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Why I want and need surf gear to be made from clean materials

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clay:
Even though I have been moving in this direction for many years I still come up quite short, as currently all my boards are made of epoxy and carbon (by most accounts this is a big improvement from PU boards).  I am doing my best to change this, I succeed when I make my own gear as I use plant based materials; bamboo, hemp, other wood, and resin that is plant based.

Cutting and sanding carbon and feeling that itch on my skin after told me there is something unhealthy about this stuff.  The smell from a tube of 5 minute epoxy said to me this stuff must be horribly toxic  When I work with wood and plants my skin feels natural and with plant based resin my nose breathes clean.

This video reminds of why I am committed to surf gear that is renewable (can be regenerated within a generation), biodegradable (the earth can naturally recycle it and it has a healthy place in the food chain), and non-toxic (the collection and production of the materials does not pollute our air, land, water, animals, or people):



The question that comes up for me is why have we collectively chosen performance gear at the expense of our oceans?  I saw a Ted talk where the presenter said a farmer can claim their food is 100% organic, but no fishermen in the world can claim their fish is 100% organic.  This statement woke me up to the depth of the problem: every fish and plant in the ocean lives, breathes, eats, and sleeps in plastic garbage.  It seems that when we eat fish we are eating plastic.


I made this video of a beach clean up in the San Francisco Bay:


What to do?  Making my own board out of wood or plants seemed quite a bit beyond my current skill set.  So I started with something I can do and is manageable for me now.  On my video camera pole project I started with aluminum and then carbon fiber and plastic, I gradually moved to bamboo and hemp for the structure and I just made a ball head out of wood.  The next steps are to make the attachment pieces out of wood and then experiment with adhesives that are 100% plant or animal based.  The more I work in this way the more I suspect I could make my own boards out of wood or plants, and there are some really interesting techniques for making them almost as light as foam boards.  Paddles seem totally doable, I am pretty sure I could make one completely out of bamboo and it would only be a few ounces heavier...

Tom:
There  are  some  companies  in  San  Diego  that  are  researching  ways  to  make  foam  out  of  non-petroleum  based  sources . I  think  UCSD  is  making  a  foam  out  of kelp.

surfcowboy:
Build a board. The waste is staggering. It blew my mind how much waste I created.

And yes, the foam is key to a more sustainable surf craft. Marko is recycled which is a good step. The next best thing is to build them to last and avoid the landfill.

Bean:
I had mentioned a couple alternatives to petro derived neoprene in another thread but maybe worth repeating here. Yulex (Patagonia) and Geoprene (Matuse), the only issue is increased cost.

clay:
Great comments!

Always seems like amazing innovation in surf and skate from San Diego.   Upping the plant content of foam makes sense as it fits into existing board building shops.

I hear you on waste, great point.  When I was buying the little plastic action cam attachment pieces they came individually double or triple wrapped in plastic bags, the packaging waste was sickening, and the lifespan of the pieces was quite short.  The flip side to waste is that green "waste" is food for other critters and plants.   I  bought some bamboo from a local farm that was in their scrap pile, I cut the pieces that worked for me and then when working on it my discards ended up in the woods or in the compost.  What eats plastic?

Love that those companies are stepping up with better wetsuits.  Axxe is another company. 

Cost is important, the true cost of petroleum based products is externalized, as in we don't pay the fee to clean up pollution from these products as it ends up on the beach or in the air and water.  I  remember reading that Henry Ford built an electric car but because gas has been subsidized and the exhaust can be "dumped" anywhere electric cars were shelved.

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