Last year during the mayoral campaign I met National Geographic writer Joel Bourne, Jr. at one of Councilwoman Donna Frye’s press conferences. Weird for National Geographic to be interested in our mayor’s race, I thought.
But I’ve been combing my monthly edition of the magazine ever since then to see when Bourne’s report on America’s coast would be out.
That moment came this month, with an article titled “Land on the Edge” that documents the state of America’s coasts. The theme of the article: more than half of the country’s population lives in coastal zones, and that number’s growing daily. And its impact in terms of development and pollution is great.
Bourne uses a surfing session with Skip Frye at Sunset Cliffs as the starting off point for his article (which also includes a fantastic shot of surfers in La Jolla at sunset).
The article identifies people “with salt water in their veins, who, in ways large and small, are having an impact on our shores.”
The first pair identified: Donna and Skip. Others include a marine scientist, a Florida developer, and some small-town New England locals. Read the article here.