Yet your surfboard - your ticket to your passion, and how you enjoy this planet - is simply terrible for the environment.
For starters, it's made from a foam core which contains VOC's (volitile organic compounds) so dangerous that the No1 producer of Polyurethane blanks in the world, Clark Foam, was shut down by the Californian Government because of the chemicals used to make blanks. The Polyester resin used to make the board spews a whole slew of chemicals into the atmosphere during curing (and in making the resin) and fiberglass is treated with chromium (amongst other things). Just making the materials for your beloved board does more harm to our planet than you can imagine, and this is before we combine them to make the board itself. And then of course there is the workers health to consider.
And what happens to that board after you've ridden it for a few years and it's simply "destroyed"? It gets thrown away, where it'll sit in a landfill for 20 000 years trying to decompose.
How can we, surfers who love our planet so much and all she gives us, do this to her?
2Imagine is taking steps to change this. In 2008 our boards are made from the most ecologically friendly materials available on the market. The blanks made from (waterproof), 50% recycled polystyrene (and are 100% recyclable). We've replaced fiberglass with Bamboo fabric (bamboo takes in nearly 5 times the amount of greenhouse gasses and produces 35% more oxygen than the equivelent tree stand, so in addition to not making the problem worse as fiberglass does, it's is actually making our world better), and use an Epoxy resin that put 50 times less VOC's out than standard polyester resin. Within a year we will have an epoxy resin which is made from vegetable oil, and hopefully, blanks made from either 100% recycled, or purely organic materials.
This board on the right, is our first board made from these new materials, and represents a new beginning for 2Imagine, and our efforts to save our planet. Hopefully, you'll continue to do your bit for the worls as well. Here are some pictures of the making of this board.
