Are you a thrill seeker or an adrenaline junkie? Come get your fill at the Adventure Film Festival hosted by Save Our Shores.  The Adventure Film Festival will be held at the Rio Theater on April 8th from 7pm to 10pm, doors open at 6pm. Tickets are $12 or $10 with student ID, all proceeds go to funding Save Our Shores programs.  The evening will feature a selection of award winning films highlighting surfing, kayaking, conservation and more in an effort to illustrate the many ways we are connected to the ocean.  Join us in an exclusive screening to celebrate our blue planet. 

Based in Boulder, Colorado, Adventure Film Festival is currently in the middle of a worldwide tour.  Lucky for us, they picked Santa Cruz as a stop along the way.  "The Adventure Film Festival is excited to partner with Save Our Shores for a fun evening of award-winning films featuring adventure, conservation and a glimpse into how the ocean plays a role in everyone's life" says Mark Reiner, Producer of Adventure Film Festival.

Forum on March 18th at 6:15pm at Live Oak Elementary School 1916 Capitola Rd.

Free and open to the public.

Santa Cruz Water Department and Soquel Creek Water District are planning to build a desalination plant, to serve Santa Cruz and Live Oak residents in dry years, and Soquel District customers in all other years. Soquel District wants to reduce pumping from the aquifer, which they report is in danger of seawater contamination from over-pumping.

It’s up to our community to decide the desalination issue. The sponsoring organizations want to get feedback from people who attend the forum.  Sarah Mansergh of Surfrider explains, “Turning sea water into fresh water through this energy intensive process is a significant new step for this community. It’s important that people are fully informed of the consequences.”  The organizers will poll people who attend on their opinions about the desalination plant as a core component of our local water policy.

No Impact Man is the story of a guilty, New York liberal who decides to practice what he preaches for ONE YEAR (turns off the electricity, stops making garbage, gives up TV, taxis and take out & becomes a walking, bicycling, composting, tree hugging, polar bear saving, local food-eating citizen), all while taking his baby daughter & caffeine loving, retail-obsessed, television-addicted wife along with him. Watch the trailer.

Pre-event reception begins at 6:40 pm and the film begins at 7:15 pm followed by a community discussion on reducing your impact by Dr. Wallace J. Nichols (SOS board member and founder of Ocean Revolution). the screening will take place at the Del Mar theater.

Tickets: $5 in advance/$7 at the door. Click here to buy tickets online. OR you can win a ticket through Save Our Shores blog "Into the Blue" click here to enter!

When: December 16th 6:30pm-9:30pm
Where: Rio Theater 1205 Soquel Avenue in Santa Cruz
Who: Save Our Shores, FishWise, Ocean Conservancy, Greenpeace, New Leaf Community Market and Assemblymember Bill Monning

Imagine an ocean without fish. Imagine your meals without seafood. Imagine the global consequences. This is the future if we do not stop, think and act.
The End of the Line is the first major feature documentary film revealing the impact of overfishing on our oceans.  In the film we see firsthand the effects of our global love affair with fish as food. It examines the imminent extinction of bluefin tuna, the impact on marine life resulting in huge overpopulation of jellyfish and the profound implications of a future world with no fish that would bring certain mass starvation. Watch the trailer.

Two Santa Cruz restaurants are supporting Save Our Shores this month by giving part of their profits to our beach cleanup and pollution prevention programs!
Surfrider Cafe, on 429 Front Street, is benefitting Save Our Shores on Wednesday, November 11.  They are open from 11am-11pm, and a portion of the proceeds from the entire day go to SOS.  SOS will have a table set up, staff and volunteers will be there in the evening, and there will be videos of SOS volunteers and events looping on the TV screens.  Join us for a fun evening supporting a cause you believe in!

Hula's Island Grill & Tiki Room is benefitting SOS through their Mahalo Mondays! Dine at their restaurant on 221 Cathcart Street in downtown Santa Cruz on Monday evenings in November and a portion of the proceeds go to SOS!

Thanks so much to both restaurants for choosing Save Our Shores to be a part of your giving programs!

June 8th,2009 is the first official World Oceans Day in the U.S.A!  It was officially declared by the United Nations just a few months ago!
Congratulations to all who made this happen.

Things to do on World Ocean's Day:
-"Wear blue and tell two" Wear blue clothing and tell two people about World Ocean's Day and ways they can help the ocean.
- Do your own beach cleanup, go to the beach with family and friends and bring bags and gloves to collect trash so it doesn't end up in the ocean.
- Attend a local event, listed on Thankyouoceans.org
Have a great World Ocean's Day! For more information on World Ocean's Day visit Theoceanproject.org

If someone hands you a small blue marble don’t be surprised. Here’s what to do: Give it away to someone who is also taking care of our big blue ocean.

Or give it to someone else along with a tip about how to live blue.

Then share your story, pictures or videos on BlueMarbles.organd inspire others to live blue. To get your blue marble, or a couple to share stop by the SOS office or volunteer for one of our summer events! And if you want to get inspired check out the blog to read other people's Blue Marble stories.

Save Our Shores is hosting a public lecture by Dr. Lisa Sloan on global climate change and its local implications.  The lecture will take place at the First Congregational Church at 900 High St. Santa Cruz from 6:30pm-8:30pm.

Sloan will be sharing graphic depictions of the local and statewide impacts of local climate change from a computer modeling system she has developed at UC Santa Cruz.  The changes the models describe will affect everything from the water supply to coastal fisheries to the demand for power during the summer. 

President-elect Barack Obama has appointed Oregon State University professor Jane Lubchenco, one of the nation's most prominent marine biologists, to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

Lubchenco, a conservationist who has devoted much of her career to encouraging scientists to become more engaged in public policy debates, is also an advocate for curbing greenhouse gases linked to global warming.  She is also a Trustee of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and a Trustee Emerita of the David and Lucile Packard Foudation.  The appointment marks a shift for NOAA, which oversees marine policy (including the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary) as well as much of government's climate work.  Lubchenco has criticized the agency in the past for not doing enough to curb overfishing.