07971909454
SEA ~ Survival Equals Action
From producer through to recycling with no waste or pollution. Every person takes responsibility.
Monthly Meeting Zoom this evening 7pm Sunday 6th September 2020~ reminder
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Please participate if you wish:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88167251623?pwd=Ymd5N0hNU1V6eHhYOFBLVTVKY3pHQT09
Meeting ID: 881 6725 1623
Passcode: PFE
Nudge! Just a reminder about our Zoom meeting on Sunday 2nd at 7pm. Here are the contact details again:
Meeting: 829 9920 9121 Meeting password PFE
Some main items to be discussed:
"Adopt a Beach" scheme
Beach Clean photos display in the Beacon centre
Eastbourne Autumn Action Against Global Heating
Nelson Kay: “Hydrogen ~ the way out for fuel provision?"
I hope you can make it!
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Plastic Free Eastbourne News Letter number 8 ~ September 2018
Our Marine Conservation Zone ~ “Beachy Head East”. We got your vote! Thank you to the well over 1000 of you who sent in your support. If you still want to influence the Government, please follow this link:Visit www.beachyheadeast.org and follow #backingbeachyheadeast on social media.
September is our massive month with many events for you to participate in and to enjoy. This is now called:
People of Eastbourne Autumn Action Against Plastics. By the end of Autumn, every single resident could participate, even privately! Simply by refusing a plastic straw, for example.
Big Autumn Beach Clean this event takes place over 3 days. Please meet up at these locations:
Friday 14th September ~ start at the Tea Chalet near Holywell at 10am.
Saturday 15th September ~ start at the Redoubt at 10am
Sunday 16th September ~ start at the Pier at 11am.
You can just turn up, wearing suitable clothing and footwear. Children must be accompanied. Bring your own litter pickers if you have them, otherwise you will be able to borrow one. They will be for sale too, at £5 each. Protective gloves are also good if you have them (like gardening gloves).
In our Spring Big Beach Clean, 300 of you volunteered and you collected about 500 kilos of beach debris. We hope that this time we get more volunteers but less debris. This would show that we have been making an impact on improving our environment!
Fundraising Rock & Blues Concert with live music performed by local band Southern Spirit ~ at the Crown & Anchor on Friday 14th September 7.30 start. £8 Tickets, with every penny going to our campaign, they can be purchased from: Tourist Information Centre, Crown & Anchor or by contacting oliversterno@gmail.com
Mermade festival September 1st to 23rd . This is a street community event with window and garden displays of Mermaids and Sea Creatures in the Devonshire West Seaside Area (Seaside Road and Seaside).
People's Mandala September 15th and 16th near the 2 new Beach Huts, East of the Pier. Help to contribute and complete this spiritual community creation.
Plastic Ocean September 18th to 23rd at DC3 Gallery. Get ready to be amazed as soon as you step inside!
We now have a further 3 Plastic Free Champions, making 6 so far. Please check these out on our Facebook pages.
2nd Monthly Meeting: this took place on 1st July. Again, only a small number of you attended but we did make useful decisions: about our Autumn season events.
Next meeting: Sunday September 2nd at 7pm, Crown & Anchor.
Plastic Free Eastbourne Steering Group Our 2nd meeting will be taking place in Eastbourne Town Hall, on Friday 21st September. This is a public meeting and everyone is welcome to attend from the public gallery. It starts at 10am. The agenda will look at progress to date and future plans for gaining Plastic Free Eastbourne status.
Our campaign has an “open to all” approach. If you would like to get involved and would like to join us, please contact me or ask to join either of these Face Book Groups: “Plastic Free Eastbourne” and “SEA ~ Survival Equals Action”. If you have an idea, please share it with us. The more we are the more powerful our campaign.
STOP PRESS: we now have a dedicated Website: https://plastic-free-eastbourne.mn.co Please ask to join, especially if you are not a “FaceBooker”.
Oliver Sterno
Community Leader ~ Plastic Free Eastbourne
01323 351214; 07971 909454 oliversterno@gmail.com #PlasticFreeEastbourne
Web page: survivalequalsaction.org
Plastic Free Eastbourne News Letter Number 9~ for October 2018
September was our massive month with many events which many of you participated in. These were all within
“Autumn Action Against Plastic”
I believe its success will lead to it becoming an annual event!
