During this week's Green chat, Gather will talk to Jason Salfi, the co-founder of Comet Skateboards, which distributes a line of stylish skateboards made from bio-friendly materials such as carbon fiber, sustainably harvested bamboo, FSC certified maple, and water-based glues and paints. The boards are manufactured in a solar-powered facility in San Francisco that reduces carbon emissions by about 25,000 pounds each year!
While skateboarding is the sixth most popular sport in the nation and third most popular in the 6 to 18 year old age group, traditional skateboards and skateboard parks are not sustainable. By next year, all Comet skateboards will be certified "cradle-to-cradle," a designation indicating that the company takes responsibility not only for where the materials to make the boards come from and how they're made, but also how they can be disposed of.
Learn more from Jason during this week's chat on Tuesday, 6/26 from 2-3PM EST. You can also catch Jason on this week's episode of "Big Ideas for a Small Planet" @ 9PM on Sundance Channel.
If you can't make it to the chat, leave a comment or question in the comment box below.
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Do you have a "Big Idea" for the environment? Join The Green to learn more about Robert Redford's new television series about sustainable living. To join, click here.
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Comments: 12
Just wondering, whats the worst skateboarding-related injury you've ever had?
Going "green" with urban skate terrain is totally a go. We are currently doing it in Oakland, Ca. There a couple of options that can physically go after once building and design take place.
First off you definitely want to get community buy in first so that people are not questioning the quality yet instead adopt the idea and embrace it to fruition pridefully. For us our community development is through the Hood Games. www.hoodgames.net. This event that merges skateboarding music, art, dance, and fashion has allowed us to get a dialogue going with all the local skaters and gives them voice in how the park is designed through meetings.
We are deciding between two options for surfacing right now... one is from UC Berkeley, which is actually liasing with the project through the skateboard community at Oakland Highschool. We are still learning more about its atributes but carbon out gassing is minimal and it is super strong. It also only takes about 1/2 the thickness so you cut volume of materials at least in half. The other is fly ash.
This park used fly ash concrete for construction...http://www.city.burnaby.bc.ca/cityhall/departments/departments_parks/prksrc_fclts/metro.html
Keep charging in Baltimore! the project sounds awesome.
The 2 worst injuries I have ever had happened right before trips. The first I blew out my PCL on my right knee right before a X country sk8 trip and the next in a doubles run in a pool where a dude landed on my ankle and tore it all up right b4 a Costa Rica trip. Healthy diet and good rehab though and back at 100%. The injuries sucked but being hurt while travelling was kinda worse.
Skateboarders, in my observation are open minded in a lot of directions. There is a huge movement right now for industry wide sustainability and a lot of pro skaters are in to it. check www.asecaction.com
Tune into the Sundance Channel tonight, Tuesday, June 26th at 9 p.m. to see Jason and learn more about Comet Skateboards.