Grain Surfboards partners with Australia’s Capeboatworks

Grain Surfboards has been concerned with reducing the environmental impact of our surfing since the beginning. Our green ethic has become integral, not incidental - and resulting in action, not hype. It started with the simple choice of wood over other, toxic alternatives and has continued through our apparel product line.

Those humble beginnings were the roots of what would become a top-to-bottom commitment to reducing impacts at every level of our operations. We expect 2008 to bring with it a series of exciting new developments in this area that we will be pleased to share.

A first is our new partnership with Capeboatworks. Starting this year, Capeboatworks will be milling and packing Homegrown surfboard kits for us – in New South Wales, Australia. You might ask: Why is a boat shop in Australia an exciting new step for us in protecting the environment?

The answer is “carbon”. Carbon emissions account for 72% of the total effects of global warming. The greatest contribution Grain could make in slowing global warming would be to reduce or eliminate carbon dioxide emissions. Well, it also turns out that 14% of all man-made greenhouse gasses are cranked out by transportation fuels. (Click for Data: Global Warming Art Project)

So it stands to reason that getting Grain Surfboards and Home Grown Kits to one of the largest surf markets in the world - which is also pretty far from Maine – is the best place to reduce transportation impacts. So instead of shipping kits with wood from our local forests in Maine all the way to Australia, Capeboatworks will save literally ten-thousand miles worth of carbon emissions from transportation by using farm-grown Paulownia from their own neck of the woods.

A wood originally native to China, Paulownia makes great surfboards. Like our own northern white cedar, it has not been in common use for hollow boards, but has the properties needed - it’s lightweight, and can be harvested at a sustainable-yield rate, all of which make Paulownia a great choice for a greener alternative to foam.

If you live in or around Australia you should be able to get a Paulownia Home Grown Surfboard Kit from Capeboatworks in the near future. Watch this blog for news, or subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page.

Though we still have a long way to go, we are excited about all the opportunities we are uncovering to lessen our impact on the planet as we build and surf wooden surfboards. The partnership with Capeboatworks is just one more step forward, that gets us a great, new friend “down-under” and a way to do better for the planet.

Clean, green machine: the oceans absorb 33% of man-made atmospheric carbon

To see just how far Australia is from York Maine… and how fast global temps are hitting the roof lately, check out this animation. (Watch the years scroll by at the top-left, and the how fast things happen in the last couple of decades.)