so much support for the work. There's so much dedication. You know, Save Our Shores has nearly 5,000 volunteers a year. We're doing over 150 beach cleanups. People are showing up time and time and again. They want to know how they can support, they want to know how they can participate. And that's really just what keeps me going.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

That gave me chills. Well, let's talk a little bit about the history of Save Our Shores. And we were talking earlier, like history repeats itself. And I think that if we as a humanity, we need to learn from the past. And Save Our Shores was founded as a nonprofit in 1979 to address offshore offshore drilling in the Monterey Bay. And specifically, that is exactly what you guys are focusing on today.

Sea Turtles On Our Coast

SPEAKER_00 5:50

Yes, yeah, it's pretty incredible. You know, over 40 years ago, we were focused on this issue. That offshore that time was the last time California has faced this threat. Um and we're seeing it again today. So back in the late 70s, early 80s, there was a plan by the federal government to open up California federal waters to offshore drilling. And the community really stood up and fought against it. They did not want oil rigs off their coast. They didn't want to see oil spills and everything that that can lead to. They valued their coastal ecosystem, their beaches, and they stood up and were successful in fighting against offshore oil. They did that through numerous ways, but one way we're revisiting again today is Santa Cruz back in the mid-80s. The city was the first jurisdiction in California to implement land use ordinance that prohibits onshore infrastructure related to offshore oil gases, gas development. So it's essentially a tool that local jurisdictions have to stop offshore oil, even though the oil development is way far away from those jurisdictions. So essentially setting up what we're calling a blue wall. So it started here in Santa Cruz City, it sped to the county, and then now it's in 27 different jurisdictions across the state, both cities and counties.

SPEAKER_03 7:19

That's that don't allow offshore oil drilling in those 27 counties.

SPEAKER_00 7:23

Yeah, that don't allow onshore infrastructure related to offshore drilling. And so essentially making it very, very difficult or not attractive for any sort of company who wants to develop offshore oil because they can't.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

Because they can't have a refinery or any equipment related to it on the shore. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

A key part of oil development is you have to have a way to transport the oil through pipelines. You have to have a refinery on the shore. So it requires a lot of onshore infrastructure. So once companies see there's this wall of jurisdictions that don't allow this, how am I going to get around it? And it just becomes cost prohibitive. Well, exactly. It's like building a house in Santa Cruz.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Yeah. Santa Cruz is what is cost prohibitive. Wow. And I believe it. And then think of Long Beach, Long Beach, Manhattan Beach. That's your refinery. All of the chevrons down there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:18

So how is it is it just like legal down there for them to do it off the coast? Because I've seen my whole life.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Exactly. Yeah, there's a gap which we're trying to close. So Santa Barbara to LA. Generally speaking, there are some jurisdictions that have ordinances in place. But generally speaking, that's an area of the coastline that we're hoping to get ordinances in place. It's, of course, there's more of a challenge because there are already oil rigs down there that are that are operating. And so it's more of an uphill battle, but the jurisdictions down there we've talked to recently are much more on board today than they were 40 years ago because they've seen the impacts of oil spill. I mean, you look at the recent one in Huntington Beach, you know, it it closes down tourism, it costs the jurisdictions millions of dollars because these are driven by tourists who want to go there, want to enjoy the beaches. And so they've seen the impacts of what oil spills can do, and they're much more likely to get on board today than they were before.

Ocean Threats: Climate, Overfishing, Reefs

SPEAKER_02 9:21

So this is a major revenue thing for California, I imagine. Are they backing this initiative in any kind of way to stop it?

SPEAKER_00 9:29

Yes. So California, the state, has come out full force against Trump's plan to open up offshore oil drilling. And they've been very vocal about that, just different agencies within the government. And so right now, actually, there is a five-year plan put forward by the federal government where the state of California has reacted to that and has said we we don't want it. And so I think now the question is: will the federal government take that into consideration? Florida and the entire East Coast said the same thing. They were taken out of the plan. So there's no plans for offshore oil development there. But California, parts of Gulf of Mexico, and then Alaska remain in the plan.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Well, Save Our Shores has been very successful because it was in 1992 that Save Our Shores spent all those years, and now Monterey Bay is a national sanctuary because of all the work Save Our Shores did. Is that is that a goal, or is that how is how are you building that infrastructure in Save Our Shores to make a bigger impact for more than just Monterey Bay?

