Surfers share impacts they attribute to climate change at Global Wave Conference

When it comes to climate change, surfers are some of the first to see impacts out in the water.

Wednesday at the Global Wave Conference speakers took a deeper look at some of the impacts they attribute to climate change and what they are doing to combat them.

Zachary Keenan has been surfing for more than 30 years, he grew up in San Diego, went to college in Santa Cruz and now travels the World surfing. He says where he sees the most difference is in the sea life. “In Cardiff, the last 30 years surfing there, the state fish, these bright orange super-sized goldfish, I used to see those all the time when I was a grom, I barely see those anymore.” Keenan says when it comes to surfing in Santa Cruz he’s seen similar differences, “there’s just kind of less prevalence of sea life in the water. You don’t have sea otters popping up next to you in the line up as often and sea lions barking at you in the waves.”

Keenan says while some of those changes could just be a natural change in eco-system, some he attributes to climate change, “there’s definitely some influences of greater numbers of humans not only
changing the climate but also just the pollution that was created and that could effect eco-systems as well.”

Santa Cruz Climate Action Manager, Dr. Tiffany Wise-West, says the city is working to update their climate adaptation plan by this Summer. The plan basically lays out how the city will adapt with the changing environment. She says hearing from surfers who are seeing the impacts of climate change will help lay out that plan. “We have this prime opportunity with this climate adaptation plan update, were engaging with save the waves and other folks in the surf community to ensure that their concerns are integrated into that plan update,” says Wise-West.

While some believe human are causing the environmental changes, others believe it’s just the Earth going through it’s natural cycle. Dr. Wise-West says even if that is the case, everyone can find a common ground, “we all have shared values around our natural environment here. That’s something we can all get on board with and wether or not you believe climate change is human induced we all can recognize that we have extreme weather events that need to be planned for and dealt with.”

To share comments of concerns about the Climate Adaptation Plan click here.