1) Big Autumn Beach Clean this 3 day event was an even bigger success than our Spring Beach Clean: at least 430 of you volunteered! Marine Conservation Society tell me that it is their BIGGEST EVENT YET!
2) Our Fundraising Rock & Blues Concert with live music performed by local band Southern Spirit ~ at the Crown & Anchor on Friday 14th September was a great success All seats were taken and guests were entertained to an amazing 35 songs during the evening. About £400 was raised for our campaign.
3) Mermade Festival September 1st to 23rd. At the time of writing, this is ongoing. Many prizes have been donated by Eastbourne businesses for which we are grateful. Prizewinners for the best “Mercreatures” will be published in due course.
4) People's Mandala was completed and the beautiful creation is shown below.
5) “Plastic Ocean” Art Exhibition. This most impressive event was greatly admired by its many visitors. The opening event was attended by 80 guests.
Our Deputy Mayor, Kathy Ballard, is an amazing supporter. She had already shown this by proposing our motion which resulted in our council supporting our campaign unanimously in February. She came to our Beach Clean, to our Concert and to our Plastic Ocean exhibition. Many thanks to you Kathy! Also thanks to Stephen Lloyd, our Member of Parliament and several Councillors for participating in the beach cleans too.
6) Greenpeace “Plastic Oceans” event took place outside Marks and Spencers.
7) We participated in the Hastings Symposium in St Mary's in the Castle. We had a publicity stall and I spoke to publicise our progress in Eastbourne.
8) Our Publicity Stall was set up in many locations recently, including the Arndale Centre and at the Stix Festival in Shinewater Park. Thank you to the 35 slots occupied by volunteers who helped spread our message.
Our group of Plastic Free Champions has now risen to 10! Please check these out on our Facebook pages.
Our 3rd Monthly Meeting: this took place on 2nd September. A greater participation of 13 people attended and we made some useful decisions about future events.
Next meeting: Sunday September 30th at 7pm, Crown & Anchor. Please come!
Plastic Free Eastbourne Steering Group Our 2nd meeting took place in Eastbourne Town Hall, on Friday 21st September. The minutes will be published on social media and in survivalequalsaction.org
Our campaign has an “open to all” approach. If you would like to get involved and would like to join us, please:
~ ask to join either of these Face Book Groups: “Plastic Free Eastbourne” and “SEA ~ Survival Equals Action”.
~ or keep up to date by writing to us at plasticfreeeastbourne@gmail.com
~ or link to our Website: https://plastic-free-eastbourne.mn.co and: survivalequalsaction.org
If you have an idea, please share it with us. The more we are the more powerful our campaign.
REFILL: this is a new initiative for Eastbourne led by City to Sea, where retailers offer free water to anyone with a refillable bottle. There is a “Refill” app, a sticker for identification and a co-ordination of the network in Eastbourne. We have carried out a “soft” with at least 22 businesses participating. A high profile launch will take place early in the new year. Please volunteer to help develop a network of participants. Full guidance and help will be provided.
Thank you,
Oliver Sterno
Community Leader ~ Plastic Free Eastbourne
Good morning Everyone,
Reminder:
Time: Jun 7, 2020 11:00 AM London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87029769345…
Meeting ID: 870 2976 9345
Password: PFE
I hope you can make it. No need to respond, especially if you have sent in apologies or confirmation of participating.
Best wishes,
Oliver
Plastic Free Eastbourne News Letter Number 9 ~ for October 2018
September was our massive month with many events which many of you participated in. These were all within
“Autumn Action Against Plastic”
I believe its success will lead to it becoming an annual event!
1) Big Autumn Beach Clean this 3 day event was an even bigger success than our Spring Beach Clean: at least 430 of you volunteered! Marine Conservation Society tell me that it is their BIGGEST EVENT YET!
2) Our Fundraising Rock & Blues Concert with live music performed by local band Southern Spirit ~ at the Crown & Anchor on Friday 14th September was a great success All seats were taken and guests were entertained to an amazing 35 songs during the evening. About £400 was raised for our campaign.
3) Mermade Festival September 1st to 23rd. At the time of writing, this is ongoing. Many prizes have been donated by Eastbourne businesses for which we are grateful. Prizewinners for the best “Mercreatures” will be published in due course.
4) People's Mandala was completed and the beautiful creation is shown below.
5) “Plastic Ocean” Art Exhibition. This most impressive event was greatly admired by its many visitors. The opening event was attended by 80 guests.
