For Earth Month, guest blogger Jaime Berger shares his Down Under surf adventure in Australia and New Zealand, which turned out to be his wake-up call to take a stand against ocean pollution.

The first time I went surfing was near the Great Barrier Reef, saying it was ethereal wouldn’t do the experience justice. The churning turquoise breaks spraying heaven in my direction, the azure sky blanketing the horizon with glistening perfection, even the pain of an epic wipeout didn’t stop me from being hooked on hanging-10 from that day forth. To know the feeling of gliding across a perfect wave is to love it, it’s common sense to any of us who’ve tried it.

Unfortunately, my love affair with vibrant oceanscapes was cut short the next day when we were shown exactly where the reef was dying. Life is literally being sucked right out of the ocean by carbon emissions, poisonous materials and gargantuan piles of trash. When the Ocean becomes too poisonous and riddled with trash to surf in, what will take its place?

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