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Right. That's a great question. So we were involved in that establishment of sanctuary along with other local leaders and other organizations, very much a coalition effort. And what we've seen, what our power continues to be, is because Santa Cruz is such a leader and a trendsetter for any sort of environmental protection when it comes to the coast and the ocean, we've been able to use that as an example for the rest of the state. So Save Our Shores is part of a statewide coalition called the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf Coalition, which is essentially where they want to drill. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Save our shores.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Out there in the walls, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so we are part of that coalition. And even though we're a small, relatively small organization, people are looking to Santa Cruz about what's next. And so we are currently working with the city and the county of Santa Cruz to update those ordinances that are more than 40 years old in order to make them more legally sound, considering we're l living in a different legal context and to add new threats, so new emerging threats. Right now we're focused on deep seabed mining. So is essentially resource extraction from the bottom of the ocean floor, scraping up everything on the bottom of the floor in order to extract minerals for production and use.

SPEAKER_03 12:01

So like what's down there?

SPEAKER_00 12:03

So Turtles.

unknown 12:05

Turtles.

Save Our Shores Volunteers And Impact

SPEAKER_00 12:06

Or, you know, those are we know less about the bottom of the ocean than we do about the moon. Um and so destroying the bottom of the ocean before we know what's down there could be extremely dangerous. Down there we found sources like cures to cancer in terms of marine organisms. They there are very biodiverse habitats. They're just less studied than you know the coral reefs of the world or the coast right off of Santa Cruz. So there's a lot of biodiversity, important habitats, and just the act of the mining itself would cause ecosystem uh impacts just because the the coast is connected through currents. And so yeah, it's it's it's problematic, and uh the local jurisdictions have realized that and they they realize they need to protect like they did from offshore oil 40 years ago from this other new activity.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

I'm glad I know about that. You were gonna ask a question, right?

SPEAKER_04 13:04

It's just fascinating me. Like, is there anything from that playbook? And I know the landscape's changed. Anything from that playbook 40 years ago that you kind of look back and say, how did they change mindsets? How did they move politics a little bit? Is it too far back, or can you take a few pieces of that and kind of like bring it forward?

SPEAKER_00 13:21

Definitely can take a few pieces of that. I'm working hand in hand with Dan Hafley, a local community advocate. And yeah. So he was the one that led that charge last time. But instead of calling and emailing different jurisdiction offenses, he drove in his car from different, you know, county to city office across the state. So different tactic, but same, same message. And so that has really helped save our shores. Think about okay, how can we, what can we take from that playbook? And it and it's the same. It's it's identifying those leaders in those jurisdictions and having them, them championing, championing those updated policies or new policies. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 14:03

Dan's like found a lot of oh, sorry.

SPEAKER_04 14:05

No, just Dan's like bummed and psyched at the same time, probably. It's like Robert Downey Jr. and being Iron Man again. It's like he's like sitting there in his lounge or you're like you're back, and he's like, he's like, I don't even know if the suit fits anymore. You know, I'll be there in ten minutes.

SPEAKER_05 14:19

Yeah, it's true.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

Have you found a lot of resistance when you call these uh people? They they it seems like most people should be in for this.

History Of The Blue Wall Against Drilling

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Yes, definitely not. J opposite. Like people are very psyched, they're I mean, they're upset that we're looking at this again, but they're excited that you know, a teeny tiny city council power to do something. Because as we were talking about before, these issues are very daunting and it feels like there's nothing we can do but but we can. I mean, you know, as voters, as local jurisdiction governments, there there is power, and so people are really excited. And so the idea is to what we're doing here in Santa Cruz to just really package it up and replicate it in other jurisdictions. So we'll we'll be in touch with those jurisdictions as we wrap up the work here.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

So that sounds like a lot. I mean, this is a nonprofit. How do you guys raise money? Great question. Donations at 1-800 save our shores.org.

SPEAKER_05 15:23

Click on the now.

unknown 15:24

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

No, but truly, I have since I've started the job, I've been amazed of the community support that Save Our Shores receives. So literally, people donors sending in checks, donating online is really it's more than half of our revenue comes from individual donors donating a small amount every year, every month. Um, and so that really is what keeps the edging going. We also get some grants too, particularly to support our environmental education programming. We're taking youth from underserved schools out into the coastal areas, out into natural areas, many times for the first time. And then we also have our some contract work with the city and the county where we're doing beach cleanups and community outreach programs.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

Let's talk about that. Again, this can be daunting. And the words that you're sharing with us give us a little fighting spirit hope, and we've done it before, we can do it again. And it's people like you that are passionate about just the the life that comes from ocean and keeping it clean. At one time, Brian, wasn't Monterey Bay the dirtiest ocean in the world?

