Surf’s Up : How To Green Your Ride

From the obvious respect for the power of the ocean to the unexpected encounters with mystical marine life, surfing binds its brave participants to the rhythms and whims of Mother Nature. If you’re a surfer, or plan to pop your cherry take some surf lessons in Summer 2009, then you might be ready to take on protecting the ocean in the same passionate way you ride it. Make a positive difference to the coral, fish, mammals, plants, and the planet at large by making more sustainable choices with your gear.

1 Green Your Gear

Eco surf supply superstars Wave Tribe out of SoCal produce surf bags, leashes, and surfboard “socks” out of hemp and recycled PET, as well as organic cotton tees. Sick sustainable surfboards are made by visionary companies like Imagine Eco and Eden Project. Imagine using linseed oil instead of petroleum to make a surfboard. Aw yeh. Then there’s sustainably-made wetsuits from recycled plastic by Billabong. The biodegradable corn fiber suits by Body Glove use non-toxic inks, reclaimed zippers, and even post-consumer recycled hang tags.

You can get to and from the beach in the ultimate FSC-certified rubber flip flops from the fine folks at Autonomie Project, or try the recycled tire flip flops from Splaff. Da Kine has the Project Blue backpack which they donate $2 of each sale to the Surfrider Foundation to fund coastline protection initiatives worldwide. Not only that, it’s made from recycled plastic bottles, diverting plastic from the waste stream, which shockingly often heads right to the ocean.

Last but not least, make sure you have some eco board shorts made of recycled PET, a pretty decent selection of which can be found at Swell.com and Dogfunk.com. And then there’s always another way of looking at recycled board shorts…

2 Share And Share Alike

Volcom actually wants you to make use of your old surf threads with their “Recycle Your Old Boardshorts For a Good Cause” campaign. Just drop your old trunks in the labeled bin at any Volcom shop and they’ll pass them on to a less financially flush surfer. Put’s a positive new twist on “drop your shorts,” doesn’t it?

Another ecologically smart way to approach your surfing will also save you mad cash. Try starting a surfboard collection with your friends. Does everybody need their own longboard, paddleboard, jet ski or kite if you’re hardly ever using that gear? No. Make sure to hold your favorite board tight, but consider going in on all the other equipment with your closest friends. Like I said, your closest friends.

3 Don’t Kill Everything Else To Save Your Own Skin

Many chemical UV filters found in today’s sunscreen can cause coral bleaching and genetic mutations in marine life, like ovarian tissue in male fish testes. Ewwww. If we think that’s digusting, how do you think our friends in the sea feel about all this? They’re pissed really upset. Who knows, maybe the reason why the US has the highest rate of shark attacks worldwide is because we’re the ones dumping all this crap into the oceans. Well, as we can see, I’m no scientist, but I can tell you to stay away from these ingredients in your sunscreen: octinoxate, oxybenzone, parabens, and DEA (diethanolamine). What’s the healthy alternative? Zinc Oxide. Sunscreen brands that use Zinc Oxide and don’t include the other BS are: Badger SPF 30, Soleo Organics, and California Baby SPF 30 (don’t worry- it’s for big kids too.)

And one last thing, try eating less fish. Humans have overfished to the point that we’ve actually eaten 90% of the big fish in the ocean. Yes, 90. Scallops, mussels, veggie burgers-give ‘em a try!

If you go through the effort to align your love of the ocean with more sustainable habits, it’s going to feel a whole lot different next time you’re carving alongside a huge pod of dolphins playing in the ocean…I can’t explain the feeling exactly, just try it. You’ll see what I mean.