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Is kitesurfing eco - friendly???

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bennyh
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Is kitesurfing eco - friendly???

Postby bennyh » Fri Jun 11, 2004 10:17 pm

"Of course it is" I hear you all say...
OK, it uses free energy and all that. But today I was thinking.

WHat about....
1) Materials for kites and boards are nearly exclusively derived from OIL which as we all know is in increasingly short supply. Furthermore, the petro-chemical giants are screwing the Earth in many other ways.
2) When we have finished with the kites they presumably won't decompose very well
3) Epoxy resins are pretty toxic and have the same disposal problems
4) I'm using loads of fuel getting to the beach, flying off on holiday etc
5) The emerging culture seems to be to change our equipment quite often
6) I've no idea, but have wondered about the workers rights, health and safety etc for the very kind people in the Far East that put our stuff together
7) Hopefully we're all responsible tourists and leave only footprints in the sand, but I suspect that's not completely true. I get especially narked seeing kiters throw cigarette butts on the beach


I don't mean to spoil the party. Just something to think about when you're next laughing out loud to yourself because kiting is so much fun!

Ben

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Tree Hugger!!!!

Postby KitekidGA » Fri Jun 11, 2004 11:23 pm

Tree Hugger!!!

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Postby pjc » Fri Jun 11, 2004 11:36 pm

4 is the biggie, all the others are pretty small in comparison. Union of concerned scientists sez the kind of car you drive has more impact on the environment the everything else you do combined, which sounds about right to me.

I drive a small compact car, often times car pooling to the beach. By comparison, the windsurfers often ride up in monster rigs, generally one per truck. Since my 4 kite quiver can cover such a wide range I generally ride the closest beach, instead of hunting super strong winds or flat water.

Seems like we can all agree, windsurfing is way worse for the planet then kitesurfing. Let's not even get into wakeboarding, and I know several ex-wakeboarders that have sold their boats for kites.

The surfers I know also seem to do lots more driving, since the closest beach doesn't have that perfect curling wave. The launch ramps there are plenty good for me.

Kiteboarding isn't a flawless activity, but it's probably one of the least enviro-harmfull ways to get your kicks. Maybe log onto an off-roading forum and lecture those guys. ;)

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Re: Is kitesurfing eco - friendly???

Postby theflyingtinman » Fri Jun 11, 2004 11:48 pm

bennyh wrote:"Of course it is" I hear you all say...
OK, it uses free energy and all that. But today I was thinking.

WHat about....
1) Materials for kites and boards are nearly exclusively derived from OIL which as we all know is in increasingly short supply. Furthermore, the petro-chemical giants are screwing the Earth in many other ways.
2) When we have finished with the kites they presumably won't decompose very well
3) Epoxy resins are pretty toxic and have the same disposal problems
4) I'm using loads of fuel getting to the beach, flying off on holiday etc
5) The emerging culture seems to be to change our equipment quite often
6) I've no idea, but have wondered about the workers rights, health and safety etc for the very kind people in the Far East that put our stuff together
7) Hopefully we're all responsible tourists and leave only footprints in the sand, but I suspect that's not completely true. I get especially narked seeing kiters throw cigarette butts on the beach


I don't mean to spoil the party. Just something to think about when you're next laughing out loud to yourself because kiting is so much fun!

Ben
So what everyone be doing if they weren't kitesurfing?
I'm sure whatever it is you could analyse just as much,
if not more, eco-unfrienliness into it if you account for
every molecule involved.

Steve T.

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Postby Nico » Sat Jun 12, 2004 4:53 am

One aspect which hasn't been mentioned, and that I have noticed to be of some importance, is the fact that in shallow waters (up to 1,5Mts) we are greatly disturbing the residential habits of fishes.
They do not like UFOs flying past unanounced, and if this happens on a regular basis will emmigrate to other quieter areas. These other areas are not always suited for their breeding and feeding habits, causing degradation and eventual disapearance of these fish.
Homo sapiens is the biggest bully aropund.
Nico

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enviro

Postby Mattdog » Sat Jun 12, 2004 7:27 am

Yeah I think the driving is the worst. "Live close to where you work and play" should be a key principle for everyone. Go biking or bonking if it aint blowing at your beach. I would guess the sewing factories in China are fairly deluxe for the workers considering they are the most advanced in the world and China is rapidly becoming second world. :bye:

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bennyh
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Postby bennyh » Sat Jun 12, 2004 12:05 pm

So, has anyone figured out a good way to get to the beach without driving? How about a bicycle trailer? Imagine, your wheelie coffin rolling at the back of your bike!

Good point about the fish. I've heared many stories about kiteboards colliding with fish, turtles etc. When I was in Australia, I nearly sliced a sea snake, and narrowly missed the head of a dugong that had surfaced to see what the hell was going on!

Here in the UK, Surfers against Sewage are helping to market eco-friendly surfboards made using polystyrene, epoxy (supposed to be nicer than polyurethane) and hemp cloth instead of fibreglass - Now when you break your board you just roll it up in a reefer!

http://www.oceangreen.org/OceanGreenFrame.htm

Glad to hear some more intelligent comments.....

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Postby ckramer » Sat Jun 12, 2004 6:09 pm

bennyh wrote:So, has anyone figured out a good way to get to the beach without driving?
We go by train + 40 min walk, and we're fucking fed UP!!!
We are from Malta but study in Italy, and in this coutry there's nothing worse than trains. last time we had a 1hr 30 min delay on a 15 min trip...

Here's a thought, I was reading, to produce a 5 gram gold ring, 2700Kg of waste byproducts are produced, a CD, 2.5Kg of waste products, a mobile phone, 75 Kg... an SMS 632g... :)

So if you analyse, nothing we do and produce is eco friendly, except :shit: maybe.

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Postby abel » Sat Jun 12, 2004 6:21 pm

bennyh wrote:
don't mean to spoil the party. Just something to think about when you're next laughing out loud to yourself because kiting is so much fun!
So what do you mean? :o

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Postby selah » Sun Jun 13, 2004 12:28 am

I don't know why discussions like this piss me off so much. When people start talking about the effect of kiting on marine life I want to pick them up by the testicles, swing them around once or twice then hurl them headfirst into the middle of a crowded intersection of speeding traffic.

It's like a bunch of Rastafarians drinking coffee in a Starbucks.

It's like political insight from Britney Spears.

The very act of kitesurfing means you probably appreciate clean beaches, clean water, clean air. It means for that brief session out on the water the television was off, the radio was silent, the car was idle, you were concerned only with the sea, the sky, and pulling some technical trick that you saw on a DVD while sitting on a vinyl couch wasting precious energy eating a goddamn bag of radioactive Doritos.

Give it up. Go pawn that guilt somewhere else.


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