October Issue 2009 Surfing Magazine
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Copyright ©2009 SOURCE INTERLINK MEDIA™. All rights reserved.
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Copyright ©2009 SOURCE INTERLINK MEDIA™. All rights reserved.
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FOREWORD
I’m not an environmentalist. In fact, I’ve always had a hard time with some
of the most elementary green initiatives. I spend more than 12 hours a week
on the 405 freeway in a midsized truck, driving a total of 65 miles a day to
and from work. My coffee often comes in a Styrofoam cup. I leave lights on a
lot, sometimes forget to recycle my cans and often eat take-out food that
comes in multiple containers. I ride a surfboard and wear a wetsuit — both
of which are made up of some very toxic materials — and actually have
several of each. I am a wasteful human and surfer. For this I am sorry.
It just seems that no matter how inspired I become by “green”
initiatives, something always gets in the way. It’s too expensive. I don’t
have time. Or I just can’t imagine how plastic bottles could make
comfortable trunks (turns out they actually can; see page 72). Let’s be
honest: “Being green” has long been something of a trend. It got “so hot
right now” for a while — and we all have the organic cotton tees to prove
it. But at the end of the day, greenness was put on the backburner in an
effort to make ends meet. Or so we thought.
As we considered whether or not a green issue was even possible this
year, we made a few simple observations. We noticed carpool lanes were
flooded with budget-crunching Priuses. Surfers like Andrew Doheny and Dane
Reynolds were riding expired crafts in heats. We were using reusable water
bottles and coffee mugs because tap water and Mr. Coffee just fit in the
budget better. I even bought reusable grocery bags because my trips to the
supermarket for cheap lunchmeat doubled. But the really big cutback I had to
make was skipping ordering a new board right away when my current one was
diagnosed with terminal tail cancer. Instead of tossing two boards in the
garbage, I uncovered a yellowed old faithful from a shallow grave in the
garage and fell in love all over again. And while none of us were doing
these things to be green, we were suddenly as green as we’d ever been…and
saving money doing it.
This is a good sign. And a great trend. As you’ll see in “Three Shades
of Green” (page 102), reducing your environmental impact doesn’t have to be
about spending money. Scottish wanderer Ian Battrick will show you the key
to more surf time and less impact is in learning to love oatmeal. Or perhaps
considering the end of it all — as Nathan Myers does in his essay,
“Apocalypse” (page 94), — will teach us to rely on ourselves rather than the
3G network. Either way, I’m right there with you, struggling financially and
looking for ways to stretch my dollars, but I’m pretty sure I’m as green as
I’ve ever been and surfing just as well on a sunburned surfboard. — Travis
Ferré
DOWLOAD EXCLUSIVE WALLPAPER FROM THE OCTOBER 2009 ISSUE OF SURFING
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