by The Editors on May 4, 2009
O’Neill team rider Sam Lamiroy and UK pro surfers Alan Stokes, Mark ‘Egor’ Harris, Oli Adams joined members of Surfers Against Sewage with a petition to England’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown to get the government “to take urgent action to increase protection levels for our oceans in relation to litter.”
SAS Campaign Manager Andy Cummins says: “Thurso’s a great wave and one of the most remote venues for a surf competition. But like most surf spots in the UK it’s plagued with plastics and other marine litter. Join SAS and call for the Prime Minister to implement a National Marine Litter Strategy to protect our beloved beaches and surf spots.”
Click here to sign the petition.
[Link: SurferToday.com]
by The Editors on April 20, 2009
It’s a green, oily day around these parts, but it’s nothing compared to the Amazonian verdure that is Sole Techololgy’s Pierre André Senizergues. He’s so green that he regularly sleeps on a bed of solar cells and has a garden in an industrial park. He’s so green he has a recycled clothing company. He’s so green the LA Times just did another story on how green he is. And that’s pretty damn green.
“What I’m trying to do with this is reach the influencers. I realized that when my furniture was [at Colette], Karl Lagerfeld bought some of it; whether it’s skateboarding, movies, furniture, architecture or fashion, if you can move that 10% that are the influencers, you can move everybody else.”
We think it’s working.
[Link: LA Times via The Skateboard Mag]
by The Editors on April 14, 2009
On April 22, 2009 iPath employees along with surf and skate teams will be joining up with the DBC Ride Shop, Sambazon, Soleo Sunscreen and the Boys & Girls Club of San Clemente on a day-long event in celebration of Earth Day.
Beginning at approximately 10 AM, the Turf & Surf crew will meet at San Clemente’s Ralph’s Skate Court to pick-up trash in and around the park. Following the cleanup, the crew on hand from IPATH will hang around for a quick skate session with anyone in attendance. . . After cleaning up the skatepark, the Turf & Surf participants will make their way over to San Clemente’s North Beach for a beach cleanup. If the waves are good, some of IPATH’s surf team may make their way out into the water too. . . “Earth Day gives us a reminder that we should all be doing our part in helping to maintain and preserve what’s around us,” said IPATH’s Dave Smith. “Even though skateboarding typically takes place in an urban setting, skaters are still affected by the environment around them. From trash laying around a park to garbage on the beach, if we all participated a little, we’d have a big change in the end.”
Nice event for a good cause, and seriously has Ohio Dave ever sounded more eloquent?
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on March 19, 2009
A new surfboard created by a renewable products cooperative called Eden Projects in the UK is made with 50 percent renewable materials (including some wood from a fallen Balsa tree), according to a story in the Telegraph.co.uk.
Describing the creation as “revolutionary”, Eden’s retail director, Mark Beeley, said: “At last we are able to offer surfers the chance to own one of the most sustainable surfboards in the world, available right here in the UK.” . . . Mr Beeley said 15 per cent – 20 per cent of the foam core was made from plant-derived material and a resin was developed from linseed oil to coat the board.
[Link: Telegraph.co.uk]
by The Editors on March 13, 2009
Pennsylvania skaters Adam Podlaski and his brother Jason noticed that a lot of perfectly good wood was going to waste when they and their friends would throw away broken skateboards. And that gave them an idea, according to a story on CBS3.com.
Adam said, “I approached Jay, and I was like, can you make me some furniture out of these things?” So Jason created the Deck Stool. “The design was really based on the way skateboards break,” said Jason. “A large percentage breaks at the truck, because they’re weakened by the holes that are drilled there for the truck. And then the rest break in the center. As you can see by the design, the longer ones become the legs, and the shorter pieces become the seats.”
Deckstools cost about $250 each, so at this point they’re a little more art than eco-furniture.
[Link: Deckstools via CBS3.com]
by The Editors on March 12, 2009
Santa Monica City Councilman and former chairman of the California State Park and Recreation Commission Bobby Shriver and Joel Reynolds, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, explain in the LA Times why the Trestles Toll Road was a bad idea from the beginning without even mentioning surfing. They say the problem is with the Transportation Corridor Agencies.
The Legislature chartered the TCA; now it must fix it. The TCA’s unequivocal mandate must be addressing traffic congestion, not just building toll roads, and it must answer to a comprehensive state transportation agency, in consultation with affected regional agencies . . . We need mobility, and we need parkland. And we can have both if only we refuse to settle for less. . . Running a toll road through San Onofre State Beach was a bad idea from a fundamentally flawed agency. Stopping it was a victory for the region. But what happens next will determine whether that victory has lasting significance.
[Link: LA Times]
by The Editors on March 8, 2009
A group of surfers, backed by the Surfrider Foundation, has stopped plans by the Town of Palm Beach, Florida that would have dredged sand for “beach nourishment” and potentially ruined the surf break at Reach 8, according to a story in the New York Times.
Like other critics of beach nourishment, the surfers and their allies argued that unless replacement sand is well matched to the beach, which is hard to do, the sand causes problems, interfering with nesting sea turtles and small animals like sand fleas that form the bottom of beach and marine food webs.
Can you imagine Palm Beach with sand that doesn’t match? Us neither. Congrats on the win.
[Link: New York Times]
by The Editors on January 7, 2009
Joey Santley and Steve Cox have done what many thought could not be done: they have produced a surfboard made of mostly recycled materials. Joey spoke with Surfing Magazine about the entire Resurf.org process.
Well, the first board is 65% recycled foam. All I did was sweep up the foam dust from the shaping machine and bays of Mayhem’s factory and mixed it into our blending process. Of course, there has to be some virgin polyurethane in there to make everything adhere, but this is a huge start. We’re hoping to get the boards up to 70-80% recycled.
According to the story, Joey and Steve will be at ASR with their boards in booth #1036.
[Link: Surfing Magazine]
by The Editors on January 2, 2009
Jesse Huffman writes up another great snowboarding story for The New York Times. This one, on who snowboard companies are jumping on the “green manufacturing” movement.
More snowboard makers than ever, from grass-roots innovators like Mervin in Sequim, Wash., to multinational companies like Burton, are offering green or eco-friendly boards this ski season. And the trend is just beginning. Boards made with sustainable materials account for just 2 percent of the $140 million board market, according to Snowsports Industries America, a trade group.
Those quoted include: Burton’s Todd King, Salomon’s Alex Warburton, Arbor’s Bob Carlson, K2’s Doug Sanders, Mike Basich and Mervin’s Pete Saari (pictured right). Cleaner is better and if it help sells, great.
[Link: The New York Times]
O’Neill team rider Sam Lamiroy and UK pro surfers Alan Stokes, Mark ‘Egor’ Harris, Oli Adams joined members of Surfers Against Sewage with a petition to England’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown to get the government “to take urgent action to increase protection levels for our oceans in relation to litter.”
