By Emily Doan
Full disclosure: Emily Doan is a member of the Surfrider FVHS Club.
Climate change. Renewable energy. Ocean pollution. These phrases are becoming increasingly common, but yet no less daunting. With the battle for our planet becoming a red hot issue, new figures and ideas began emerging, with young people spearheading the cause. When senior Simone Robson went to her first beach cleanup, organized by the Surfrider Foundation, her world shifted.
“It really opened my eyes to all the trash and pollution that’s really on our beaches. I feel like seeing it firsthand, and seeing what’s actually happening when we pollute our Earth is really what got me interested in the environment and how I could be doing more in my life to help it,” Robson said.
After experiencing this new revelation, Robson began educating herself on her personal impact on the environment, and ways to positively amplify it`further. Her solution: the Surfrider Foundation Fountain Valley High School club.
“I wasn’t surprised when [Robson] brought up the idea of creating a Surfrider club to help raise awareness and combat the issues facing our oceans today, especially in our local area,” co-president Grace Haroun said. “I’ve been friends with Simone since elementary school and it’s been amazing to watch her pursue something she’s passionate about as well as grow as a leader and environmental advocate.”
But because of the ongoing pandemic, co-president and founder Robson had to find ways to adapt and create ways to forward Surfrider’s mission, while staying safe.
“We haven’t been able to have in-person events, because of COVID, so [what] we’ve been doing up until this point are solo cleanups where people can go out and clean their local beaches, parks, neighborhoods by themselves. And from that alone, this year, we’ve almost collected 200 lbs of trash, which we’re really excited about,” Robson said. “And on top of that, we’ve been working with the ecology club…We’re working together to create an ocean friendly garden, on campus in the nature walk area next to the bungalows.”
As an incoming UC Davis freshman, she was able to connect her passion for the environment and her experience with Surfrider to her major: Environmental Engineering. Spearheading the Surfrider Foundation FVHS club’s ocean friendly garden project alongside Haroun, Robson was able to get a small taste of her near-future.
“I feel like in a lot of ways, the ocean friendly garden does relate a lot to what environmental engineering would entail… it’s just finding solutions or other ways to do things such as better for Earth…just like an electric car is making a car, but it’s better for the environment and our ocean friendly gardens, of course, better for the oceans,” Robson said.
But while many of us may share her eagerness for environmentalism, few of us could match the level of dedication and drive she’s allotted to her passion.
“[Robson] put together and championed the high school’s entry into our chapters recent Spring Break High School Cleanup Challenge. Her efforts led to more students from the high school going to the beach, and more hours spent cleaning up then any other high school that participated. FVHS was crowned champion of our first ever Spring Break Challenge,” HSB Surfrider Foundation’s co-chair KC Fockler said. “What a great first year for FVHS. Surfrider is lucky to have them as a campus club, but even luckier to know the club is being run by such an outstanding young lady such as Simone Robson.”
Despite this, Robsen emphasizes that there are many steps each of us can be taking to bettering our community, ocean and planet.
“The most important thing to be doing is to make sure that you’re taking you’re making small, simple changes in your lives…you don’t have to become some huge environmental activists in order to be helping it…whether it’s through being more energy efficient in your homes, or taking public transportation to cut back on our carbon emissions, or conserving water,” Robson said. “What Surfrider stresses the most is reducing our single use plastics, which is something that I know can sometimes be difficult to do. It can be a little bit of an inconvenience for many to have to change a lot of their lives to use different things, but I feel like it’s also an inconvenience that we can spare when our environment needs it.”
The Surfrider Foundation’s message is “dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world’s ocean, waves and beaches for all people, through a powerful activist network.”
Through the course of the year, Robson has found ways to live this message in every aspect of her life and isn’t stopping anytime soon.
This article was originally published in the 2021 RED Magazine. Stop by room 306 to pick up a copy.