SPEAKER_04 16:32

Yeah, I mean, it's legendary. Like you turn of the century, you know, it was it was there was no marine life. You know, I wrote an article, Death and Life of the Monterey Bay, when we first started working together, and it became essentially one of the most pristine ecosystems on the planet. It became like, how do you recover an ecosystem? We did it, but it can be undone very quickly. And I think that's what it shows in the 1800s with the fishing industry and the sardines and things like that. It doesn't take but a decade, a couple decades to basically scoot that that marine life out of here and change the ecosystem, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:03

Aaron Powell Yes, yeah, it can it can be detrimental. You know, you're doing an activity in a non-sustainable way for just a few years and and the impacts could be felt for decades.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Aaron Powell So the the reason I'm saying that is we have this national attention about offshore drilling, but really we also have communities that rely on fishing and minerals and people need money. It's like that's got to be a hard line to balance livelihood plus saving the oceans. Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

Yeah. And I think the the argument here in California, our blue economy is you know billions of dollars a year annually. So what does that mean? It means any any industry that depends on a healthy ocean. So fisheries, shipping, ports, you know, tourism, you name it. And so that is when we talk about securing jobs for the future, that's what we're talking about. We're not talking about the very small handful of jobs that would be created by by building a rig off of our coast. It would, it would, you know, put at risk those many, many more jobs.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

So if we're at home and you're at home listening to this and you're like, okay, I like what she's saying, I want to help, but there's a couple ways, obviously donations. But what are some of the bigger ways that you're getting through to like the kids out there? Like you have 150 cleanups, beach cleanups. Okay, tell us more about that.

Ordinances, Santa Cruz Leadership, Statewide Push

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Yeah, so the beach cleanups are a vital part of our programming. It's a great way to get kids, adults from here in Santa Cruz, from over the hill, tourists uh really out there on the beach to first clean the beach. You know, it's important that we're actually picking up the trash on the beach because unfortunately there continues to be trash on the beach. And then, second, recording what we're picking up. So, how many cigarette butts did we pick up? How many plastic pieces do we pick up? How many plastic cutlery items do we pick up? Because that data that we have, kind of over a decade of data now, informs our other local advocacy efforts. For example, our recent push to ban the sale of filter tobacco products, so cigarette butts, the first in the world, the first jurisdiction in the world to do so. Because we keep seeing cigarette butts everywhere, and we're tired of seeing cigarette butts everywhere. So, what can we do about it? And that was driven directly by the volunteers who are out there every single week picking up that that trash and recording that data. And then it just gives individuals an opportunity to spend more time on the coast and by the ocean and learn kind of from that local environment. So that the power of local action is real. It really is. And beach cleanups is one way to do that in terms of advocacy and offshore oil. You know, submitting comment letters is super important. Contacting your local representative saying, thank you for doing what you're doing, or rather, you know, I'd love for you to really be stronger in these points. And so that outreach is really important. We've seen that. Santa Cruz has has changed tides because of that outreach and engagement, civic engagement is really important.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

And where are they gonna find you online? I mean, we're not done, but I'm just curious while we're talking about where go to savearshores.org.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

Um, and then to learn specifically about drilling, you can do savearshores.org slash drilling.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

And then for the beach cleanups, is there a calendar on there?

SPEAKER_00 20:31

Yes. On our homepage, there's an event calendar, and you'll see for the next month and a half out of what beaches we're at on the weekends.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

You have over 5,000 volunteers. Yes. Is that just beach cleanups or is that policy writing? Is that all everything.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

So a lot of it ends up being the beach cleanups. Uh we also have a lot of um volunteers, like, for example, through our education programs where we're taking classrooms out into the beach, and they're actually, you know, little kids are doing the the beach cleanup and how they're learning about sea turtles in the modern day.

SPEAKER_02 21:04

Well, sure. I should join that class.

SPEAKER_05 21:06

You missed that one.

SPEAKER_03 21:07

You can play a hooky that day.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

But yeah, there's there's the we have volunteers involved with everything. Our we also have a program called Sanctuary Stewards, and so those are a kind of a dedicated group of volunteers, about 40 volunteers who have gone through a training with us about our different programming, about the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. And then those volunteers are actually a lot of times the ones out there leading the beach cleanups and so or providing public comment at city council meetings. They're an extremely engaged group of people. So kind of the train the trainers model where we're trying to spread our network and increase that that involvement.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

This is sort of Santa Cruz of me. Are there hoodies that we can buy?

