LETTER FROM THE FOUNDERS

All surfers living an ocean-friendly life. That’s the vision we want to create, with your help.

As we reflect back on 2015, we can see a dramatic shift happening in surf culture toward sustainability. This makes sense, given the connection that all surfers have with nature. Who doesn’t want to live a fulfilled life, or run a profitable business, in a way that also helps protect the ocean we love?

However, actually living these values is more difficult than it sounds. It’s incredibly challenging, and these decisions are often portrayed as making a choice between personal and financial well-being, vs. the well-being of the ocean. This is what we call the “false narrative”.

The true narrative is that everyone can benefit and profit, while simultaneously protecting the ocean. We need more positive examples of this occuring. There are great sustainability solutions out there, but they need a voice. Sustainable Surf is that voice — we highlight those who have already made strides, and help others find their own authentic path into the ocean-friendly solution.

After four years of effort as an organization, we can now see the impact of this vision rapidly increasing. The production of ECOBOARDS is growing at 40% per year, the largest surf contests are becoming sustainable, and thousands of people are recycling their styrofoam waste into new boards. The transformation of surf culture is accelerating, in part because of our efforts to define this new vision, and our ability to work with so many different stakeholders in surf culture.

We want to tahnk all of our partners, sponsors, and individuals that are changing their practices to be more sustainable. Our community is getting stronger every year. We literally couldn’t do this without your participation in the vision of the future for a truly sustainable surf culture. We are all leaders in turning this vision into reality.

Michael Stewart and Kevin Whilden

The ECOBOARD Project verifies the use of more sustainable materials in surf, SUP, kite and windsurf boards. With over 50 brands making ECOBOARDS globally, it is easy for anyone to choose a more ocean-conscious surf-craft carrying the ECOBOARD logo.

The goal of the program is to create a permanent transformation in surfboard manufacturing, so that all surfboards are made with more sustainable materials, while proving that sustainable products can and do perform at the highest level. The program uses best-practices in sustainable product certification schemes, and verifies the use of more sustainable surfboard materials in boards with the “Verified ECOBOARD” mark.

The following is a snapshot of the key ECOBOARD Project achievements for 2015.

In 2015, The ECOBOARD Project continues to evolve and grow at a rapid pace. There were 25,000 ECOBOARDS built globally, with a 30% overall growth rate in the number of ECOBOARDS produced. Two new sustainable material manufacturers were added to the Qualified Materials list, which improves consumer choice.

Deep Blue Event™ is the world’s first sustainability designation for professional surfing and surf-culture events. In 2015 Sustainable Surf worked with six events all around the world to develop sustainability strategies and publicly report on the environmental and social performance of those events.

A Deep Blue Event™ is a more “Ocean Friendly” event, that sets a clear path for reducing environmental impacts, while also providing social benefits for the local community. Sustainable Surf provides a transparent reporting platform that evaluates the sustainability performance of each event based on the international standard for sustainable event reporting – the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

The program focuses on five key sustainability impacts: Waste, Energy, Community Support, Climate Change and Transportation.