This document discusses the sustainability of surfing in the 21st century. It provides background on the history and definitions of sustainability, beginning with publications in the 1960s-70s that raised awareness of environmental issues. It then examines how sustainability concepts have been applied specifically to surfing culture, businesses like Quiksilver, and surf tourism. The sustainable surfing movement aims to protect oceans and communities from issues like pollution and overdevelopment. While surfing businesses face challenges becoming fully sustainable, concepts like sustainable surf tourism in developing countries can boost local economies in an environmentally-friendly way. Overall, surfing culture and industries are progressing towards more sustainable practices and awareness of their environmental impacts.

1. DISCUSS THE CONTENTION THAT
SURFING IN THE 21ST CENTURY
CAN BE SUSTAINABLE.

2. Introduction
• Sustainability
• History
• Definition
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Sustainable Development
• Sustainable Surfing
• Sustainable Culture
• McKnight
• Whilden and Stewart
• Sustainable Tourism
• Conclusion
• References

3. Sustainability
• History of sustainability
• In 1962, Rachel Carson published “Silent Spring”
• In 1968, Paul Ehrlich published “Population Bomb”
• In 1972, the UN Conference was held in Stockholm
• In 1980, the Independent Commission International Development publishes “North: South” – A
Programme for Survival”
• In 1983, the World Commission on Environment and Development forms, chaired by Norwegian Prime
Minister Gro Harlem Bruntland
• In 1987, the “Our Common Future” the Bruntland Report was finally published
• In 1992 the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) was held in Rio de Janeiro
• In 2002 where the World Summit on Sustainable Development was “held in Johannesburg
• Finally, 2012 or Rio +20, this was about an Institutional change for Sustainable Development and the
Green Economy.
• (IISD, 2012)

4. Sustainability continued…
• Bruntland (1984) definition:
• “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
• Advantages:
• People are accepting this concept;
• Sustainability gives everyone a focal point;
• It is an orchestration of sciences.
• Disadvantages:
• It is an oxymoron;
• Doesn’t have one definition;
• Can be a means for ongoing legitimisation of global approaches of development.

5. Three pillars of Sustainability
• The Economy pillar;
• The Environmental pillar;
• The last pillar is the Social aspect.
• (Munasinghe and Swart, 2005:101).

6. Sustainable Surfing
• “The earliest recorded surfing in Britain so far is 1890, but we have had contact with surfing
as far back as at least 1769.”
• (Museum of British Surfing, 2015)
• “It seemed clear that the surfing world was at a tipping point, that sustainability was an
inevitable, if distant, destination for the broader surfing world and its residents.”
• (Borne and Ponting, 2015)

7. Sustainable Culture
• Bob McKnight – Quicksilver and Sustainability: The View from the Top.
• Sustainability finally hit them when Jeff Wilson came to work.
• Yvon Chouinard’s ideas were being established.
• His sister started ‘Quiksilver Foundation’.
• Got all the designers and manufactures to start thinking about sustainability.
• “Since 2006, the company has struggled with profitability, so we need to turn Quiksilver around”
(McKnight, in Borne and Ponting, 2015:56).
• So they started to hire people who only thought how to be sustainable, how important the concept is and how
much they cared about it.
• Even though they are becoming a sustainable company, you know they struggling with finance, they
cant afford to give 1% to the planet, they place it back into the company.
• Sustainable product are more expensive then normal products.

8. Sustainable Culture
• Kevin Whilden and Michael Stewart – Transforming Surf Culture Towards Sustainability – A
Deep Blue Life.
• Plastic littering, agricultural and sewage water discharge, over-fishing and coastal habitat destruction,
all affect the ocean but the worst is carbon dioxide.
• Heat gain also effects “heat stress to corals and also changes global ocean circulation patterns that
drive global climate and ocean nutrient” (Whilden and Stewart, in Borne and Ponting, 2015).
• The ECOBOARD Project
• The sales of the ECOBOARD has increased to 400% per year.
• “Environmental Benefits: ECOBOARDs must have a significant and meaningful reduction in environmental
impact as measured by factors such as lifecycle CO2 emissions and toxic chemical/VOC emissions”
• (Sustainable Surf: ECOBOARDS: 2015)
• The Deep Blue Life
• Established in 2014, to help educate surfers on real life threats.
• To help life an ocean friendly lifestyle, there are some strategies that are recommended.