SPEAKER_00 21:53

That you we Yes, there are.

State vs Federal Plans And Sanctuary Legacy

SPEAKER_01 21:55

We have a shop. So we and the money from the merch that you're selling. Because you see people wear those subsurfers, you know. Do you get to keep a large percentage of that, or is there a better way to like kind of be cool with all this?

SPEAKER_00 22:08

Like that, so that's the only way to buy merch is on our website, which we get I wish we got more, but you know, producing merch is expensive, but it's also a great way to get our name out in the community. So that's the value we really see in it. So please go ahead and buy merch on. We like that. I like that a lot.

SPEAKER_04 22:26

Hey, getting back to the fundraising side of it, is there with the politics of the last year, is there like a direct line item for how much world's changed? I know talking with Community Foundation, Santa Cruz County, it's some of the numbers I'm hearing from these nonprofits are are shocking, and especially when it has to do with the environment. Are there some numbers you can throw around so people know how much help we need to kind of not help, but I guess we need to kind of all connect?

SPEAKER_00 22:48

Yeah. So we are fortunate enough to not have gotten any federal grants taken away from us because we haven't we weren't in the moment of receiving federal grants. But what we're trying to, in general, the overall giving, as you've heard from us, the community foundation, is relatively down just because of the uncertainty. Yeah. And so, for example, we're trying to raise$50,000 to kind of support this uh offshore drilling work that we've tried to pick up overnight. And some donors have really, really stepped up in and in really big ways. That those money from donors is is really important because it it goes directly to you know our programming, but then it also helps essentially that organizational infrastructure survive, you know, through general operating funds, which nonprofits are always trying to do that.

SPEAKER_04 23:42

I'm bad at math, but that's better than merch. Yeah. Merch is great. That's a lot better than merch.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

When you're looking for in this we can move on past fundraising, when you're when you're appealing to fundraising, you used to have Rod Kbourne, who was like our local legend, rest in peace. And he made businesses want to pay you money. What is another way that we can appeal to businesses that might, you know, they may say they're watching their dollars? Like it's a tax write-off. And do they get a shout out? I mean, what what would be your appeal to them listening right now?

SPEAKER_00 24:20

Yeah, there that's a really great question. So for businesses, we organize corporate cleanups. So businesses typically contact us and say, you know, we want to do a team activity, we're interested in supporting your work. How can we work together? And so we put together a cleanup for them where they, you know, are out on the beach having a good time. We've done that for many businesses or conferences that visit the area. One particular support that we could need from businesses is the annual Coastal Cleanup Day, which is is in September, which we do, you know, it's it's not funded at all. And so we always ask for sponsors. And so what businesses get out of that is they, you know, of course, get the logo on the website, and then um special shout-outs through social media, and then of course support on the actual cleanup day if they choose to participate.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

Well, I see four businesses, five, six businesses in this room. What does that run a business? If you want just to go online, is that thousands of dollars or or is it voluntary what you get to pick for that day?

SPEAKER_00 25:21

Yeah. So the actual cleanup, like a corporate cleanup, would be$2,000, up to 50 participants.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

I was like up to$50,000? Not bad.

SPEAKER_05 25:30

Not bad.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

But we would take$50,000. Okay, sweeting for expenses. I get it. Okay, keep going.

Updating Laws And New Threat: Seabed Mining

SPEAKER_00 25:36

50 participants. And so and then on the actual coastal cleanup day, which is a special kind of the international cleanup day, where the biggest cleanup day around the globe, it's in September. There's different sponsorship levels. So right now we have one at, I think, 1,000, 2,500, 5,000, and 10,000 that depending on what you buy into, you get different things. So at the higher levels, there would also be perks in terms of different events with Save Our Shores or dedication and kind of further collaboration and further cleanups.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

Aaron Powell, you know, when we get closer to September, we should either have her back on the podcast stand or rerun this just so that it can at least get out for people that want to do that.

SPEAKER_04 26:18

For sure.

SPEAKER_02 26:18

How much does inland waterways affect the ocean cleanliness?

SPEAKER_00 26:24

Hugely, yes. Yeah. Yeah, hugely. And so one thing that we're doing at Save Our Shores is we do kind of river cleanup, so at the San Lorenzo River River, but then also work closely with other nonprofits who are dedicated kind of more inland, so close to watershed councils.

