Save Our Shores, along with Oceana and others, organized a Sanctuary Mayor's Ocean Summit meeting with the aim of gathering all Mayor’s from along the Monterey Bay Sanctuary and further to discuss the threat that plastic poses to our communities and ways to combat single-use plastic items. 13 Mayor’s signed a Pledge to “work together and in our communities reduce and eliminate polystyrene and single-use plastic bags."

Mayor’s, City Managers, and representatives from environmental nonprofits attended the Summit on August 28th in Watsonville. Attendees included Walter Rob, co-president of the Whole Foods, U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, Assemblyman Bill Monning and former Assemblyman John Laird. Cynthia Mathews, Mayor of Santa Cruz, was also in attendance. Click here for the official website from the summit.

While the City and County of Santa Cruz along with a slough of other cities have already adopted polystyrene bans, many communities have yet to take action. While the local triumph of getting polystyrene bans in place is a huge step in the right direction, single-use plastic bag bans have yet to move forward.

Discussion of the lawsuits that have been waged on behalf of the American Chemical Council were among the chief reasons for why many of the Mayor’s had not yet adopted plastic bag bans. Save Our Shores created a resource for all Mayors that included information on what these lawsuits were founded on and what resources are now available to help communities avoid this threat.

A coalition of groups in California have banned together to create a draft Master Environmental Assessment that can be adopted by cities in order to avoid the CEQA related lawsuits by the Plastic Industry.  

The Mayor’s Summit not only engaged participants to think about ways to combat plastic litter and adopt local bans, but it also encouraged participants to understand that our future depends on a healthy environment, and a healthy future means healthy oceans. Save Our Shores was proud to help coordinate this important event and will continue to work hard to support and encourage our local council members to adopt plastic bag bans and say no to plastic litter in our communities.

For more information on the Mayor’s Summit, local bans or the impacts of plastic on marine life, please contact Emily Glanville, Emily@saveourshores.org, (831) 462-5660 ext. 5