Every April, Earth Day reminds us that we all play a major role in protecting the planet to deliver big change. As part of our growth and development, we continually play a part in doing our best for the environment, industry and our community.
On 22 April 1070, following a huge oil spill the previous year that devastated marine life off the coast of California, the first Earth Day took place in the US, calling for more environmental protection. Just over half a century later - with climate change and carbon emissions top of the agenda - Earth Day has become a global event, bringing together more that a billion people from 193 countries.
The theme for Earth Day 2022 is ‘Invest In Our Planet’ with a focus on accelerating solutions that combat climate change and activating everyone to do their part.
We know that the only way to make lasting change happen is to make a commitment for life. Whether that’s prolonging the life of our kit, minimising our impact on the environment, or supporting the needs of the people and communities we share it with. It’s an evolving plan of action, which we’re constantly updating.
Of course, no business is perfect and we still have a long way to go. But for Earth Day, we thought we’d take the time to look back on some of the things we have managed to achieve over the last year and celebrate those wins. These are a few of the things we’re most proud of…
Image credit: Surfers Against Sewage
Showing support
We have long-standing relationships with Surfers Against Sewage and Save Our Rivers, who we support through our 1% For The Planet membership. Together, they receive 1% of our annual turnover. In doing so, we are taking our share of responsibility for the health of the planet, and ensuring that the organisations that matter most to us can benefit from our ongoing support.
Image credit: Reclaim The Sea
On International Women’s Day 2022 we pledged to sponsor the first eight refugee women to join ‘Reclaim The Sea’ through our professional SUP Instructor Course, Surf Instructor Course and online SUP safety course following the completion of the programme later this year - to help these women further enhance their SUP and surf skills and enable them to have the opportunity to take these skills forward into a profession, if they so wish.
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B Corp boosting
For too long, solving climate change has been left to the consumer and the individual. We need governments and businesses to step up, to take a greater stake in restoring and protecting our world. When we achieved B Corp certification in November 2020 we were very aware that we were one of the first businesses in the industry to do so. In March 2020, in partnership with dewerstone we launched a B Corp building support network - ‘BCorps Feeding BCorps’ within the paddlesports industry in a bid to encourage more businesses like ours to embark, or continue, on their own B Corp journey.
Championing sustainable holidays
Our small group, wilderness guided SUP holidays have been designed around the increased need for more responsible travel. Paddling through remote and relatively undisturbed natural habitats, these holidays are low-impact and a small-scale alternative to mass tourism. All of our SUP holidays are entirely respectful of wildlife in their natural habitats, adhere to a strict ‘leave no trace’ policy, and through our 1% For The Planet membership, contribute to the preservation of UK waterways and improvement of coastal water quality.
Merch matters
We’ve also made some changes closer to home. All WSA T-shirts are now made from certified organic cotton and printed to order, to ensure that we don’t print more that we need. And our trucker caps are made from ocean-bound plastic bottles.