SPEAKER_02 26:41

I grew up surfing the river mouth and I've been sick many times.

SPEAKER_01 26:45

Yeah, his skin turns orange, you know.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

My mom was like, you can surf there, but you got to get a hepatitis shape. That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_04 26:52

Exactly right.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

That's too bad. Yeah. Everything in the ocean and or everything in the river ends up in the ocean. And so the it all the work that happens upstream is extremely important.

SPEAKER_03 27:03

And that's where all the trash probably comes from, correct? That we're cleaning up on the beach.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

Yeah. A lot of it. A lot of it. And so the at the river mouse where we do the cleanup at the river mouse, we have we find a ton of stuff. And that's where we find a lot of our largest items, like pieces of furniture, or like one one year we found a Buddha statue.

SPEAKER_04 27:24

One year we found a wharf bathroom. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:29

Yeah, I remember.

SPEAKER_04 27:30

One year we found half a wharf. That too.

SPEAKER_02 27:33

A skid steer.

SPEAKER_04 27:34

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

Well, we, you know, in the real estate part of this, again, this county is very frustrating to build. And I personally love the no-growth policy of like the old times. I like having a little bit of land or culture, you know, history, family culture, I guess you could say, or narrative here. And it's very expensive now because when you go up the rivers, you have septic systems, and septic systems now cost around 130,000, 130,000. Yeah. Because they have to be new and engineered, which obviously affects the housing market, which affects who's going to buy it and who's going to report a problem. And so it it's a it's good cop, bad cop all the time. And you know, it was one day when you know we had septics, and they're like, well, we need to make sure you have an inspection. Now these inspections are requiring new systems.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

So it's Yeah, you can't even have it inspected or fixed, right? Like they have to report immediately that it needs to be replaced.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

And so it's it's it I'm trying to point out without throwing two sides under the bus here, is like this is hard times in the sense of we want to navigate a lifestyle that is built on history. We want to enjoy the 17 to 20 percent of nature land that we have, but we also need to be responsible. And responsibility now is falling on us financially because we weren't responsible before. Because it's neat we're talking about it now, but how many of us are gonna go home and like, okay, we're gonna mark our calendar? So I love this advocacy on the beach or up the river because it is that real-time experience that you like this isn't online, this isn't doom scrolling, this is right here, and kind of take an indigenous, you know, Native American approach to it. Like, we are all one, we all have to co coexist, and yet we have this polarization of how to do it.

Reviving The Playbook And Building Champions

SPEAKER_02 29:16

I just feel like sometimes Santa Cruz is disconnected from the message and the the practicality and approach, right? Like I think that's a tale as old as time, but when you look at something so simple as a septic problem, it absolutely has a ripple effect that leads to the ocean, right? And we don't really look at it that way. We look at it like, yeah, everybody has 150,000 sitting around that they can replace a system with. We're gonna make them do that, not realizing that this has untold amounts of of repercussions, you know. And I I do get sick and tired of you know the the messaging just can or or the messages conflicting all the time, you know, with you know, whatever you want to say about building, it's always the same way, right? Like we we want to preserve, but then there's a giant hotel that goes up. And you're like, wait, what about that? You know? So it's an interesting approach. I don't really know how we get around it as a community, but maybe just raising awareness, you know?

unknown 30:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:16

Connecting those dots. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 30:18

Yeah, connecting those dots and really engaging with your city council, the board of supervisors, tracking, or at least linking up with groups that track the issues that you care most about. You know, our perspective was like in indicating when there'd be something on the agenda related to anything, coastal environment, but there's other things related to housing or whatever your issue is, there there are groups, there are so many nonprofits in Santa Cruz County.

SPEAKER_02 30:45

Well, and you said something earlier that really like resonated with me is that you bring receipts, right? Like you count all the trash. Yes. And so that you can be like, look at this is what we got. This is why we need this initiative. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

I think we're gonna put the nail on the head. Whereas we're sitting here looking at all these taxes. We can speculate. Here's my number one example. In Watsonville, there's a transfer tax when you sell a property that's going to preserve the slough, but yet nobody can give you the account of what it's preserving. That's where I think people are like, we want to support this, but show us where the money's going. And I feel like you clearly are showing us. Like you're like, I'm gonna be out there on the beach with you. We have receipts. We also have all the receipts. Yes. And obviously, you aren't a bureaucracy, you're a nonprofit, and receipts are important because you want more money. But that's where it's it, it gets you get that pushback or you get these one-liners of like, oh, Santa Cruz County is so difficult, or this, that, the other thing. And yes, I said them. But it was just to bring out the sense of like these things, if we can get past the one-liners and we can show up, even the smallest way, we can make a difference. And it sounds so cliche.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

Yeah. No, it's true. It's true. We've seen it. Yeah. Local, local people taking local actions make difference. I mean, as I said before, Santa Cruz is a model for the rest of the state in many respects.

