Surfing USA: A Wave of Environmental Stewardship

The Beach Boys faded like a California sunset in the mid-90's but their nostalgic music, inspired by a surf sub-culture , once challenged The Beatles for the pop-music throne. The Beach Boys' greatest music was nothing less than a call to action. This call to action came at a time of never- -before-seen political and social transformation. With song titles like "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "Good Vibration" it's no wonder the Beach Boys managed to spark a massive youth migration to Southern California in the 1960's.

In a Lewis & Clark-Esq fashion they planted the seed for West Coast exploration. When the band was in the limelight, their audience was transported to a world in which beach-front bonfires,chasing girls, and catching waves was a right of passage. The counter-culture's mores began to blend in with mainstream society and our parent's and professor's generation can attest to the fact that expressing your individual freedom became priority number one.

Today, young people searching for outlets of self-expression jump on surfboards, snowboards, and skateboards. Part of the appeal for these actions sports is their limitless potential for creativity and individual style.

An estimated 6.5 million snowboarders hit the slopes in 2006. In the 1950's there were 200 surfers in all of California. Nowadays surfers have to sleep on the side of volcanoes and camp on the edge of rain forests if they want to find uncrowded waves. Just as generation X developed a sense of freedom and rallied their support for the civil rights movement, so too has generation Y started to bolster support for a global environmental movement. Under the pressures of public scrutiny Richard Nixon's Administration came up with a plan to meet the demands for cleaner air, cleaner water , and a more stable environment. The Environmental Protection Agency was born. Today, generation Y is one of the most powerful stakeholders in the environmental movement. What's more is that the surfers, snowboarders, and skateboarders in generation Y are taking a stand on this issue because the longevity of the sports they love depend on clean water, clean air, and winter.

The surf/skate/snow industry has embraced a more aggressive model for thwarting global climate change as of late. Their eco-conscious business models could serve as the model for the rest of American industries in the future.