Our Deputy Mayor, Kathy Ballard, is an amazing supporter. She had already shown this by proposing our motion which resulted in our council supporting our campaign unanimously in February. She came to our Beach Clean, to our Concert and to our Plastic Ocean exhibition. Many thanks to you Kathy! Also thanks to Stephen Lloyd, our Member of Parliament and several Councillors for participating in the beach cleans too.
6) Greenpeace “Plastic Oceans” event took place outside Marks and Spencers.
7) We participated in the Hastings Symposium in St Mary's in the Castle. We had a publicity stall and I spoke to publicise our progress in Eastbourne.
8) Our Publicity Stall was set up in many locations recently, including the Arndale Centre and at the Stix Festival in Shinewater Park. Thank you to the 35 slots occupied by volunteers who helped spread our message.
Our group of Plastic Free Champions has now risen to 10! Please check these out on our Facebook pages.
Our 3rd Monthly Meeting: this took place on 2nd September. A greater participation of 13 people attended and we made some useful decisions about future events.
Next meeting: Sunday September 30th at 7pm, Crown & Anchor. Please come!
Plastic Free Eastbourne Steering Group Our 2nd meeting took place in Eastbourne Town Hall, on Friday 21st September. The minutes will be published on social media and in survivalequalsaction.org
Our campaign has an “open to all” approach. If you would like to get involved and would like to join us, please:
~ ask to join either of these Face Book Groups: “Plastic Free Eastbourne” and “SEA ~ Survival Equals Action”.
~ or keep up to date by writing to us at plasticfreeeastbourne@gmail.com
~ or link to our Website: https://plastic-free-eastbourne.mn.co and: survivalequalsaction.org
If you have an idea, please share it with us. The more we are the more powerful our campaign.
REFILL: this is a new initiative for Eastbourne led by City to Sea, where retailers offer free water to anyone with a refillable bottle. There is a “Refill” app, a sticker for identification and a co-ordination of the network in Eastbourne. We have carried out a “soft” with at least 22 businesses participating. A high profile launch will take place early in the new year. Please volunteer to help develop a network of participants. Full guidance and help will be provided.
Thank you,
Oliver Sterno
Community Leader ~ Plastic Free Eastbourne
August 2018 ~ Plastic Free Eastbourne News Letter number 7
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Monthly Meeting: this took place on 1st July. Only a small number of you attended but we did make useful decisions: about “Plastic Ocean” the art exhibition in September and about Youth Ocean Action ~the international conference planned to take place in the Spring of next year.
Next meeting: Sunday August 5th 7.30pm, Crown & Anchor.
Please read the item about our Marine Conservation Zone ~ Beachy Head East. We need your vote to persuade the government to take this seriously.
Tickets will shortly be on sale for our Charity Concert.This will be taking place on 14th September starting at 7.30pm in the Crown & Anchor. Tickets cost £8. This coincides with our Big Autumn Beach Clean weekend. Also, an Art Exhibition entitled “Plastic Ocean” will be on at about the same period: 17th to 23rd September. Added to this is “Mermades” ~ an outdoors art exhibition created by...YOU. It lasts between 3rd to 16th September.
We now have 3 Plastic Free Champions. Please check these out on our Facebook pages: see below.
Our campaign has an “open to all” approach. If you would like to get involved and would like to join us, please contact me or ask to join either of these Face Book Groups: “Plastic Free Eastbourne” and “SEA ~ Survival Equals Action”. If you have an idea, please share it with us. The more we are the more powerful our campaign.
Oliver Sterno
Community Leader ~ Plastic Free Eastbourne
01323 351214; 07971 909454 oliversterno@gmail.com #PlasticFreeEastbourne
Web page: survivalequalsaction.org
Autumn Beach Clean ~ 14th to 16th September 2018
As we are all enjoying a beautiful summer I'm sure a great many of you, along with family and friends will be enjoying spending some quality time, and making some wonderful memories on our glorious beaches.
Hopefully the Single Use Plastic message is filtering its way through to people from all walks of life now and we are definitely starting to see some very positive changes in people's behaviour, buying habits, and general lifestyle.
Sadly these changes are slow to progress and as with all long term solutions, they take time to make a noticeable difference. Our beautiful wild places still need us.
Hopefully you remember our Big Beach Clean back in March where over 300 volunteers collected more that 500 kilos of waste over the 3 days? Well this Autumn, with your help, we want to do even better!
