SKATEBOARDING IS RAPING THE EARTH!!

[chockfullofthat]

Nah just kidding, but remember when Tracer started that thread about skateboarding and the environment?  Well I know you are all in the spirit of the upcoming Earth and Arbor days so I thought we can talk about it again, unless you think it's just for dirty hippies and rich white people, then feel free to move on or insult me for a stupid fucking thread.

Someone linked to a kingpin article in the last thread that's pretty good:
http://kingpinmag.com/features/a-discussion-about-skateboarding-consumerism.html#iJkjuXbKcfwLjFm7.97

Although a lot of companies get their boards pressed by the same manufacturer, do we really know just how sustainably sourced the wood is? Generator offer no information on the matter and Schmitt Stix don’t have a website to look at. Chinese wood shops have no information either. It’s quite distressing to think that, despite the rise in board prices being so small over the years – while profit margins have decreased through relative inflation, so owners have sacrificed potential earnings – very little has been done or talked about by the industry en masse to address sustainability for board production.

This corny company called Bamboo skateboards says that skateboarding is the #1 cause of maple deforestation in North America (references the "Science" Channel)...who knows how skateboarding is affecting China and Mexico.  Seems like so many skaters are anti-corporate, but corporations are at least becoming much more transparent and certify their wood sources.  Maybe Bamboo or reused wood is actually a decent option that companies besides Bamboo and Creation can consider...or maybe not.  Maybe I should just give away my Traffic and Welcome boards and unite with my Earth bros at Bamboo 

[Monty Burns]

Nah just kidding, but remember when Tracer started that thread about skateboarding and the environment?  Well I know you are all in the spirit of the upcoming Earth and Arbor days so I thought we can talk about it again, unless you think it's just for dirty hippies and rich white people, then feel free to move on or insult me for a stupid fucking thread.

Someone linked to a kingpin article in the last thread that's pretty good:

Expand Quote

Although a lot of companies get their boards pressed by the same manufacturer, do we really know just how sustainably sourced the wood is? Generator offer no information on the matter and Schmitt Stix don�t have a website to look at. Chinese wood shops have no information either. It�s quite distressing to think that, despite the rise in board prices being so small over the years � while profit margins have decreased through relative inflation, so owners have sacrificed potential earnings � very little has been done or talked about by the industry en masse to address sustainability for board production.

[close]

This corny company called Bamboo skateboards says that skateboarding is the #1 cause of maple deforestation in North America (references the "Science" Channel)...who knows how skateboarding is affecting China and Mexico.  Seems like so many skaters are anti-corporate, but corporations are at least becoming much more transparent and certify their wood sources.  Maybe Bamboo or reused wood is actually a decent option that companies besides Bamboo and Creation can consider...or maybe not.  Maybe I should just give away my Traffic and Welcome boards and unite with my Earth bros at Bamboo 

I try not to remember anything Ive ever seen or heard of tracer . Like a small child who blocks out painful memories to continue on with life in a blissful ignorance

[botefdunn]

watched this the other day, didn't make me feel too good, even though I like generator boards. Felt like I was watching a foxconn documentary. 

http://www.bbsmfg.com/

[Rutger Hauer]

watched this the other day, didn't make me feel too good, even though I like generator boards. Felt like I was watching a foxconn documentary. 

http://www.bbsmfg.com/

Never seen people work at a factory before? Welcome to the real world...

[chockfullofthat]

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watched this the other day, didn't make me feel too good, even though I like generator boards. Felt like I was watching a foxconn documentary. 

http://www.bbsmfg.com/

[close]

Never seen people work at a factory before? Welcome to the real world...

Agreed.  There was nothing depressing about that.

[Chavo]

watched this the other day, didn't make me feel too good, even though I like generator boards. Felt like I was watching a foxconn documentary. 

http://www.bbsmfg.com/

I'd kill for that job.

[4LOM]

Hate to blame the victim. But the Earth was asking for it. All those resources just out in the open. She's begging to get used.

[bo golden]

we should immediately cease all production of wooden furniture.

[chockfullofthat]

Look Mr. bo, I don't think u respect wood and the critters who live in the forests, have you learned nothing from Fern Gully?  The furniture industry already has done a lot to get wood from tracked, audited wood suppliers.  Good furniture can last generations, skateboards can last a few days if your fat.