SPEAKER_03 32:02

Are the donors pretty much the same donors over and over again? You have new bright, new, new blood coming in.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

Like how does that look like a a little of both. I think one of the challenges with fundraising is kind of engaging that new generation of donors is they want to donate in a different way. So rather than picking an organization and donating, which we do have people who have donated for decades, which is amazing, the younger donors are usually donating by issue. Oh. So by topic. And so, for example, you know, they would be more likely to donate to a campaign to stop offshore oil drilling rather than donate to save our shores. Interesting. Um, and so it's just required us nonprofits to just think a little bit more creatively about you know how we kind of communicate those opportunities.

Community Momentum And How To Help

SPEAKER_04 32:51

Um it's tone and platform too. I'm obsessed with the thing you're talking about. We talk about vibes all the time. Is that you know you need to basically sort of carry the message to the demographic. And it's not only the platform, it's also like a message in print for our demographic is one message, long-form editorial message on our vertical TVs is skewed more towards what you're talking about. Same message, different sort of delivery mechanism in a different way. We kind of like show it in a 15-second reel. Eventually you want them to connect and engage. We have to speak their language. Yes. And then I and I think that that that that's why this medium is amazing. You know, that what we're doing right now is is an equal standing to from in my world, print equal standing to the TV network. Each one has a different demographic and a different kind of like we call it an impression or linger rate. You know. So I think it really matters. Speaking of that, you know, while we're here, it's like it's just so hard to get all the way around, but we're deeply connected. But for that messaging, you know, all you ever need to do is we're connected, you know, in our own ways. It's anything 1080 by 1920 goes up on the network now for nonprofits. And it's not a small amount. Even our small nonprofits, it ends up being about 65,000 impressions a month.

SPEAKER_05 34:02

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 34:02

And so and that's that's in health clubs, in everywhere. So it's it's not a small amount. You know, and that's just that's getting six plays per hour on 20 screens, and we'll be up to 100 screens. It's um but that's the way I think, and within that we can work together, and you know, the message on certain screens that each have their own ID. I I'm fascinated by it because you can basically tell a message to a demographic in a different way. Maybe it's maybe it's a turtle.

SPEAKER_03 34:27

For Jerry.

SPEAKER_04 34:28

For Jerry. Yeah. Hawaiian or gym. What gym do you work out at?

SPEAKER_05 34:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:31

I'll put turtles all over that place. You'll start getting all this money from Jerry's actors because Jerry. He loves turtles. Yeah, I love turtles. I love turtles. About 10.

SPEAKER_01 34:43

Okay. So you ended up in Santa Cruz because of your husband?

SPEAKER_00 34:46

Yeah, and but we were in Pacific Grove first. And so yeah, we ended up I was living in Miami before because closer to the Caribbean. And then he is actually from Costa Rica and moved to which I live down in Costa Rica. I w a lot of places back and forth, but eventually we ended up together in Pacific Grove.

SPEAKER_01 35:07

So when you guys came up here, what is it uh what would you say is kind of the hook, line, and sinker about Santa Cruz.

SPEAKER_00 35:15

Ooh. So it's interesting. We were in Pacific Grove and deciding, okay, where do we want to go next? And so we're thinking Santa Cruz or Seattle, which two West Coast cities, but also very different. Like, man, we love Santa Cruz. It's always 10 degrees warmer than here and much more lively.

SPEAKER_01 35:35

And doesn't have all the fog.

Funding, Education, And Underserved Youth

SPEAKER_00 35:37

Yeah, exactly. Um, and so what I have found in Santa Cruz is the amount of groups and clubs is infinite. You know, I I like to play basketball and I'm an all-women's basketball league, which is very hard to find in a city of this size.

SPEAKER_01 35:55

I didn't even know. And now I know.

SPEAKER_04 35:57

Brandy's gonna be in it. No, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

I play beach volleyball. Okay. I pick up those little butts out there.