YOUR BEACH NEEDS YOU!
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This September the Plastic Free Eastbourne (PFE) campaign against Single Use Plastic, will be joining the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) for their Great British Beach Clean over the weekend of the 14th-16th September. There will be a number of groups including; PFE, MCS, Beach Clean Eastbourne, Surfers Against Sewage and Mucky Mermaids holding cleans at various locations and times.
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Please contact us via the Facebook pages and the MCS beachwatch website and get involved.
More information will follow next month along with further details as more groups come onboard to make this beach clean the biggest that Eastbourne has ever seen!
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Look forward to seeing you on the beach!
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Karen South ~ Beach Clean Eastbourne
June 2018 ~ Plastic Free Eastbourne News Letter number 6
We have set up a monthly meeting for everyone interested in being involved in Plastic Free Eastbourne. This will take place in the meeting room in the Crown and Anchor pub at 15-16 Marine Parade, Eastbourne BN21 3DX. Our first one is on Sunday 1st July and starts at 7pm (19:00). We will publish our agenda before-hand and we would welcome contributions from anybody. This should provide an opportunity for more Eastbourne residents and others who are involved with Eastbourne to participate in this campaign to improve our town. Please attend!
The Eastbourne Carnival: we took part in the successful event on 26th May. Our group walked in the procession displaying our new “Plastic Free Eastbourne” banner. It was a great opportunity to spread our message and to give out leaflets about our work and that of the Marine Conservation Society.
We had a meeting with a represenative from the Marine Conservation Society who is leading the campaign to gain “Marine Conservation Zone” status for almost 200 square kilometres of sea. This covers an area along our coast between Hastings Pier and Beachy Head out as far as the Royal Sovereign Lighthouse. It will provide safety for our marine flora and fauna and allow our local fishing fleets to continue carrying out only sustainable low-impact fishing. Watch out for your chance to participate in a 6 week consultation happening soon!
We now have T-shirts available at £9 promoting our campaign. They have our logo on the front and an image of our“ Mascot” on the back, composed of beach debris. You might spot one of us wearing one either during a beach clean or on our campaigns.
Come and visit us at our stall in the The Friends of Princes Park Fun and Craft Day on 7th July, 11am till 4pm. You will get a chance to discuss our campaign and how you can become involved. T-Shirts and litter pickers will be available for sale and you will be able to take away leaflets and literature. Also, we hope to have tickets for our Charity Concert (see below) also available for sale.
Tickets will shortly be on sale for our Charity Concert at the Under Ground Theatre. This will be taking place on 15th September starting at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £8. This coincides with our Big Autumn Beach Clean weekend. We are hoping to better the fantastic total of 300 volunteers who particpated in our Spring Beach Clean! More details about this to follow. Also, an Art Exhibiton entitled “Plastic Ocean” will be on at about the same period: 17th to 23rd September. Added to this is “Mermades” ~ an outdoors art exhibition created by...YOU. It lasts between 3rd to 16th September. To participate, you will make a Mermaid/Merman/sea creature to stand outside your house/shop/office. It should be made from plastic beach debris. Please make a note of these events and please come and support us.
Our campaign has an “open to all” approach. If you would like to get involved and would like to join us, please contact me. If you have an idea, please share it with us. The more the merrier and the more powerful we become.
Oliver Sterno
Community Leader ~ Plastic Free Eastbourne
01323 351214; 07971 909454 oliversterno@gmail.com
#PlasticFreeEastbourne
Please ask to join either of these Face Book Groups: “Plastic Free Eastbourne” and “SEA ~ Survival Equals Action”
Web page: survivalequalsaction.org
May 2018 ~ Plastic Free Eastbourne News Letter no. 5
Latest news. Progress is being made ~ slowly and steadily.
I have been liaising with the Hospitality sector and hope to have attended their general meeting on 23rd May in the Cumberland Hotel. This will be a development which should begin to engage with B&Bs as well as hotels. The aim will be to share the ideals of Plastic Free Eastbourne with our visitors to Eastbourne, as well as with our hoteliers and B&B proprietors as well as the self-catering trade. The aim is to encourage them to comply with our campaign.
On Monday, 14th May, I gave a presentation to the Townies: the town centre branch of Eastbourne Women's Instititue. I hope as a consequence that they will be able to share our Plastic Free Eastbourne message around all branches here. This would be a massive step forward.
