Mavericks' Environmental Initiatives For 2009
January 23, 2009
Mavericks Announces Ambitious Environment-Focused Initiatives
HALF MOON BAY, Calif., January 23, 2009
- Mavericks today announced a program to advance its strong and long-standing commitment to environmental responsibility at the site and activities associated with the 2009 Mavericks Surf Contest®.
Mavericks is a natural phenomenon of the highest order. We, our partners, and the heroes who surf at this break hold the environment in great esteem. The Mavericks family is committed to preserving the beauty and health of the local ecology. We have made 'Stewardship' one of our core corporate values. Most of our efforts have been focused on protecting the area around the Mavericks break itself. That's where the company got its start, and where we continue to have the largest potential impact. But we hope to make broader contributions as well. We want to encourage people from all over the world, educate them on ways to make positive contributions in their own coastal communities. Serious respect for the environment has been at the core of our event's DNA since day one. This year we will make even more ambitious efforts. Read on.
First Carbon Neutral Event and 20 Bags of Trash.
In 2006, Mavericks launched an historic partnership with CLIF Bar & Co., the famously eco-friendly food maker, creating the first-ever "climate neutral" surfing event that year. This partnership ensured that the Contest's environmental impact was as light as possible and that the Half Moon Bay site was left in the same or better condition than before the event. Mavericks and CLIF Bar minimized CO2 emissions and waste, employed best practices to use sustainable materials during the event, and provided education stations that highlighted composting, recycling and carbon-offset opportunities. CLIF Bar was honored later that year by the US Environmental Protection Agency in part for its work with Mavericks. At the 2008 event, Green Team staffers fully separated and recycled 100% of waste on Contest day. We ended up with just 20 bags of garbage from 50,000 fans.
The Green Team Returns.
This season, we will continue to step up its level of environmental responsibility. The CLIF Bar Green Team will again help minimize the Contest's footprint and educate fans about ways to reduce the impact of their own lives. CLIF Bar's Northern California Field Marketing Manager, Peter Berridge, said "Mavericks is a core partnership for us; a prestigious athletic competition wholly dependent on Mother Nature and harmonies in the natural world. Few events offer such an authentic opportunity to support outdoor sports while inviting spectators and participants to be more conscientious of their own ecological footprint, to help us Protect the Places we Play." More information is available at www.clifbar.com.
First Solar-Powered Event.
Notions of environmental responsibility are moving beyond mere carbon offset credits, and we are moving along with them. This year's Contest will be the first major surfing event using solar-powered generators to provide power to all land-based operations. This new technology from Mobile Green Power, Inc. is a completely green, renewable energy source with zero emissions, zero carbon footprint and zero noise. Even on a Contest Day with little to no sunlight, the solar generators will produce a consistent power source, and bring a completely new dimension to outdoor sporting events.
Alternative Viewing Options.
Millions of fans witnessed the 2008 Contest live webcast footage last season. Further to reduce foot traffic at the event and entice fans to experience the Contest remotely, we will spread our webcast even more broadly. FUEL TV will showcase the first-ever high-definition live surfing webcast at www.fuel.tv/maverickssurf. MySpace will webcast the Contest in standard definition at www.myspace.com/maverickssurf. And FLO TV will distribute the world’s first live big-wave surfing webcast on the mobile platform—more information is available at www.flo.tv/mavericks . The webcast will also be simulcast once again at AT&T Park in San Francisco, where ticketed fans can watch the Contest live and in high definition on the big screen in centerfield or from HDTV screens throughout the venue. And for those fans who choose to visit the Contest in-person, Mavericks is partnering with San Francisco’s Bike and Roll to offer Contest spectators the option of renting bicycles to get around the Pillar Point community and Mavericks area on Contest Day under their own power.
Contest Partners’ “Greening” Efforts.
A number of this season’s sponsor partners bring deep experience in environmental sustainability and responsibility. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. has set a goal of being entirely energy efficient by 2010. It recently commissioned the first phase of what will be one of the country's largest private solar installations, right on the heels of building one of the largest fuel cell installations in the United States. On Contest Day, SNBC will have a sustainability representative on-hand to provide an overview of the company’s history and all the state-of-the-art technologies employed to reduce waste and maximize efficiency. More information is available at http://www.sierranevada.com/environment.html.
Mavericks’ official host hotel, Oceano Resort and Spa, is one of California's most environmentally-sound luxury hotels. Oceano’s activities include, for example, a laundry facility utilizing low energy and a biodegradable cleaning program, the most innovative and environmental friendly chemical-free room cleaning technology on the West Coast, an in-room recycling program, preferred parking for LEV and FEV (low emitting vehicles, fuel efficient vehicles), water-efficient landscaping that utilizes native and drought-tolerant plants, and reclaimed cooking oil used to produce Bio Diesel fuel. More information is available at http://www.oceanohalfmoonbay.com/?p=features .
Contest sponsor Rickshaw Bagworks, Inc. is a new San Francisco-based messenger bag and urban gear company focused on sustainable design and drawing inspiration from the “zero waste” manufacturing movement. By eliminating scrap and recycling materials, making use of domestically-sourced fabric, webbing, plastic components and labels, Rickshaw has shortened its raw material supply chain and reduced its ecological footprint. Rickshaw and Mavericks are partnering to produce an eco-friendly Mavericks™ messenger bag, and even exploring creating future Mavericks™ bags utilizing recycled material such as the actual Mavericks Surf Contest® banners deployed onsite on Contest Day. More information is available at www.rickshawbags.com .
Save the Waves “Surfonomics” Study.
Mavericks non-profit partner Save The Waves Coalition has launched a new "Surfonomics" study on the impact of the Mavericks wave and the annual Mavericks Surf Contest® to the regional economy in and around Half Moon Bay. Stanford University's Center for Ecotourism and Sustainable Development (CESD) and the University of Hawai'i' at Manoa's Department of Urban and Regional Planning will be executing the study under Save The Waves' guidance, which will combine economic impact valuations with those based on intrinsic or cultural values of a coastal location with a world-class wave such as Mavericks. "This study is an exciting and important part of Save The Waves' ‘Surfonomics’ program designed to educate the public on the value of natural and pristine surfing coastline around the world," said Save The Waves Executive Director Dean LaTourrette. "Mavericks is an iconic break, and people need to understand the significant economic, environmental and social value it has to local communities.” The study and others like it will also help support a larger initiative launched by Save The Waves in 2008, the World Surfing Reserves program - which aims to proactively designate and protect the word's greatest waves and their surrounding environments. The study and surveying will be conducted during the 2009 big-wave season at Mavericks, including at the 2009 Mavericks Surf Contest®, and is expected to be complete by Fall 2009. More information is available at www.savethewaves.org. Contest sponsor Jim Beam® Bourbon has produced a limited edition Mavericks Surf Contest® label which will be gifted to each Contest competitor and given away to legal-purchase age consumers during local promotions. The specialty label supports protection of coastal environments, with up to $5,000 being donated to Save The Waves Coalition.
Environmental Partners.
Mavericks Surf Contest® organizers work closely with Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary (GFNMS), to protect the wildlife and the habitats of the part of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (Sanctuary) where the Contest takes place. GFNMS enforces the rules and regulations designed to protect the 948 nautical miles that make up one of the most productive marine ecosystems on the planet. Since the Contest takes place during a time in which seabirds and marine mammals are engaged in breeding activities or in migrating through, the sanctuary will help to minimize wildlife disturbance and provide information to attendees about minimizing their impact on the environment.
