by Luke Shanafelt
Everyone’s seen a cigarette butt on the ground at some point in their life — a yellowed, plastic tip sitting in the street, waiting to be disposed of. It’s the mascot behind the “I.D.G.A.F” mindset.
The Surfrider foundation fights for plastic reduction, ocean protection, clean water and more. On Nov. 4, Surfrider Humboldt threw an event with a screening of The Cigarette Surfboard that showcased the process of creating a surfboard made up of over 10,000 cigarette butts.
Dozens of community members flowed through the doors of the Arcata Theater Lounge to support the cause and listen to the filmmaker Ben Judkins talk about the idea behind it all.
Judkins, a former Arcata resident, was at the event and held a Q&A session after the screening.
There were many familiar faces interviewed for the documentary. One notable waterman and musician, Jack Johnson, had a significant role talking about environmental consciousness in the film. Local Humboldt student Andy Garvin marveled about the impact of the film.
“It showed how small amounts of people could make big changes in government,” Garvin said.
In the film, Santa Cruz local Taylor Lane entered a contest to create a creative surfboard and his cigarette surfboard entry won. This sparked a movement with Lane refining the design and having real professional surfers like Mikey February styling on the board in a high performance surfing display.
The film was inspiringly disturbing. Many cigarette butts end up on the beach, then consumed by sea life and birds that come across the discarded pieces of plastic. With the help of local surfers, Lane went to the Santa Cruz city council and passed a bill that will outlaw the sale of filtered cigarettes by 2027. This bill is a huge step in the right direction for ocean conservation — the cigarette surfboard has a movement big enough to initiate change behind it. Starting from a hopeful ideal to reuse a product that most people find useless enough to flick on the ground with no regards, to real legislation being passed in the city of Santa Cruz.
Humboldt’s surf community has long balanced a love of good waves with a commitment to protecting the places that make them possible. That’s what made this film so real — it turned a familiar object into a mirror of self reflection. The next time you have a cigarette after watching this movie, it is going to be hard to disregard all of the hard work these folks are putting in to combat all the years of flicking butts.
Luke is a senior journalism transfer from Socal who enjoys video editing, music journalism, and man on the street interviews. Contact him at ls432@humboldt.edu.