[bo golden]

hahaha...point taken

[art hellman]

 Good furniture can last generations, skateboards can last a few days if your fat.

agreed.  fatties are the problem...

just look how this fat photo is ruining this thread

[Bambi]

*triggered*

[The Shogun]

With a tread title like "SKATEBOARDING IS RAPING THE EARTH" you must really want a discussion here.

Two words, PALM OIL. It's found in most cheap products, ranging from cereal, liquid soap, candy and other household items. Buying products with palm oil means consumers are too uneducated to realize they are supporting deforestation of the rain forest and rapid decline of endangered species.

[chockfullofthat]

Yes, that's a problem too but we are talking about skateboards here...none of which have any palm oil.  Let's ask questions about where the wood from decks comes from...plenty of people are already on the palm oil reform train.

[ttching!]

I insist on skating Canadian maple, so, personally, I'm just raping Quebec

[Bobby Peru]

The policies of the places my woodshop uses are listed on their websites. Parts of it are literally the same thing, so it's probably just a legal contract thing. No numbers listed that I'm aware of.

Here are the policies of Great Lakes Veneer (BBS/Generator, others I don't know specifically) and Besse (Skate One, others)

Decks are made with sugar maple and is typically cut and/or milled in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Canada, from my understanding.

[Rusty_Berrings]

Oh yeah- Don't forget how many goddamn SHOES we go through. Well me at least. That's the real environment killer! All skateboarders hate shoes and the environment! Hail Santa!

[too much]

I've heard this conspiracy theory before and googling it's just that Bamboo skate company that came up with it. Sounds like bullshit, all the other science articles about deforestation have no mention of skateboard production. Where is that Science Channel report? Because none of Bamboo's links take you to any report when they reference it.

Here is their calculation, if anyone is good at math maybe you can see some miscalculations?

Mature Canadian Maple trees can be up to 90 feet in height and have a trunk of about 4 feet in diameter. The volume (V=pi*r^2*h) is equal to (2ft^2)*Pi*90ft. This comes to a volume of 1,130.4 cubic feet. The dimensions of a typical skateboard are 31� long x 8� wide x �� thick. The volume comes to 124 cubic feet per skateboard. That means each maple tree makes about 9 skateboards (1130.4ft^3/124ft^3=9 skateboards).

The number of skateboard decks sold in 2004 was 5.3 million. If all of these skateboards were made from 100% maple about 588,889 Maple trees would have to be used (5.3 million skateboards/9 skateboards per maple tree= 588,889 Maples). Bamboo Sk8 only uses 30% maple in their decks. So multiply the number of trees by 70% to find out how many maple trees would be saved if every deck were a bamboo sk8 deck. (588,889 Maples x 0.70=412,222). 412,222 Maples would be saved.

http://users.humboldt.edu/rwilliams/project_williams.html

I think 9 skateboards per maple tree is bullshit. Skateboards are 7ply, a ply is pretty much 2d and doesn't have volume? Correct? So you could calculate it that way, how many plys are in a Maple tree? If so then Bamboo's calculation is totally flawed. They don't even say what equation they used to calculate the volume of a skateboard, not sure what you would use, volume of a rectangle?

There's no source for the 5.3 million skateboards sold in 2004, that sounds way too high too, unless it's worldwide, includes long boards? It's all bunk. Fuck that disinformation.

Edit: Just figured it out, skateboard dimension is in inches, they are using feet, wrong right there. 124 cubic feet, is 927 gallons, a skateboard is no way 927 gallons. 124 cubic feet is more like a small outdoor shed or walk in closet.

[chockfullofthat]

Ya...I mean I wasn't trying to say that the Science channel or Bamboo Skateboards is a reliable source of information, but just because a report doesn't exist that specifically focuses on skateboarding doesn't mean it's not an issue.

Here is Paul Schmitt about the wood source:

There’s also the question of the source of the raw materials used in the Chinese factory. “I’ve seen cases of factories claiming they’re using Canadian hard maple, but then you look at their manifests and you see their wood actually comes from Vermont, which is fine by my standards. Other times they’re using Chinese maple. Just because they’re putting a maple leaf sticker on the board doesn’t mean you’re getting Canadian hard maple. They will put anything on board that they think will help sell it.”

