Play It Green

If the batmobile were a speedboat, it would be Earthrace. The 100 percent biodiesel, $2.5 million boat is a futuristic vision that yesterday launched from the Vulkan Shipyard in Sagunto, Spain to set a new world record for circumnavigating the globe (the current record is 74 days). The boat is designed to win, with extremely narrow hulls to plow through rough ocean conditions at top speed. And Earthrace is a traveling environmental lesson, with parts made from hemp composite, vegetable oil lubricants and bilge water pumped through special filters. They’re purchasing carbon credits to offset whatever emissions they do produce, so they can stamp the whole effort “carbon neutral.”

Captain Pete Bethune (a New Zealand native and former oil industry engineer) is keeping track of all the race highs and lows in a blog, the first post of which ends with some inspiring words: “Everyone should experience this once in their life I say to myself, as I push the throttles fully forward, and 1080 horsepower of Cummins Mercruiser grunt roars into roar into life. Earthrace lurches forward and roars past the start line.”

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Surfers seem to bear the weight of environmental destruction more than most athletes. What with the receding sand, the trash-strewn beaches and the postings warning of polluted water, they’ve got environmental fallout in their faces. But are they really contributing significantly to global warming by “driving up and down the coast looking for surf”? It’s a stretch, but don’t tell that to surfers Dr. Scott Paynton (a professor at Humboldt State University) and Mike Conway (a student there) who are taking two weeks in May to bike 500 miles and surf down the coast of California. Either way, Bike and Surf California offers good publicity (and surfing) for the friends, who are carrying all their gear and boards by bike, all of which is sustainable, and much of which is donated by companies like Teva, Simple Shoes, Home Blown bio-foam surfboards, Camelbak and others. In July, they’re participating in the Relay for Life event and any money raised on either journey will go to the American Cancer Society.

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If the press releases are to be believed, the planet’s salvation lies in footwear. Elbowing in on the eco-sneaks craze is a new line of “Endangered Waves” sandals from Vans, launched with Surfing Magazine and the Surfrider Foundation that will go to protect and preserve oceans. Wearers will only need to slip off their flip flops to remember what needs protecting: the inner soles bear images of four of the world’s most endangered waves—Ma’alaea in Hawaii, El Gongal in Spain, Bastion Point in Australia and Trestles in California—the places surfers of big waves have a serious stake in protecting. “It’s hard to imagine anyone not being concerned with the perilous state of the world’s most powerful, yet precious resources … our waves,” said Vans Vice President of Marketing, Doug Palladini. A portion of the sandals’ proceeds—$10,000—will go to Surfrider.

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