The 1st Annual Surfer’s Path Green Wave Awards
Posted on September 01, 2006 @ 2:51 PM
SURF ACCESSORY COMPANIES
Not a lot of entries in this category, despite the fact there’s been a major green shift in consciousness there as well. We predict a big fat listing next year. Nonetheless, our nominees this year were worthy. The Loose Fit Surf Shop in Devon aims to be a working model of everything a sustainable surf shop ought to be – watch out for them next year. Sambazon (the miracle drink of several notable pro surfers) is as much a sports product as it is an investment in sustainable Amazon harvesting. And Solar Cookers International is holding a major key to both human health and rainforest preservation – cheap and fuel-less sterilization and eating.
WINNER: BETTY BELTS
A small operation that’s trying to make a difference at the source, Betty Belts’ fabric dyers are one of the very few in Bali who use a self-built septic system that reduces greatly their toxic outflow into the river. Now this small company is working to rein in river pollution by helping to install septic systems for other dyers in order to extract harmful elements from the natural and chemical dyes used in the cottage industries ubiquitous in Indonesia and many other craft-oriented societies. “We are initiating the construction of a septic system for one particularly visible and needy batiker, [plus distributing] a simple blueprint and efforts to get the word out,” says Donna von Hoesslin, who is working to raise funds for the project. “There is no law requiring these people to have any form of outflow regulation into the river,” she says, “so it needs attention.” Indeed.
EMERALD PATH AWARD
Too many of the nominees quite plainly deserve the overall award, and we toyed with several different criteria for eeking out a single winner. In the end we went for a long-term view and found two standouts, both nominees in the Individuals category. These two men, separated by oceans but bound by them, too, seemed to show a certain synergy in their paths.
Both dedicated to the ocean, some years ago they found themselves furious at its abuse. Both channelled their outrage so effectively that it couldn’t be ignored – by their fellow surfers, by the abusers, and by lawmakers. They made stuff happen like no one has since, and between them they spawned the most important and effective guardian organizations that surfers and beach-users have to this day. But it didn’t stop there. Both of these men are still contributing to surfing’s culture in important, intelligent and radical ways, retaining a respectable independence and looking to a future that benefits us all, and of course, our ocean environment. In the end, it made complete sense to name these two as winners, both for their work in the past, and their work towards our future.
WINNERS:GLENN HENING and CHRIS HINES
GLENN HENING: No other surfer has done as much to preserve surf spots, guarantee access to the waves, and ensure that there’s clean water when you get there. In fact, the very concept of these Green Wave Awards would not exist without Glenn Hening.
Co-founder of the Surfrider Foundation in 1984 and founder of the Groundswell Society in 2001, Hening has single-mindedly coerced surfers into standing up for themselves and the higher values often buried somewhere within. To top it off, in 2005, the Oxnard, California surfer published his blockbuster surf novel, Waves of Warning, an epic cautionary tale that projects current trends into a dangerous future, while revealing Hening’s masterful understanding of surfing at all levels, from the ancient traditions to corporate boardrooms. No one’s contributions to sustaining surfing have been greater.
“It was a surprise and an honor to be nominated for this award, but I never thought I’d win it,” Hening confessed as we were going to press. “There are so many people around the world who are working hard every day in the name of surfing, the surfing world that we are leaving to our children. I just happened to be lucky enough to have the time, resources, and energy to hold up my end of the bargain – as one blessed with a lifetime of receiving Mother Ocean’s greatest gift: the feeling that only a surfer knows.
“My sincere congratulations to Chris Hines,” Hening continued. “It’s an honor to share the award with him. And I’ll dedicate my half of the Award to the true spirit of sharing the stoke of surfing – the true meaning of the word ‘Aloha’ that Duke Kahanamoku taught us – and to Tom Pratte, who taught us what it really takes to protect something as precious as the wonderful world of riding waves.”
CHRIS HINES: In 1990, in the tiny Cornish village of St. Agnes, there was outrage over the outflows. The surfers were fed up with surfing in raw shit, so Surfers Against Sewage was born. The positive charge at its core was Chris Hines, its director for the next ten years. His media savvy was notorious and SAS was soon almost as widely known as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. But beyond its famous stunts with wetsuits and gas masks, SAS became one of the most effective environmental campaign groups in the UK thanks to Hines’ total command of his brief, his dedication to common sense and decency in the face of greed, bureaucracy and politicking. He was David against any number of Goliaths – private water companies, local governments, national government, European bureaucrats – and his aim was consistently true. By the time he left SAS in 2000, laws had been changed and the raw shit had gone. It wasn’t just surfers who benefited from the disproportionate momentum Hines had built up through SAS, but millions of beachgoers.
Today, as Sustainability Director at the Eden Project, Hines has tapped into Eden’s significant resources to develop the “eco-boards”, surfboards made entirely of natural materials. The eco-boards, an ongoing research project, are a “challenge” to our own industry and beyond. Through Eden’s mainstream consultancy work they’re being used to inspire big industry to rethink all kinds of toxic manufacturing processes. Again, thanks to Hines’ surf-based vision, a cleaner, greener future actually looks possible.
“Surfing can change the world,” Hines said when told he’d won this award. “We all have to accept that collectively we are an incredibly strong body. We are a huge, powerful tribe. We just need to realize it. And it’s worth remembering what John Paul Getty said when he was asked in an interview what was the best thing he’d ever done in his life. He said it was when he was a teenager, when he and his friends picked up surfboards, paddled out and rode the waves. This was an old man, who’d been the richest man in the world and done whatever he wanted, and surfing was better than all of it.”
Thanks to Rick Rietveld for providing the artwork for our winners. Thanks too to everyone who nominated and partook in this year's award. Nominations for the 2nd Annual GWA (for 2006) end Jan 15 2007.
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