Put your paddle where your mouth is

Definitely check out this opinion piece today in the Tallahassee Democrat by Margo Pellegrino--a New Jersey mom who's paddling an outrigger canoe around Florida to New Orleans to spread the word that we need a Healthy Oceans Act now.  The total trip amounts to around twelve hundred miles, by the way. Personally, I find it difficult to drive twelve hundred miles.

This is the second time NRDC has partnered with Margo on a paddling voyage. I also had the chance to work with Margo last year during her 500 mile "Message in a Bottle" paddle from New Jersey to Washington, DC in support of healthy oceans legislation.  I think it's Margo's storytelling ability that makes her an amazing advocate for oceans and coasts.  From troubling pollution upriver from the Gulf to the trials of fishermen on the Atlantic coast, Margo observes everything about the waters she paddles and brings these stories to elected officials, the media, and opinion leaders.  And her dedication and enthusiasm make people want to listen.

During this trip Margo was kind enough to let me try paddling her canoe (I flipped over almost immediately!).  I now have some small sense of the wherewithal it takes her to paddle up to 60 miles(!) each day, nearly every day, for the full month of her Florida to New Orleans paddle. Phew.  Good luck, Margo!