SIMA Environmental Fund 2016 Year End Reports SIMA Environmental Fund 27831 La Paz Road Laguna Niguel, CA 92677 Phone: 949.366.1164 Fax: 949.454.1406 www.sima.com 2016 YEAR END REPORTS 5 Gyres Institute Assateague Coastal Trust Clean Ocean Action Heal the Bay North Shore Community Land Trust Ocean Institute Orange County Coastkeeper Paso Pacifico Reef Check Santa Barbara Channelkeeper Save the Waves Seymour Marine Discovery Center Surfers Against Sewage Surfing Education Association Surfrider Foundation Wildcoast Wishtoyo Foundation 2016 YEAR END REPORT 5 Gyres Institute 2016 SIMA ENVIRONMENTAL FUND YEAR END REPORT Organization: 5 Gyres Institute Contact Person: Haley Haggerstone Title: Development and Partnerships Director Purpose of Grant: SIMA Environmental Fund Grant in 2016 supported the expansion of the Ambassador program. Briefly describe the specific purpose and goal for your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant. The Ambassador program is designed to educate and empower 5 Gyres’ global network of supporters to take action against plastic pollution in their communities. Ambassadors are volunteers who are provided with a solid background on plastic pollution science, policy, and solutions. This knowledge is coupled with training and tools to help Ambassadors reduce their plastic footprint and inspire their communities to do the same. The Ambassador program allows 5 Gyres small, but mighty team to have a greater impact on our mission to empower action against the global health crisis of plastic pollution. To what degree were these goals and objectives achieved? If not fully met, what factors affected the success of the project? 5 Gyres Ambassador program launched in 2015 and has grown exponentially ever since, which shows awareness about the plastic pollution issue is increasing and people want to be a part of the solution. In its pilot year, the program accepted 50 Ambassadors who were primarily located in the US. Today, the program maintains over 375 Ambassadors in 38 US States and 48 countries. As the program expands, we continue to develop educational materials and tools to support the Ambassadors’ outreach efforts including a Powerpoint presentation, campaign-specific resources, guides, and education kits. The education kits include samples of plastic pollution collected from beaches and oceans around the world, pieces of plastic with bite marks from coastal and marine wildlife, photographs with talking points printed on the back, educational brochures and business cards. These kits were distributed to the first cohort of Ambassadors in 2015 and this fall additional kits were created for Southern California Ambassadors, as this is what our partners designated their funding towards. We hope to provide kits to more Ambassadors in the future. 5 Gyres staff communicate with the Ambassadors through a monthly newsletter, which keeps them updated on events, campaigns and programs, as well as the most recent science, policy and solutions to plastic pollution. These newsletters also allow Ambassadors to sign up for volunteer opportunities, webinars, and expeditions before the general public. Webinars allow Ambassadors to dive deeper into understanding new information about plastic pollution and ways to spark a #plasticfree movement in their communities. So far this year, we have organized five webinars discussing the Plastics Better Alternatives Now (BAN) List, 5 Gyres #foamfree Action Campaign, Zero Waste Living, Plastic Pollution Solutions in Southeast Asia, and Storytelling. We have one more webinar planned for later this year – to dispel common solutions myths such as recycling and incineration. What has been the measurable impact of your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant on the population or area you serve? We currently have over 375 Ambassadors in 38 US states and 48 countries—ages eight to 80. These Ambassadors allow 5 Gyres to reach more communities with our science and inspire them toward upstream solutions, including individual behavior, corporate design and policy change. Next year, our goal is to better engage this group through our citizen science and advocacy work. We are also exploring an Ambassador app, tiered reward program, and adding more content to the interactive map on our website such as stories, images and videos. What have been the measurable results to date of this grant on the functioning or effectiveness of your organization? (i.e. enhanced operations, increased capacity, etc.) Here are a couple Ambassador spotlights showcasing some of the amazing plastic pollution activists in our network: Abhishek "Abhi" Shastri is eight years old and 5 Gyres youngest Ambassador. He is on a mission to educate and empower youth to live #plasticfree. His hero is another 5 Gyres