Globalization is a topic that deals with time-space
distanciation. What was once distant has now seemed to make its way into our
personal lives whether one may, or may not, be aware of it. Increasing
interconnectedness between vast regions around the globe is becoming more
common in our globalized day and age. Foreign economies and crops are now
having a tremendous impact in places much further than their physical location.
So, what does this have to do with surfing? Does this have
anything to do with surfing?
Well, the answer is yes… yes in many different ways,
actually. But, specifically, in this case - with the popularity of surfing
rapidly growing due to interconnectedness and what globalization has allowed (e.g.
more travel), there has been an increase in awareness for the protection of
surf breaks around the world. It has become such an important matter that NGOs,
activists, and community members from all over the world have created the Global Wave Conference (GWC).
For 2013, the third GWC was held on the Baja peninsula in
Rosarito, Mexico from May 6th to May 8th. Much of what was
discussed in the conference deals with some of the negative outcomes of
globalization – a new factory or plant on a shoreline to meet the consumer’s
demand, and the way in which waste is handled or dispensed into the ocean, to
name a few.
As shorelines have become territories for surfers, this
intrusion on territory has called for surf groups and organizations to convene
with hopes to halt such negative happenings, raise awareness, provide and
exchange solutions, and to have strength in numbers. What was once far away,
out sight and therefore out mind, has now arrived into our backyards, or, in
this case, onto our shorelines.
So, remember the next time that you’re shredding it up at
your home break, you are still being effected by globalization.
For more about Global Wave Conference - http://www.globalwaveconference.com
- Bobby Poort
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