SPEAKER_00 36:02

Exactly. Yeah, but beach balls are another example. It's just there's so many activity going around all the time. Uh my dad was visiting this weekend, he said we were just walking around town on Saturday. But Valentine's Day. Yeah. And there's like, there's so many things happening. Every single neighborhood we went to, there were so many people doing, you know, outside enjoying themselves. And that's what I love about Santa Cruz. And and I understand why people come here and never leave.

SPEAKER_01 36:29

Would you say you've seen some of your handiwork? Like when you drive, yeah, when you drive by a beach is their pride, where you're like, we just clean that up.

SPEAKER_00 36:35

Or yeah, yeah, we just clean that up, or we like thinking about the data of what people cleaned up the weekend before, now it's not there, you know, is really yeah, powerful. Or it's really rewarding also when community members reach out to us when they see, you know, an issue and they want help with outreach or a solution. So for example, tide pooling is really big here, but there are certain, you know, things that we should keep in mind in order to not destroy the environment. So, you know, you know, members, youth of the community are reaching out. Oh, I saw this issue, I'd love your help solving it. And so knowing that we have that role in the community as kind of finding working together to find solutions is really is really powerful.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

Tide poles. I don't know what not to do. I mean, I try not to step on anything, but what would be your top three things?

SPEAKER_00 37:24

Yeah, not step on, yeah, it's pretty basic. Not try look where you're stepping and also don't pick up the animals out of the water. Right.

SPEAKER_04 37:30

And then so Especially the turtles.

SPEAKER_00 37:32

Yeah, especially the turtles. No turtles, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. But yeah, it's always tempting to pick up a sea star, rip it from the rock, and have hold it up for a photo. Oh, don't do that.

SPEAKER_01 37:45

Okay, so that's we're in the era of selfies. Because think about that. Like we didn't take pictures 30 years ago or even 20 years ago, maybe on our camera. But now it I didn't even think about that. The level of touching things for a picture.

SPEAKER_00 37:58

Yeah, there's a bunch of oils on your hands, and then yeah, it's just it's not good for the for the creatures. And then collection too. So a lot of people go out and collect things, which isn't encouraged, and you know, it's amazing. The tide pools, especially during king tides, are I recommend anybody who go and do it. It's really, really cool experience.

SPEAKER_02 38:20

But what's your favorite area to explore for tide pooling?

SPEAKER_00 38:24

So I live by Pleasure Point, and so uh I go there.

SPEAKER_02 38:27

Yeah, 100%. That's a good one.

SPEAKER_00 38:28

Yeah, that's just like surf there. Anytime, but King Tide is especially cool because you can walk from Pleasure Point to Capitol. Yeah, that's pretty nice.

Data-Driven Cleanups And Policy Wins

SPEAKER_04 38:39

Yeah, right below our uh condo there on New Brighton's amazing on some really it's just uh just like a different planet in a lot of ways. It's it's it presents differently. I had one for you because it sitting here whenever I meet you, I feel like I want you to answer this question. I feel like the people that are closer to this, the people that are advocating I'm thinking of Franz, Sean, you, Ethan Estes, like this crew that's like deeply connected in through nonprofits and also just through the community, you're more optimistic than the people that are pessimistic sitting on the outside looking in. It's and it's a strange it gets to what you kind of talked about, but I always leave our events together. I always leave these things feeling like you know it's it's not as negative, and this I guess this kind of ties the whole thing up as it feels when I'm with you guys, you're more optimistic than we are watching people yell on the TV.

SPEAKER_00 39:27

Yeah, it's it's it is really interesting when you f you frame it like that. I think I think once people like actually put their hands to work, they start to change that mentality. And they like of course acknowledge that there's people yelling on TV, there's bad things going on, but I can do something with my hands. And now I've have found a community of other people who want to do the same thing. And so I think that like I would just encourage those people to just find a group, find something to do, make those connections. I've got it.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

It needs to be Save Our Shores dating site. Make all the single Save Our Shores.

SPEAKER_04 40:12

That one, that one's free.

SPEAKER_01 40:13

I think it's good.

SPEAKER_03 40:14

That's for Brandy.

SPEAKER_04 40:17

Brandy's like, do you like the I like their own? Feels a little selfish.

SPEAKER_01 40:22

The same sex sells, but how can you do that? It isn't getting hot in here. Don't you love our codes?

SPEAKER_05 40:31

Love our codes.

SPEAKER_01 40:33

It really is getting hot in here.

