How much of a SAY does GEN-Z really have in inspiring corporations to become sustainable?
Voiz is a sustainability rating platform influenced by the voices of college students. Empowering change for the better, Voiz students are trained with an eight-week sustainability analysis course and learn everything they need to know about sustainability, from product development to ethical sourcing and environmental philosophy. Interviewing companies and learning about their sustainable practices is an effective way to show how much our generation cares about company values as well as how we can make better choices with our consumption.
The VOIZ Sustainable Surf Summit
From July 15th to 18th, there will be daily webinars hosted by Voiz students with speakers such as Max Bello, an international ocean policy expert at Mission Blue; Hugo Tagholm, executive director at Surfers Against Sewage; Ramón Navarro, Chilean big wave surfer and Patagonia Surfing Ambassador; Kevin Whilden, co-founder at Sustainable Surf; Brian Wujcik, Grain Surfboards and more! Registration for the event can be found here.
The sustainable surf summit is a student-led effort to highlight the not-so-sustainable aspects of the surf industry. Surfers, who are typically more environmentally conscious than most with their strong relationships to the ocean, are not always aware of how eco-friendly their products are. Examples include surf wax, which is used on surfboards to allow a stronger grip to the board, and flakes off and enters the marine ecosystem despite its toxic composition.
Surfboards themselves are created with a styrofoam interior, which poses concerns in the pollution surrounding its production and the ending of its life cycle - surfboards are often tossed if not usable anymore. The nine-and-a-half feet of styrofoam inside of a longboard is then present in a landfill for countless years. Many surfers do not consider or realize how they may be impacting the environment with their purchasing decisions. This is what we hope to bring light to in at our first GEN-Z sustainable surf summit.
Natalie Nguyen is a former sustainability analyst and now surf brands manager at Voiz, she been able to take her skills learned from writing reviews on sustainability to choosing stand-out companies that represent the future of the surf industry.
VOIZ are the voices of Gen-Z’s - a diverse team of college students who review and rate the sustainability of products.
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