New technologies and ancient crafts…
27 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: eden project, environmentally friendly surfboard, green surfboards, james otter, one project, otter surfboards, polzeath, scotland, soul surfer, storyboard, surfer's path, surfing, tubestation, wooden surfboards
We live in a disposable society where it is often cheaper to replace something rather than to fix it. By “cheaper”, I mean it requires less of our income and less of our precious time. But, what is the real cost of our wastefulness and the waste we produce? Maybe we actually need to keep on thinking big and being innovative rather than feeling we need to retrench and give up?
Only today I read an article noting that Japan recycled 77% of its plastic waste in 2010, representing an increase of 38% in merely 14 years. That’s about twice the current rate of the UK and way above the US figure of 20%. New technologies coupled with legislative reform are altering behaviour and, in simple terms, saving the planet.
Surfboard technology has also come a long way, but, by and large, our boards are made in a very un-environmentally friendly manner with copious amounts of fibreglass, foam and resin involved. The last seven or so years have witnessed many shapers and companies beginning to explore ”greener” ways of developing boards. Organisations such as the Eden Project pioneered such initiatives in the noughties and wooden or bamboo based boards are now becoming increasingly available.
There is a truly beautiful article in the latest edition of Surfer’s Path (Issue 88 Jan/Feb 2012) following Cornish surfboard builder, James Otter, sourcing a local Western Red Cedar and seeing if an entire surfboard could be crafted from a single tree. The skill and craftmanship involved resulted in a board that is, perhaps, every bit as much a piece of art as it is a lovingly honed surfboard. Because the entire project was being photographed and storyboarded, they actually decided to replace the holes in the ribs of the board with letters. In so doing, a breath-taking poem is at the core of its being – something lovingly instilled into its fibre that would not be seen by the outside world. I’d urge you to get the magazine and see the photos and read the account of this inspirational project.
I got to thinking….how often I judge on the outward appearance rather than what is on the inside. Actually, it is the latter that really provides substance and character. When I stop, even for a few seconds, to marvel at how amazingly the human body functions, I am left in awe. Add to that personality, reason, free-choice and the ability to relate and I am left with a faith rekindled that each one of us is fearfully and wonderfully made. I love the idea that someone or something so much bigger than us – God, if you like – could have loved us enough to think about how we would function, to breathe life into us in however you may understand that happening and to pour a poem or love-song into our very DNA. I can’t really get my head around the enormity of this poorly articulated, half-formed, thought or understand how that could come to be, but, sometimes the questions are enough…