On Friday 18th May, I gave an assembly to Bede's Prep School. Apart from sharing our message, I am hoping that the school pupil council will take responsibility for sharing our message with other similar schools. We need to ensure that at least 30% of all of our schools adopt our objectives in order for Eastbourne to gain “Plastic Free” accreditation.
On 26th May, we will be participating in Eastbourne Sunshine Carnival under our banner. This incorporates our mascot “Beach Man” which was made of debris collected from the beach during an early beach clean near Holywell. We are taking part in this event in order to raise much needed funds and to raise awareness for our cause. Please cheer us on when you spot us ~ oh yes, and put some coins into our collecting buckets!
On 8th June, “Youth Oceans” will be hosting World Oceans Day. It will be located in the Eastbourne Campus of Brighton University.
The programme is:
Time: 9:30am – 12:30
Topic 1: Sustainability and Healthy Ocean.
Presented by: renowned Marine Biologist, Gonzalo Alvarez (UNA)
Topic 2: History of Plastics: from Blessing to Curse.
Presented by: Andrew Stuart (Youth Ocean Action)
Topic 3: Work to combat plastic pollution by MCS.
Topic 4: Current situation, Prevention and cure
Presented by Oksana Stuart (Youth Ocean Action)
Location: University of Brighton, Eastbourne Campus
FREE entry
Check it out from this link if interested:
https://www.facebook.com/events/244019436335058/
Our campaign has an “open to all” approach. If you would like to get involved and would like to join us, please contact me. If you have an idea, please share it with us. The more the merrier and the more powerful we become.
Oliver Sterno
Community Leader ~ Surfers Against Sewage
01323 351214; 07971 909454 oliversterno@gmail.com
#PlasticFreeEastbourne
Face Book: “Plastic Free Eastbourne” or “SEA ~ Survival Equals Action”
Web page: survivalequalsaction.org
SEA ~Survival Equals Action Newsletter No. 4 April
Plastic Free Eastbourne ~ The story so far.
The beginnings of our campaign were triggered by the Blue Planet programme in January. This resulted in several separate initiatives starting up in Eastbourne, such as Eastbourne Beach Clean, Mucky Mermaids, Constant Beach Clean and then SEA ~ Survival Equals Action.
This led to a campaign to achieve “Plastic Free Eastbourne” status. Surfers Against Sewage is the charity organisation which manages the awarding of this accreditation, based in Cornwall. It provides 5 objectives to be met in order to succeed in this ambition. The first of these is for our Borough Council to pass a motion supporting the campaign. It did this on 21st February unanimously.
Several organisations have been invited to participate in this campaign and many have agreed to do so. These include:
Marine Conservation Society, Surfers Against Sewage, Eastbourne Beach Clean, Mucky Mermaids, SEA ~ Survival Equals Action, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Zero Waste Maman, BourneCoin, A Band of Brothers, Eastbourne Volunteers, Eastbourne Customer First, PlanAhead, Community Payback. Others are constantly joining. For example, Lounge66, a café in Grove Road, has made particular progress in becoming plastic free: compostable cutlery, take-away mugs and lids; home-filled plastic-free teabags and loose tea for teapot service, as well as a free fill up your water bottle point. Discussions are on-going with other businesses to encourage participation. If you are a proprietor of an organisation who wants to “get on board” please contact me.
Next came our Big Spring Beach Clean over days: 24th and 25th March. This resulted in about 300 volunteers participating, including the Mayor, many members of the Borough Council, our MP and the other 2 main political leaders. The whole of Eastbourne beach was cleaned from Holywell Tea Chalet in the West to beyond Sovereign Harbour in the East! This resulted in about 500 kilos of debris being collected. A fantastic achievement, which a spokesperson for Surfers Against Sewage described as “the best result we have heard of so far!” We had a lot of support from many organisations including Eastbourne Train Station (posters), PlanAhead (printing), Eastbourne Voice and Eastbourne Herald (publicity), BBC South East (awareness raising), Kier (removal of filled collection bags), all the organisations mentioned above and several shops and other premises for allowing poster displays.
Shortly after this was our Steering Group meeting in the Town Hall. The Steering Group will consist of 27 members whose task it is to manage our campaign. This meeting took place on 6th April. It was an important public event where we agreed that January 2020 should be our target date for gaining accreditation. We took stock of our progress so far and set out how we would be meeting our objectives. The members are representative of a wide range of Eastbourne life. They include the fishing community, hotels, Chamber of Commerce and the Council.
