Surfing into Sustainability
Waikiki, Oahu– with the help of many organizations the awareness of plastic pollution has increased all over the world. Plastic pollution impacts over 700 species that live in the ocean, these animals range from plankton to whales. No matter where a species is located on the food chain they are impacted by the influx of plastic into our oceans.
Kaya Milos, 18 was pretty much born in the water. Surrounded by a family of surfers, she jumped in the water and joined the family craft six years ago.
Kaya chose an eco-friendly board so that she could live/surf while making a less negative impact on the environment.
“I chose it pretty much because I want to live making the least negative impact on the environment possible… especially since surfing has you so connected to the environment”
Kaya wishes that people would be more sustainable with their boards but eco-friendly boards are not cheap.
“Considering how expensive they are other things you can do are buying second hand boards or boards shaped locally to avoid the added carbon emissions from transportation”
Firewire surfboards has started a movement of making eco-friendly boards. The lifecycle of a surfboard is important when trying to buy sustainably. The lifecycle includes, raw materials extraction and refining, to manufacturing energy use, and transportation of the finished product to stores.
A normal board produces almost 10 pounds of waste which is around double the weight of the board itself.
The ECOBOARD logo represents boards that are sustainable. These companies are supervised by Sustainable Surf. When you see the stickers, level one through gold on the boards you know that they have a measurably reduced carbon footprint, are renewable, recycled and/or up-cycled material inputs, and use materials and processes that reduce toxicity during manufacturing.
Sustainable surf conducted a study to see the difference in the carbon footprint of a standard poly surfboard versus the Ecoboard. The conclusion was that there was a significant reduction in your carbon footprint when using the Ecoboard while also there being a decrease in carcinogenic chemicals emitted during the glassing phase when using epoxy-based resins.
You can access the public report here: http://www.sustainablesurf.org/ecoboard/lifecycle-study/
You can be apart of the solution. One person can not solve the issue that is plastic pollution but when that one person starts it causes a ripple effect that leads to millions of people putting an end to their consumption. If everyone takes tiny steps just like this one the war against plastic pollution wont seem as large.
Wait, you knew Duke?
Waikiki, Oahu– Captain Clay describes his times with the famous surfer as he lounges under the sun.
The statue of Duke Kahanamoku, Native Hawaiian surfer stands proudly behind us.
Captian Clay has been on this beach since the age of twelve and is now seventy- nine years old. I was drawn in by his funky glasses and cool attitude but did not expect this.
And that statue out there Duke Kahanamoku, I happen to know him. He used to buy me hanburgers on Sunday. And that was a big thing back then, the early fifties.
Duke gave him the advice to always be nice to people visiting the island which was why he was so welcoming to my questions about his life.
Love Goes Beyond Paperwork
Waikiki, Oahu- High school sweethearts Kathrine and Gerald Stencel celebrate 60 years of love with a vacation to Oahu.
Marriage is common and almost expected in our society between the ages of 20 to 30. The Stencels’ broke societies standards and fell in love for 58 years before tying the knot.
“We didn’t marry until two and a half years ago and that was the most memorable day of my life. August the 12, 2017”
Hang Ten: A Photo Series
Reflection
Going into this assignment I was extremely nervous. I never thought of myself as a shy person but the idea of going up to strangers and asking them questions gave me the heebie jeebies. However I got lucky this time, everyone I talked to was friendly and gave me a story. I even got to go out into the ocean and snap some pictures of Kaya which was awesome. Today I went out and took the motion pictures and even though I am still trying to get a hold of all the controls for manual, I think they turned out pretty good. I am really sad for the photo unit to be ending because it is what I am most interested in but excited to further my skills in other areas.
Offbeat Travel 