Kelly Slater Goes Carbon Neutral
By Evan Slater
In SURFING’s upcoming Greeen Issue, we announce that we’ve partnered with
the non-profit Carbonfund and gone “carbon neutral.”
It appears we aren’t alone.
Just recently, Kelly Slater committed to the same program. But he took it one
step further. Instead of offsetting his carbon emissions moving forward, he’s
doing it retroactively for his entire career. Considering his career spans all the
way back to 1991, we’re talking a hell of a lot of newly planted trees. “I've
thought about it for years,” says Kelly. “but wasn't actually sure how to do it.
It's definitely something you wonder about after all that traveling, the effect all
that fuel consumption has on the planet. The guys at Carbonfund made it
really easy to do. I made a brief calculation of my travel over the years. I
spend about two weeks a year actually in the sky flying and quite a few driving
miles which both add up a little differently. I’ve done around 4 million miles
total, which I thought would break the bank when the end result came. But it
adds up to around five acres of replanting that costs around $5500.”
Here’s how it works: after you calculate your impact (mileage driven or flown,
electricity used, etc.), Carbonfund gives you different options to “offset” your
carbon emissions –the chief culprit for the Climate Change crisis. The primary
option for Carbonfund’s newly formed CarbonFree Surfing Program is
reforestation. SURFING Magazine committed to mangroves in India; Slater is
putting his efforts toward the San Juan Del Sur area in Nicaragua. Kelly will
have 25 different indigenous species planted on a private reserve bordering
the Escamequita River, which protects the watershed leading right to the
beach. This is not only important turtle nesting habitat, but it also protects
water quality for all the surf breaks south of SJDS, including the threatened
wave at Playa Yankee. “Like his eight world titles, it’s clearly another great first
for Kelly,” says Michael Stewart, Partnerships Director at CarbonFund, “and
an open invite for all surfers to look at the long trail of CO2 left behind by
modern surf travel. Think of it this way: would you start a tire fire on the beach
at Pipe? Well, if you don’t compensate for the CO2 from plane ride over there
through reforestation or green power projects, you basically just did.”
Along with inspiring the industry, Kelly’s ultimate goal is to get all the surfers
on the ASP World Tour to join in, hopefully creating a “surf forest” that makes
the entire ASP tour “carbon neutral.” “That’ll raise some eyebrows around the
world and show a responsible group of people working for the greater good of
all mankind,” says KS. “There are many people out there unconvinced as to
our effect on the world’s climate. I have to admit at times I wonder what the
exact science is. But here’s the clincher for me: if you plant more trees and
use more land for good you will have better air quality. Simple as that. The
Earth one day will get tired of us treating it so badly and flick us off and repair
itself without us. We should just do our best to keep this big bedroom/house of
ours as clean as possible while we have it. Sign up and make your little bit of
difference.”
For more on Carbonfund’s Carbon Free Surfing Program, go to www.
greensurf.org.
Be sure to check SURFING Magazine’s Green Issue, on newsstands this
month.