“What do you do when you find out something terrible? You have two choices – do nothing, or do something.”
For the past few years, Demi Taylor has been laboriously producing and showing hard-hitting wetsuit documentary, The Big Sea. Along with Chris Nelson and filmmaker Lewis Arnold, the trio have cast a spotlight on one of the most hushed aspects of neoprene production. To say this was a labour of love is far too whimsical for the subject matter of hand. This is a labour of necessity.
And while a working edit of the film was screened in November, the full release is now touring select spots in the UK. Surfers Against Sewage have also now come on board to support the movie. Details at the end of the article.
The Denka chemical factory in Louisiana produces chloroprene rubber AKA Neoprene. It has risen from the site of a former slave plantation on the banks of the Mississippi. A school and community sit on the fence line of this facility. According to the EPA, the cancer risk to this community is the highest in the USA – 50 times the national average – due to toxic emissions from chloroprene rubber production.
The Big Sea focuses on chloroprene (aka neoprene) rubber factory, in a small community of Louisiana. But the residents there are becoming sick, with the cancer risk at 50 times the national average. A rate so high, the joint’s been given the nickname, Cancer Alley.
“It’s the highest in the US,” said Demi, when Wavelength caught up with her last week. “The community is 93% black. It is sited as a classic case of environmental racism. This is the only chloroprene rubber plant in the US. When we learned about this we were horrified that a material at the very heart of our lifestyle was causing so much suffering and distress, we could not reconcile that.
“Opening our sheds, we did a quick inventory of all the wetsuits we’d owned, we felt complicit. But we knew that Lewis, Chris and I possessed the skills between us to produce a feature documentary to share this story with the surfing world and beyond, linking cancer-causing toxic chemicals to the products we use to play in the sea, with the hope of effecting change. So that’s what we did. As we learned more, it also became a tale of greenwashing as well as one of hope.
“The film we premiered in November was the final version – we’ve scooped five awards with it. We’re keen to point out that if you saw the film when we were doing our Crowdfunder screenings, it’s a very different film now.”
Laetitia Taylor grew up in St John the Baptist Parish where she is an activist and campaigner. “This is a sport, use the wetsuits, do all those wonderful things that you do, but think about what went into making that wonderful suit that keeps you warm and insulated and all of that.”
The Big Sea has has also just had its US premiere in San Francisco and is continuing to allow people to think about their own consumer habits. When Demi and the crew began work on the film, only four companies were neoprene free. Now, more than 20 additional brands have come on board to use natural rubber.
But there’s still more work to be done.
“I think one of the surprising things that some people have found hard to come to terms with is that so called ‘limestone’ Neoprene is just as bad, if not worse than petrochemical Neoprene,” said Demi.
“I think surfers who bought it feel duped by those brands who claimed it was a more environmental product. I’m sure there are wetsuits brands that feel they were also duped by the claims, but ultimately brands are responsible to carry out due diligence on the products they sell and their supply chains. I feel if you sold limestone Neoprene as a ‘green’ product you should hold your hands up and commit to doing better. But you will still find these greenwashing claims on certain brands websites – even today.”
All surfers featured are all wearing natural rubber proving that it is simple for surfers to #saynotoneoprene and still get barrelled. With a cleaner, greener alternative readily available, when will the $2820 million wetsuit industry clean up its act and end its toxic relationship with Neoprene?a
What can brands and people do now?
“First and foremost the onus is on the brands but we can influence them to make good choices but telling them what we want and voting with our wallets.
“In terms of ‘active enforcement’, regulation against greenwashing and greenhushing is coming into force, protecting consumers and financially penalising companies who breach the rules, so this will certainly effect how the surf industry can talk about wetsuits moving forward.
“Perhaps we also need to shift the perception that just because we’re surfers, we’re somehow automatically more environmentally minded than anyone else. That just because we know what the tide and wind are doing, or where the best bank is, we somehow care more about the planet than say, tennis players. I wonder if repeating that mantra, “we as surfers want to do what we can to protect the ocean“ gives a false positive and makes us feel like we’ve done enough by simply turning up and going surfing. Maybe we should ask ourselves what we’re actually doing to protect this wonderful, natural resource that gives us so much?
“Ultimately, I think change comes when people have knowledge and they share it. Conversation is one of the most powerful tools we own, we just have to be unafraid to use it.”
And what can people take away from The Big Sea?
“At times, reading the news can feel overwhelming, the root of problems can be opaque and overly complex to navigate, rendering answers out of reach,” said Demi. “But in this instance the problem is easy to understand: the production of Neoprene (a synthetic rubber created a century ago) is toxic and carcinogenic. We’re talking about one chemical, one company.
“The solution is simple, abundant and already exists; a natural rubber alternative, that literally grows on (FSC certified, de-forestation-free) trees. There is a choice for the surf industry to make and there’s a choice for surfers to make, that’s the key take away. When we have knowledge we have choice, we have power.”
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Big Sea UK Screenings
April 23rd: Exeter Phoenix, Devon
April 24th: Newquay Lighthouse, Cornwall
April 25th: Totnes Cinema, Devon
April 28th: Dukes Komedia, Brighton
May 1st: Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle
More dates coming soon.
