DEEP March/April 2014 Green Issue | Page 77

Ventura rivermouth, let's keep it clean. cuts your knees. Cork does not absorb water; it repels it—that means your surfboard tail remains light and agile for those sick turns. Cork is a natural fire retardant, so your board won’t catch fire because you rip so hard. In 2013, Wave Tribe started manufacturing several of its bag models in California. It sure feels great to support local businesses and substantially decrease our transportation footprint by more than 10,000 kilometers. We joined the upcycle movement, purchasing used vinyl billboard advertisements that normally go straight into landfills. We repurpose that material to create new products, like a rad Wave Tribe boardbag. Each bag is unique and we can make custom sizes or funky shapes. But the most awesome thing about these bags is that they are made by other surfers in California, using materials sourced from the United States. This keeps jobs in America and also helps us invest back into our local communities. Buying local isn’t just for food, and as Corie from Australia reminded me this week, it is easy to get lost in the haze and daze of the naive consumerist lens that we are conditioned to see life through, in this “7-Eleven, 24 hour, Ventura Earth Day Eco Fest Saturday, April 26, 2014 Promenade Park, Ventura 10am to 5pm • free admission earthday everyday www.venturaearthday.org The ocean and garbage. super-sized, but wait there’s more, no time for time society.” We as consumers have forced companies to deliver lower and lower priced products via the Walmart effect. The reality is that "how" a purchase impacts one’s wallet is more decisive than "how" the product influences Upcycled the environment. We need to change billboard how we think, how we look, how we boardbags. consume and how we live. It’s up to all of us to join this eco movement and to recognize the importance of living and surfing differently. Our oceans and planet deserve and demand an immediate action. Our lives are intimately connected to the health of our planet, and if we don’t act now, we’ll all be surfing in wave pools filled with boogie borders and chlorinated water. Derek Dodds is the founder of Wave Tribe and can be found riding his Mini Simmons around Ventura beaches and foreign surf locations. Please send your comments, suggestions, and stoke to [email protected].