Currently progress is being made in gaining support for the campaign among schools and other educational bodies, businesses and organisations. If we have not yet approached you and you want to get involved sooner rather than later, please contact me in the first instance. This can be done in various ways: we have a Facebook Group page SEA ~ Survival Equals Action. This was set up in January this year and has become a world-wide group with almost 1500 members. Our website survivalequalsaction.org is worth a visit at least to view the Events Calendar where you can discover the various associated events that are coming up. Plastic Free Eastbourne is our dedicated Facebook Group page. Please ask to join either one or both of these Groups. #PlasticFreeEastbourne is our hashtag. My email and phone contacts appear below.
Any suggestions, feedback or requests and questions are all welcome. Our ambition is to encourage every one of our over 100,000 residents to feel responsible for Plastic Free Eastbourne.
Watch out for us participating in the Eastbourne Sunshine Carnival on May 26th. Also come and visit our stall in Seedy Sunday on 29th April in the Enterprise Centre. Future events for your diaries include ~
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a week probably in August: “Plastic Oceans”, an Art Exhibition in DC1 Gallery , Seaside Road organised by Devonshire Collective
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15th and 16th September: Eastbourne Big Autumn Beach Clean
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15th September: Charity Rock and Blues Concert in the Under Ground Theatre with Southern Spirit, a local 4-piece group, for fundraising and also awareness raising.
Oliver Sterno
Surfers Against Sewage Community Leader
01323 351214 or 07971909454
SEA ~Survival Equals Action Newsletter No. 3 March
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Last weekend was when over 300 volunteers came together over 2 days to participate in an event to help Eastbourne gain “Plastic Free Eastbourne”. It involved collecting debris from our beach and nearby land from Holywell Tea Chalet right across to the other side of Sovereign Harbour for recycling and disposal. An estimated almost 500 kilos was gathered! A startling amount when you bear in mind that beach cleans this year have taken place in different areas at least weekly.
Our results were reported to Surfers Against Sewage and they praised us with the comment that “this is the best result we have heard of”!
WELL DONE and a big THANK YOU to all volunteers who participated and to all the organisations who supported us. These include:
Kier, Eastbourne's company which disposes of our waste
PlanAhead, who printed our posters.
Community First, our Council organisation responsible for waste disposal
Many firms that provided display space for our poster campaign. These include Eastbourne Railway Station, Tourist Information Centre, Town Hall, Lounge 66 Café in Grove Road.
We would also like to thank our Mayor Pat Hearn, who opened the whole event, our MP Stephen Lloyd, as well as our Labour Party Leader Jake Lambert and Caroline Ansell our Conservative Party Leader and many of our Town Councillors for their participation. They all helped to raise the profile of this event.
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If you are in charge of a shop or a business, or if you know of one which is interested in choosing to make a difference to your single use plastics policy, please contact us. You would be replacing at least 3 items with compostable ones. One of our group would get back to you to discuss ways of achieving this. Once we achieve “Plastic Free Eastbourne” status, you would have the right to display “Plastic Free Champion” in your publicity ~ a desirable position to encourage others.
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Eastbourne Borough Council is the first organisation which has committed to achieving this. Watch out for big changes here. For example, they have as an ambition that all events they are responsible for will become “single use plastic free” in due course.
Please continue to visit this website https://www.survivalequalsaction.org
Also visit our group page on Facebook: SEA ~ Survival Equals Action and ask to become a member if you wish.
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Date for your diaries: Friday 6th April 10am in the Court Room, Eastbourne Town Hall ~ our first “Plastic Free Eastbourne” Steering Group. This meeting is open to the public and will determine our future strategies and policies for the coming year. It will consist of 27 participants once it is full. If you know of anybody who would be able to contribute to this campaign, please get in touch.
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Did anybody watch the 6.30 BBC South East item on our Plastic Free Eastbourne campaign? It was partly filmed at the iconic Groyne 19 between Holywell Tea Chalet and Western View Café.
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Finally, I hope you like our newly acquired logo at the top of this bulletin. It will become widely visible over the coming months.
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Thank you,
Oliver Sterno
Surfers Against Sewage Community Leader #plasticfreeeastbourne
SEA ~Survival Equals Action Newsletter No. 2 February
Welcome!
