[WITH CKTH.ORG EDITOR AT LARGE: ZACH PLOPPER AKA SURFRIDER FOUNDATION’S NEW ENVIRONMENTAL DIRECTOR]
BY ZACH PLOPPER
CKTH.Org Editor at Large, Zach Plopper, pointed to parts unknown
In the early fall of 2007, I was surfing the iconic wave of Lower Trestles in southern California with my friend, Mr. Ben McCue (i.e., A college buddy from UCSD / roommate and partner-in-crime for a year on the north coast of Spain / later a coworker at WILDCOAST /now Executive Director of Outdoor Outreach).
Zach posted up with Dr. Serge Dedina, second from left, and local landowners in the Baja desert circa 2007
I was in my first year of graduate school at UCLA and visiting north San Diego County from my Culver City cheap rental for a fun late season south swell. While waiting out a set on the shoreline cobbles, Ben introduced me to Dr. Serge Dedina, Executive Director of WILDCOAST, where Ben worked as a coordinator of their US-Mexico border program. Serge asked me what I was studying. “Urban planning, with a focus on regional and international development” I replied, and he asked if I’d like to intern for WILDCOAST.
Pitching tents off the grid like Skyline School’s Ms. Jackie Lawson
That moment on the shore of Lower Trestles was the beginning of a fourteen year-long adventure in conservation and in life; a journey that would take me from the comforts of my southern California homeland to the deep deserts of Baja California, the Palace of Westminster, dry tropical rainforest of southern Mexico, the darkness of Cuba’s jungled coastlines, remote islands in the Philippines, the labyrinth of senate halls in Sacramento and Washington DC, deep into the mangroves of southern Ecuador, across the Pacific and Atlantic and back.
Zach, throwing buckets like Deion Sanders during a playoff baseball postgame press conference
I learned from the best. I traveled to amazing places and met inspiring people. I worked with dignitaries and salt of the earth ranchers and fisher folk. I got lost in the desert, stuck in the mud, and broken down in the middle of nowhere. I slept under the stars, watched whales breach, and sea turtles nest. I rode amazingly perfect waves, as well as rickety buses, fast trains, and long-haul airplanes. Throughout these adventures I experienced nervousness, confidence, excitement, perplexity, capability, and sometimes, straight-up fear.
Belt buckle game strong to very strong
Through it all, I became me.
Now, after 14 years of working with some of the most amazing people I know and the best minds in coastal and marine conservation, I embark on a new adventure. I take with me every experience I had; every hiccup, win, and fail. Every wave, and every word of wisdom.
Change doesn’t come that easy for me; but when I come to terms with change, I take it head on. I have a lot of change ahead of me and with that, many more adventures and growth opportunities. One thing that will remain constant though, is my passion and commitment to protecting the world’s oceans and coastlines; and my commitment to the people and places that have made me who I am.
Zach will be the Surfrider Foundation’s Environmental Director starting January 1 2022. He’ll be leading Surfrider’s environmental campaigns across the US and Puerto Rico. Good change needs big change. Big ups to ZP.