9. Sustainable Culture
• Two different types of culture
• McKnight looks into the business internal culture
• Whilden and Stewart look into the surfing culture, a culture every surfer integrates into
• International Conference in Helsinki 6th -8th May 2015
• (Culture Sustainability, 2015)

10. Sustainable Tourism
• Sean Brody - Sustainable Stoke: Liberia
• Went to Liberia in 2009, to take surf photos for National Geographic TV Show: On Surfari
• In 2010 started Surf Resource Network
• In 2012 opened Kwepunha Retereat
• Social Impact Business
• Sustainable Surf Tourism and Community Health
• Community Support – From the Bottom up and Top down
• Surfing Tourism
• The Ripple Effect
• Youngsters getting involved

11. Sustainable Tourism
• Jess Ponting – The Audacity of Stoke: Surfing the Ivory Tower
• Didn’t have any intention of going into academia, “it was more gravitational” (Ponting
2015, quoted in Borne and Ponting 2015)
• Realised that there was a need for sustainable tourism
• He identified the problems
• He they design six key areas that help promise for helping to drive a positive change in surf
tourism
1. Theoretical Framework
2. Practical Analytical Framework
3. Sustainable Surf Tourism Certification
4. Sustainable Surf Tourism Study Aboard Classes
5. SurfCredits

12. Sustainable Tourism
• Different views of Sustainable Tourism
• Brody focused on how individuals can help boost the local economy by using sustainable
surfing
• Ponting uses academia work, by producing a theory to help and to see why undeveloped
countries need sustainable surfing.
• “A 2012 report by The Travel Foundation and Forum for the Future found that 75% of
consumers want a more responsible holiday”
• (Sustainable Tourism, 2015)

13. Conclusion
• By just looking into two parts of sustainable surfing you can see that it helping individuals
to become sustainable
• Surfing has be alive in for centuries, and no one really knows when it first started, but
sustainable surfing is a concept that just happened.
• Sustainable Tourism and Culture are just two points of the ever expanding sustainable
surfing concept.
• Tourism is so important for undeveloped countries
• Culture is needed not just in the local communities, but you need a sustainable culture in business as
well.
• Overall, surfing is becoming sustainable and in some parts is sustainable. Now they have
realised how to become sustainable, they and even everyone needs to help to implement it.

14. References
• Borne, G. and Ponting, J., (2015) Sustainable Stoke: Transitions to Sustainability in the Surfing World.
Plymouth: University of Plymouth Press
• Brundtland,H.,(1987) Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common
Future (Online) Available from: http://www.un-documents.net/our-common-future.pdf (Accessed on 10th
March 2015)
• Culture Sustainability. (2015) Culture(s) in Sustainable Futures: theories, policies, practices. (Online)
Available from: http://www.culturalsustainability.eu/helsinki2015/About-the-conference (Accessed on
17th March 2015)
• International Institution for Sustainable Development. (2012). Sustainable Development Timeline. (Online)
Available from: http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2012/sd_timeline_2012.pdf (Accessed on 10th March 2015)
• Munasinghe, M. and Swart, R., (2005) Primer on Climate Change and Sustainable Development: Facts, Policy
Analysis and Applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2005
• Museum of British Surfing. (2015) British Surfing History. (Online) Available from:
http://www.museumofbritishsurfing.org.uk/british-surfing-history/ (Accessed on 17th March 2015)
• Sustainable Surf: ECOBOARDS. (2015) ECOBOARD Project Benchmark. (Online) Available from:
http://www.sustainablesurf.org/ecoboard/benchmark/ (Accessed on 11th March 2015)
• Sustainable Tourism. (2015) Sustainable Tourism: Resources. (Online) Available from:
http://www.sustainabletourism.net/resources.html (Accessed on 17th March 2015)