Environment Continued from page 54 can preserve the reefs. The question is whether they are going to be gone in twenty years, thirty, one hundred, two hundred years. We’ve already hit the point where glaciers in Canada are melted. They are never going to come back again. We have hit this tipping point where if we stopped putting out C02 today it would still be two hundred years before we got back to what we have. But we are not stopping it now. We are on this downhill slope. The only question is how fast are the reefs going to die off. Are they going to die off by diseases or by the hot water temperatures? So I don’t think we can. But we can in the short term. The big thing is, this is happening in all the worlds’ oceans not just Hawaii. I don’t advocate not doing anything; we should still be taking measures. How do you think as a surfing community and as individuals we can become involved? Carl Berg: Speak out on any new developments and what’s happening to your sewage. If you see or smell something suspicious when you are out in the water you should speak out. Help clean up all the plastic, net patrol, don’t litter your cigarettes, and don’t buy bottled water. What are the main reasons the reef is important? Carl Berg: 1. It provides surf breaks. 2. Shoreline protection. It protects the shoreline from being totally washed away when the big waves come in. 3. Food source. It provides us food in the islands where we really have to become more self-sufficient. On this island we are remarkably self sufficient, we have a lot of people that are out there fishing. 4. Self-sufficiency. How we as an island become self sufficient, the reefs are going to help us do that. Especially with climate change and huge amounts of droughts we are going to lose all of our grasslands, all our cattle, food crops. We will become more dependent on the ocean, so the reefs are becoming more important to us. We also know if we over-fish, the reefs will be taken over by seaweed and destroy the ecosystem. Leah: For all of those who share this love or gain from surfing whether you are a pro surfer or a soul surfer, give back, (not saying that they don’t do their part). Maybe start by making small choices like limiting plastic- no bottled water... or educating. Volunteering in net patrol and beach clean ups. I always think of this quote from a childhood friend:
“...Surfing always makes you feel better. No matter what, when I’m in the water, even if I don’t catch a wave and just swim in the ocean, I always come out a better person.” -Andy Irons pau
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