New Film on Pro Surfers’ Efforts to Fight the GMO Industry in Hawaii

Surfing for Change tells stories of people who are engaging their passions to create change

I've been to the North Shore of Oahu just about every winter since I was 15. It's the Mecca of surfing and if you are a Pro Surfer like me, you need to go there in order to stay relevant.

photo of a man surfingphoto by Ryan Craig

Every winter I would travel to Hawaii, try and get a few waves at the famous surf break, Pipeline, and go home. Selfish I know. When you realize that you are going to a place to use a resource (waves), and giving little back to the community it can feel superficial at times. This was the main motivation for me to create the YouTube documentary series, Surfing For Change when I was 18.

So when I learned that Hawaii is ground zero for GMO chemical testing worldwide and that Hawaiian surfers are organizing around kicking companies like Monsanto, DuPont, and Syngenta off the islands, I was inspired to make our new Surfing For Change video about the issue. Nothing gets me more fired up than telling stories of people who are engaging their passions to create change. In this case, Hawaiians are uniting around their passion for surfing and rallying around a desire for sustainable farming. I had a chance to meet up with a few of these influential surfers and local activists. This short documentary is what resulted.

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