Ambassador, Brett Edwards, better known as “Mr. Eco”, an environmental activist who empowers children to become #ecoheroes through hip-hop. Abhi participated in 5 Gyres’ #beadfree action campaign by educating his peers about the impacts of microbeads. He created a video, gathered pledge signatures, and collected microbead products. Abhi believes we’re all responsible for the planet and we must work together to protect it for generations to come. He was recently featured on UPWORTHY and received an award from the Board of Education in Long Island, NY where he lives. Hannah Testa has been an environmentalist and animal rights activist most of her life – all 14 years of it. Since the age of four, Hannah has made it her mission to fight for the planet and its inhabitants. At 10, Hannah realized that one of our biggest problems is one that we can control – plastic pollution. Since then, Hannah has given presentations to thousands of people across the nation on how to reduce their plastic footprint. In 2016, Hannah approached a local senator with the idea of a day to help raise awareness about the issue. Together, they wrote a resolution that named February 15th Plastic Pollution Awareness Day in Georgia, which was celebrated for the first time this year. Next year, Hannah will work with 5 Gyres to expand Plastic Pollution Awareness Day through the Ambassador network. Win Cowger is a PhD student at the University of California, Riverside in Environmental Science. He’s studying plastic pollution from a geophysical perspective. Win is currently working with 5 Gyres Research Director, Marcus Eriksen on several projects to determine the amount of plastic on the surface of the world’s oceans, the most common types of plastic pollution in the US, and how to use data to achieve action in the real world. He uses plastic pollution to drive conversations about the other environmental issues. For example, plastics are made from oil, so decreasing the amount of plastics we produce decreases the amount of oil we consume, which impacts our climate. 2016 YEAR END REPORT Assateague Coastal Trust 2016 SIMA ENVIRONMENTAL FUND YEAR END REPORT Organization: Assateague Coastal Trust Contact Person: Kathy Phillips Title: Executive Director/Assateague COASTKEEPER Purpose of Grant: SIMA grant funds were used to support the general operations of the Assateague Coastkeeper and Coast Kids programs. Coastkeeper activities included watershed patrolling, water quality monitoring, beach cleanups and advocacy on priority water quality protection issues with particular attention to the campaigns to oppose offshore oil and gas exploration and drilling in the Atlantic. Coast Kids activities featured monthly educational excursions, school/community group programs and summer camp, including support for scholarships that were used to engage low-income and minority youth in the program. Briefly describe the specific purpose and goal for your 2016 SIMA Environmental Fund grant. Coastkeeper Purpose: To support the general operations of the Coastkeeper program. Goals: To maintain an active presence of the Coastkeeper boat on the water and contact with recreational and commercial boaters; to complete a summer season of weekly water quality monitoring that provided data for our Swim Guide bacteria monitoring smartphone app as well as data related to basic water quality standards; to maintain regular patrol of the local watershed to identify pollution sources and address solutions; to lead and coordinate beach cleanup activities associated with the International Coastal Cleanup; and continue the Coastkeeper public outreach to generate opposition to the proposed federal regulation roll-backs to open the Atlantic to leasing for oil and gas exploration and drilling. Coast Kids Purpose: To support the general operations of the Coast Kids youth education program. Goals: To provide monthly outdoor events for member families to learn about ocean/coastal environmental and conservation issues; to provide environmental educational programs to youth in school and community based settings; to organize and hold a two week summer camp for area youth, providing opportunity for children from underserved low-income and minority communities to participate. To what degree were these goals and objectives achieved? If not fully met, what factors affected the success of the project? Coastkeeper: The branded ‘Coastkeeper’ boat was able to make weekly runs in the northern Coastal Bays, maintaining public contact with boaters, throughout the summer season from May to the present, however it was off the water for five weeks due to the 12 year old outboard motor ceasing to operate. The Coastkeeper did maintain weekly water quality monitoring with support from volunteer boaters in the community, while funds were