Firstly: BIG NEWS. Our Borough Council voted UNANIMOUSLY to support this motion:
That this Council welcomes the objectives of the Plastic Free Coastlines campaign, committing to consider the use of appropriate plastic free alternatives wherever possible, and supporting plastic free initiatives within Eastbourne.
This means that we can progress as a town to gain the award of “Plastic Free Eastbourne”. We need to meet 5 objectives set by Surfers Against Sewage, the charity organisation that manages this initiative. One of these objectives is to hold 2 beach cleans each year. Our first is publicised below.
Secondly, please visit our website, which is being developed:
https://www.survivalequalsaction.org/
Please visit and explore. For example, click on the “Events Calendar” page. Hopefully you will send in your own relevant event to be included here. There is a page on the site called “Newsletters” where a copy of this newsletter will be available to read.
SCOOP! ~ Our Face Book Group page now has over 1000 members since this began in early January! A fantastic development.
Two dates to watch out for are March 24th and 25th, when the Big Spring Beach Clean will take its turn in Eastbourne. All the dates for many beach cleans are on this website. Further to January's newsletter, a great amount of progress has been made in preparation for this potentially Massive Event. On Saturday 24th, our Mayor, Pat Hearn, will be opening the whole Beach Clean at Groyne 19, “Holywell Mount Bay” and will then visit all sites where volunteer groups will be working. Stephen Lloyd, our Member of Parliament, will be participating and the Town Council have agreed to take part too. Many Volunteer Groups will be running different stretches of the beach:
Eastbourne's Mucky Mermaids
Constant Clean Up
Eastbourne's Friends of the Earth and Eastbourne's Greenpeace
Bourne Coin
BeachClean Eastbourne
Zero Waste Maman
We are supported by other groups too, such as Eastbourne Volunteers and Customer First Eastbourne Borough Council.
We hope to have a high profile publicity programme so that everyone who wants to will be able to choose where and when they would like to help. Please come down to the beach on one of these mornings to volunteer.
Further details will be shared in due course. Watch out for where to volunteer in our local media.
Our efforts in beach cleaning are coming on apace. In fact there are so many groups and events taking place that it almost seems that nobody should be left out who has access to a beach. Others are doing the same further inland too. Fabulous.
Now for our other target: shops and businesses who PRODUCE the debris in the first place. I have been discussing this with Waitrose. They have clearly made vast improvements like all the other supermarkets. However, there seems to be a massive reluctance to engage with this initiative, which involves dispensers for bulk items instead of the usual plastic or boxed packaging. Difficult to engage with but it is very possible! I am persevering. I am trying to involve Tesco now too.Watch this space. We are also developing relationships with other businesses and enterprises to encourage participation in our campaign.
If you want first hand understanding of our objectives, you can access our “tool kit” by using this link:
https://www.sas.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Plastic-Free-Coastlines-Community-Toolkit.pdf
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Thank you for reading down to here. Feedback, criticisms and suggestions are all welcome! ~ Oliver Sterno
SEA ~Survival Equals Action Newsletter No. 1
Welcome! Firstly, I want to announce the launch of our new updated website:
https://www.survivalequalsaction.org/
Please visit and explore. For example, click on the “Events Coming Up” page. Hopefully you will send in your own relevant event to be included here. There is a page on the site called “Newsletters” where a copy of this newsletter will be available to read.
Two dates to watch out for are in Brighton: March 3rd and on March 24th, when the Big Beach Clean will take its turn in Eastbourne. All the dates for many beach cleans are on this website. I hope we can get all of our local volunteer groups and individuals to co-ordinate our efforts then. It is under the direction of Sea Shepherd, with this link:
https://www.facebook.com/SeaShepherdUK/posts/10154997538462553
Further details will be shared in due course.
Our efforts in beach cleaning are coming on apace. In fact there are so many groups and events taking place that it almost seems that nobody should be left out who has access to a beach. Others are doing the same further inland too. Fabulous.
Now for our other target: shops and businesses who PRODUCE the debris in the first place. I have been discussing this with Waitrose. They have clearly made vast improvements like all the other supermarkets. However, there seems to be a massive reluctance to engage with this initiative, which involves dispensers for bulk items instead of the usual plastic or boxed packaging. Difficult to engage with but it is very possible! I am persevering. Watch this space.
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Thank you for reading down to here. Feedback, criticisms and suggestions are all welcome! ~ Oliver Sterno