"Julie Lawson Podcast -- D.C. Activist"

photo: Jim Moriarty

Surfrider Foundation CEO Jim Moriarty has a podcast called "On The Beach."

Surfrider Foundation is made up of a mosaic of amazing people. These people come at the idea of coastal conservation from many angles and have different life stories. What they have in common is a love of our oceans waves and beaches. Twice a month we will explore this mosaic by releasing an audible interview with a key player in our movement.

Jim just released his newest episode "Julie Lawson Podcast -- D.C. Activist." You can listen to it here, on Jim's blog Oceans Waves Beaches.



From Jim's blog:
Everything about this podcast fascinated me.

The Washington DC chapter is one of the few non-coastal chapters in our network. Julie Lawson and the DC crew have created muscle that is not only tied into the local watershed and the distant beach, but also the federal government around them. Lastly, rather than working to pass a blatant plastic bag ban, the DC chapter worked with other groups to tie the plastics issue to economics.

Julie and I sat down and walked through these issues and a few others. Don't let her humility fool you, this woman is a rock star.


During the podcast, you'll hear Julie and Jim talk about Surfrider's volunteer-run Music Outreach Program (MOP), which I founded in 2007 when I was a member of DC Surfrider.



I was completely amazed and touched when I listened to the podcast for the first time this morning, and heard all of the nice things that Julie and Jim had to say about MOP. It really, really meant a lot to me and was completely unexpected.

MOP wouldn't have happened without Julie's support, though. Or that of Laura Mazzarella, Surfrider's Marketing Manager who shipped a box of Surfrider outreach materials to my DC apartment in advance of my first MOP show, and believed in my abilities to pull it all off:)

Also instrumental in the establishment of MOP were DC Surfrider members Eli Kiljanek, Eric Dean, Jason Rubin, Joyce Rosado, Megan Kelley, and Mike Childs who not only supported me, but who literally stood by my side and helped me represent DC Surfrider at MOP's first few shows.

Another early supporter who gave me the confidence to create something new was Surfrider's Content Manager Tracey Armstrong. I got to know Tracey while she was writing a story about the founding of MOP for the July 2007 issue of Surfrider's magazine Making Waves.



Making Waves July 2007 cover (above) & clip of the MOP article (below)



I also couldn't have done any of this without Walther Productions' Blake, Brett and Mook. They let me into their Walther Productions - produced shows @ the 8x10 Club, the State Theatre, the Recher Theatre, and the 9:30 Club, and checked in on me throughout the night to make sure that I was ok. I had first gotten to know Blake, Brett and Mook through volunteering for the Walther Productions Street Team. They are the best! Thanks, too, to Josh Nicotra at Brushfire Records who connected me with Surfrider-friendly Brushfire artists.

For a full list of "Friends of MOP", each of whom I greatly appreciate, please see the MOP blog.

Finally, thanks to Chris Woods, who took over as the DC Surfrider Music Outreach Program Coordinator when I left DC to travel with the Jack Johnson 2008 Tour on behalf of HeadCount.

And a big thanks to the San Francisco Chapter who embraced MOP when I relocated to San Francisco after the tour ended!

Thanks to everyone who has made the program happen.

Thanks again to Julie and Jim for recognizing my contributions to Surfrider in "Julie Lawson Podcast -- D.C. Activist!"