How do we know what we're getting if we buy a board that was manufactured in China especially.  Are Mike Carroll and Rick Howard regularly going to China to make sure they are getting what they think they're getting.  Or maybe Eric Koston is checking Chinese wood for proper hardness  .  If you get a board that's made in the USA I have much less doubt that anything nefarious is going on, but if a factory worker gets a finger or three lopped off in China you're not going to hear about it, if a child is working in a factory no one is going to stop that, if a forest gets clear-cut your not going to see it, and if you get shitty Chinese wood you're not going to know any better.  You can sure as hell bet that Nike and Vans have better oversight on their overseas operations than the skateboarding industry does.

[Tracer]

There are plenty of Canadian made board companies. If the board says uses Canadian maple its a red flag, it's made in China or Mexico where working conditions are harsh and the wood isn't treated properly.

If you buy a dsm deck you're raping the earth, enjoi dark star and almost. They're scum because they can't survive without sweatshops. They prosper because of sweatshops. I won a blind deck signed by the entire team before jake took the slam, skated it and threw it in the bin. Hang a Chinese board on my wall no chance! Everyone knows Canada harvests the best wood

[too much]

I don't think the exporter needs to label where the raw material comes from, just where it was processed, and the ingredients/what it's made of. But they have to keep it on record somewhere for traceability, but legal labeling requirements probably not. So it's possible they are shipping in really cheap wood from some other country, maybe Russia, and then reprocessing it in China, and labeling it product of China. I don't know if the owners of top board companies visit the overseas plant. Definitely none of them own a plant because they would have advertised they are vertically integrated because thats a plus and shows more quality control etc...

The only way to know where it comes from, is have someone in the warehouse at one of the distribution centers look at the box or paperwork when it's received because that has to say where it comes from. Then at least you know the plant/factory name in China or Canada. However that could all be in number or code for customs/fda (whoever clears it) because they don't want people taking the business by looking at the phone number or address on the box and contacting them directly.

Someone could look up what laws the US has on imported skateboards and what requirements need to be met for it to pass our borders. If there are strict laws then the factory overseas has to follow those laws to, or else it will get rejected and shipped back overseas which is really expensive. If there are no requirements then yeah it could be produced at a dump overseas with poor working conditions. I have no idea what it could be but an example is passing an annual or quarterly 3rd party inspection on the factory. That might be the only requirement they have to show.

There's probably only a handful of skate companies producing 10,000 boards a month overseas. I'm guessing they have their own little mafia thing going for 20+ years and it's all kept secret. Like Rickk and Jim T sharing information on the golf course, haha I have no idea but it's possible.

[botefdunn]

Expand Quote

watched this the other day, didn't make me feel too good, even though I like generator boards. Felt like I was watching a foxconn documentary.  

http://www.bbsmfg.com/

[close]

Never seen people work at a factory before? Welcome to the real world...

ah, I've worked in a few myself and that working class hero shit is not always all it's cracked up to be. But I should have been clearer, it's not the factory that is hard to see, more just seeing skateboards in that setting, totally detached from the act of skating, like charlie buckets dad screwing the caps on the toothpaste tubes all day long.

Seeing the board as just a product is weird.
It's a part of the "real world" that I never get used to, I think that's kind of what this thread is about...

[ttching!]

Its not just the forests and child laborers getting sodomized by overseas skateboard manufacturing. Think of all the diesel fuel getting burned up when a Chinese manufacturer is buying wood from Canada or Vermont, or South America, transporting it to China to process, then transporting finished boards back across the Pacific.

#notmadeinchina

[layzieyez]

Palm oil?  I just call it jack off lube.  It comes in vegetable or corn.

[360 frip]

Can't help but question Girl's backing of their boards when they choose to get the 20th anniversary boards pressed at another (US) woodshop.

Highly doubt their riders skate the China pressed boards.

[botefdunn]

Expand Quote

watched this the other day, didn't make me feel too good, even though I like generator boards. Felt like I was watching a foxconn documentary. 

http://www.bbsmfg.com/

[close]

I'd kill for that job.

Oh yeah? for $4.50/hour?

"Burns said he saves at least $1,000 an employee by producing his skateboard decks in Mexico. Hourly labor costs are just $4.50 there compared to $14 here when taxes and insurance are added to the equation."

http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/03/smallbusiness/us_manufacturing/