CODE Keepers Aim to Change the Effect of Marine Debris

A huge congratulations goes out to the new “CODE Keepers” who earned a spot on this year’s Alaskan Coastal Expedition. As part of a week long expedition, the CODE Keepers will study the effect of marine debris on Alaska’s coast.

The Keepers will conduct beach cleanups in Yakutat, Alaska and get to see the incredible Alaskan Coast by kayak, boat and surfboard.

In order to become a CODE Keeper, these individuals submitted innovative ideas for helping the pacific coastline via Twitter, Facebook and the COASTAL CODE website.

Let’s meet Keepers:

Jared Cruiscuolo, a surfer from San Diego, California, co-founded “Below the Surface,” a business and non-profit that educates people about the need to reduce water pollution

Entry: “Sail the coastline of the US, stopping to give presentations on non-point pollution and the resulting hypoxic zones forming in the oceans.”

Kathleen Egan, a Harvard graduate from San Francisco, California, works with Surfrider Foundations’ “Rise Above Plastic Program,” and founded a local plastic-awareness called “Stop the Plastic Wave.”

Entry: “Collect plastic from beaches at surf spots around the Pacific. Transform the plastic into wave mosaics to raise awareness.”

Loren Lyendyk, a certified arborist from Santa Barbara, California, co-founded Surfers without Borders (SWOBs), a humanitarian and environmental aid organization to reduce ocean pollution.

Entry: “Turn plastic into a resource with small scale gasifiers, making it worth money so poor people in developing countries will be able to clean the beaches for a living.”

Elizabeth Stergiou, an oceanography student from Anchorage, Alaska, was a member of the Coast Guard and currently aims for a career in environmental prevention.

Entry: “Work with plastics experts to create a set of profitable products made from marine debris. Hire idle Alaska fishing crews to harvest debris from open water & remote shores.”