Yoh. Way to court controversy. But yes, in carbon terms, surfing is a problem.
Whoah. Stop right there. Surfing itself; the act of paddling, riding waves, duck diving and headbutting noncompliant groms is totally carbon neutral. No carbon goes in, no carbon goes out – so we surfers can breathe a sigh of relief the sheer joy of riding waves on a surfboard brings.
But that – ahem – quick drive to the beach to do a surf check? Unless you’re being pulled by an elderly rickshaw driver, walking or pedalling a bike constructed of recycled plastic bottles and old lollipop sticks – your car spews carbon. Well, not necessarily spews – but at the very least, driving anything with an eternal combustion engine is a problem. Full stop. However, so is eating, wearing clothes and squirting out children for that matter from an environmental perspective. Nonetheless, before we spiral into an existential crisis of doom, let’s just focus on the negative effects we surfers have – and where we can improve.
Trident is jumping on the Green Issues bandwagon.
As there has been an explosion of recent climate and environment related controversy lately, we decided to wade in. Nay – dive in – and remind surfers of our own inherent, albeit unintentional hypocrisy. Trident, like surfing in carbon footprint terms, is fairly neutral. However, there are many ways to improve said footprint by simply using common sense and making small life changes. Bearing in mind some of our suggestions are mentioned with tongue firmly lodged in cheek before we are flooded with hate mail again.
Surfboard blanks, and wetsuits are pretty damn eco-unfriendly, team. They are made from petroleum products. And, whether we like it or not, old surfboards are pretty much nigh on impossible to recycle sustainably. That’s why at best, old surfboards only make for pretty objects d’art to hang on walls, convert into trophies and maybe recycle into like, shields and bits of armour as props in fantasy movies.
Surf Equipment. Eish.
EPS surfboards are slightly better from an environmental point of view when compared to PU boards, but neither are likely to gain any nods of approval from the sustainability gestapo. You heard it here folks. Unless you’re attempting to build wooden surfboards, or blanks made from hemp – you cannot get away from surfboards being about as green as several tonnes of plastic bags filled with nuclear waste and illegally sized White Steenbras fillets.
Sadly, the same applies to wetsuits. As well as most wax, surf leashes, traction pads, most sunblock etc etc. Your best bet here is to at least attempt to use eco-friendly alternatives in terms. For example: cork pads. Unfortunately though, these alternatives are similar to using wooden and/or hemp boards – not as effective as the less green kind. As for wetsuits… Until science perfects a way of implanting whale blubber into human flesh, we’re all but stuffed when it comes to keeping both warm in the water and eco-friendly. The greenest thing to do would be to surf naked, but try doing that in the Atlantic in winter without irrevocably reversing your gender.
The use of petroleum. Even more eish.
Trident mentioned driving earlier. Cars are baaad people. And an African electric car alternative? Don’t make us laugh, Eskom. So, when you drive to the beach – ensure you just surf gosh darn it. Trident will surf regardless of what the waves are doing, to justify the petrol used when travelling. Speaking of travelling – yep, you guessed it – long haul travels are just the worst. That glamorous tubing left on the other side of the world that you’ve dreamed of surfing since you were a grom? Flying there and burning up the earth with jet fuel?! Why don’t you just use a flamethrower on a baby panda and have done with it. By travelling, we hurt our world. End of. No getting around it sadly.
Consider canoeing to Indonesia rather we say. Or perhaps by air balloon powered by an on-board braai. Which is also environmentally unfriendly. Aaargh. Our heads spin just thinking about it all. What is actually eco-friendly as well as user-friendly? Not much really.
Can human beings ever figure out how to live comfortably without unintentionally – or intentionally – harming the Earth?
Trident wants us all to enjoy our surfing. And although surfers are generally pretty green conscious – let’s all just try just a little bit harder, whaddaya say, hmm? Good.