SPEAKER_00 40:34

Yeah, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_03 40:35

Are you proud of our community on how they back you in in what you do?

SPEAKER_00 40:39

Yeah. That's right. For sure, 100%. Just the amount of phone calls I get of interested people in the community, you know, the outreach we we conduct, it's it's amazing. People of all ages, you know, everywhere, like people from over the hill come to do a beach cleanup, and just because they want to clean the beach that's closest to them, even though it's much farther than many of us that live here in Santa Cruz. So that, yeah, is really, really powerful.

SPEAKER_01 41:08

Well, it's interesting you say that because here's the one-liner again. You know, these guys are second, third generation, fourth generation Santa Cruz. And there's a saying that used to be like valleys go home. Like and then playing beach volleyball on a weekend down at Main Beach.

SPEAKER_03 41:22

That was Jerry started that.

SPEAKER_01 41:23

You know, like how these people over the hill leave the trash. And the reality is it's not people over the hill leaving the trash. A lot of people that are here are leaving trash. So it's yeah, you know, again, I I preach to myself to be like, you can't just blanket a certain type of people for leaving the trash.

Corporate Cleanups And Sponsorships

SPEAKER_02 41:42

The one that gets me though is when they burn pallets on the beach because the nails get left behind. Yeah, exactly. It's brutal. Have you ever stepped on a nail on the beach? Many times.

SPEAKER_04 41:53

Yeah, many times.

SPEAKER_03 41:54

How about beach glass? Pick the beach glass and take it out or leave it.

SPEAKER_00 41:57

Take it. Yeah. Yeah. We have a category in our data card for beach glass. Because some of it looks nice, which you can take home and make art, but otherwise just, you know, sharp, yeah, sharp glass models broken. So yeah, take it, please. Anything that's not sand that's trash, please.

SPEAKER_01 42:15

That's interesting. Well, as we wrap this up, what would your message, what would you like people to hear? I mean, I feel like you've said very positive, encouraging things, but would it be something you would like to leave people thinking about?

SPEAKER_00 42:28

I would just like to reiterate the whole topic of this conversation is that you know, Santa Cruz, our coast is how it is today because of local grassroots action.

SPEAKER_01 42:40

And so Did you record that?

SPEAKER_04 42:42

I hope so.

SPEAKER_01 42:45

So keep it up, really.

SPEAKER_04 42:46

Clearly, I'm struggling to keep it up.

SPEAKER_01 42:49

Are you eating an orange again? I did. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 42:53

I muted it.

SPEAKER_01 42:53

Okay, good.

SPEAKER_04 42:54

But I do want to say before we get off air, since it is recording, I do want to say two things. For the algorithm is Tale as Old as Time, Beauty and the Beast, Disney, and cliche, Machine Gun Kelly. That's just gonna help in our notes as far as getting it out there a little bit. But believe me, I heard both of those and it pops up in my head. That will be in the show notes.

SPEAKER_01 43:11

Katie, I think you're so articulate and I'm so excited you're here. Thank you so much. And then when it comes to back to September, maybe August, we'll start either having you come back or we'll promote this one again. That way we can get more people out there.

SPEAKER_03 43:23

So me, I'm definitely gonna be donating to you guys because you know you need it. I've used the beaches my whole life and I've never gave back. I've done beach cleanups and stuff like that, but just I gotta do it.

SPEAKER_04 43:32

It's like this is all thousand dollars.

SPEAKER_03 43:36

You heard it here first.

SPEAKER_01 43:37

Or a sweatshirt.

SPEAKER_04 43:39

Just by the merch. One sweatshirt for 50 grand. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:43

I'm gonna get the one sweatshirt, but definitely my company on and Jerry owns Hideout vodka, so he'll not only have his he doesn't really, Ryan does, but he'll have two companies support. So you really do have businesses in here that we are going to support you during that. So before we agree to them. Well, thank you, everyone. This is Brandy Jones with KW Thhrush. You can reach me at 831-588-5145.

SPEAKER_03 44:03

Ryan Buckholt, or am I? Cross-country mortgage. That's right. 831-818-2339. Donate to uh Save Our Shores.

SPEAKER_02 44:10

Yeah, Jerry Seagrace with Seagras Insurance, 831-239-9425.

SPEAKER_00 44:15

Katie, where can they donate? Or where can they reach you? You can reach me at save our shores.org or directly at Katie at save our shores.org. Yay!

SPEAKER_02 44:25

Great