Is offsetting the answer? Photo: Wikipedia Commons
Of all professional sports, surfing will be one of the first to fall victim to climate change. Surfing is entirely dependent on the environment. Everything from storms and swells, to tides (global sea level rise), to contest weather, any one of these factors can shut surfing down.
Right now, the ASP hosts 11 contests annually where the top 44 surfers in the world compete at some of the best breaks in the world. Although it has its faults, it’s really an amazing setup. The ugly truth is that traveling around the globe to surf for a living is environmentally contradictory. They are producing large amounts of carbon dioxide with each contest, which contributes to climate change. When that happens, world class breaks will be permanently altered.
The ASP World Contest Tour has a gigantic carbon footprint. In relation to climate change, a carbon footprint is a way of measuring the amount of greenhouse gases emitted. During long trips, passenger jets emit approximately .39lbs of carbon dioxide per mile, per person. Traveling halfway around the world every few weeks emits tens of thousands of pounds of CO2 for each of the top 44 surfers. Without mitigation, the WCT is contributing significantly to anthropogenic climate change.
Reducing mileage would be the best option, but it just isn’t practical for the WCT. There is no way to host contests in closer proximity to one another while still selecting the world’s best breaks. The simplest solution seems to be carbon offsetting, which involves money contributions towards projects that reduce CO2 emissions. Although the methods vary, usual solutions include funding for renewable energy, methane collection, managing forestry/deforestation, and buying carbon credits. By making up for the CO2 produced by WCT competitions, the ASP would be closer to becoming “carbon neutral”, which is a huge step in the right direction. If surfing doesn’t become more sustainable, it will eventually destroy itself.
Offsetting is great, but it doesn’t completely solve the problem. Depending on the project, it may take a while to cancel out the emissions and end up back at zero. Burning fossil fuels also emits other pollutants like heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxide, and sulfur dioxide, as well as sulfuric, nitric, and carbonic acids which produce acid rain. These aren’t mitigated in carbon offsetting, so the travel emissions of the WCT would still impact the environment.
There may not be a perfect solution to the environmental impact of the World Tour, but it needs to be addressed in one way or another. Short of restructuring the entire WCT, carbon offsetting could be the best solution, for now. Things like recycling, reusable bottles, longevity in equipment, and energy efficiency should be standard at ASP events. As surfers become more concerned with their impact, we’re seeing a shift in the surf industry. Demand for sustainable products has created a market for things like cleaner blanks and resin, longer lasting wetsuits, petroleum-free wax, and fins made from recycled materials. It would be great to see the ASP World Tour to get on board and set a good example.
