Swell, thanks

If I weren't busy surfing, driving to go surfing or scheming to go surfing, then I'd probably have more time for blogging. So maybe it was inevitable that eventually I'd blog about surfing.

Surfers are arguably more aware of the environment than normal, sane people. When you're out in the ocean on your little sliver of fiberglass-encased foam, you're literally immersed in nature. Surfing is 99.9999999999999% percent about the environment and .00000000000001% about you. It's an algorithm of millions of gallons of water, tons of liquid moving weight, sand, rocks, reefs, swell, wind, rain and temperature. 

In some parts of the world though, it also includes vast quantities of plastic bags (like those we swam in, around and through in Bali's Kuta Beach) or an unfeasibly large number of condoms (as witnessed recently in the Atlantic waters of Zarautz). Here in the UK, Surfers Against Sewage is a charity that campaigns to clean up the debris that washes up on our island shores. In the US, the Surfrider Foundation serves a similar purpose.

This summer Vans is working with the Surfrider Foundation on a collaboration called Trash to Art. If you find yourself in the US, Canada or Puerto Rico, you can submit art upcycled from plastic flotsam and jetsam found at your local break, then each month the best artwork wins a pair of Vans shoes made with materials from recycled plastic.