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| The Big Sea Dir. Lewis Arnold |
Neoprene, or “wetsuit material” as you might know it, is synonymous with surfing, especially in the cold waters of the UK. Developed in 1931 as an alternative to natural rubber, it has been used in wetsuits since the 1950s and has revolutionised the surf industry. Wetsuits have made previously inaccessible freezing waters accessible, opening up a vast number of surf breaks to explore around the world, and helping a greater number of people develop a connection with the ocean environment. However, the $2820 million wetsuit industry has a very dark secret.
Denka is the sole producer of a substance called chloroprene in the US, which is a key component of neoprene. The Denka Pontchartrain Works facility sits on a former site of a slave plantation in St Johns Parish, Louisiana, in a region commonly known as “Cancer Alley” due to the incredibly high cancer rates caused by petrochemical air pollution. In 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency released a National Air Toxins Assessment where the area around the Denka facility had a cancer risk 50 times higher than the national average; the worst cancer risk in the whole of the US. 93% of the St Johns Parish community are African American and low-income, and many are descendants of slaves who worked on the plantation. The EPA has directly linked the pollution caused by the production of chloroprene to the elevated cancer risk.
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| The Denka Plant, Louisiana. Image: Lewis Arnold / The Big Sea |
Photojournalist and surfer Lewis Arnold found out about the damage that neoprene production was causing to the health of the community and decided to investigate it further, creating a fully independent and self-funded documentary The Big Sea. I had the privilege of attending an exclusive screening event and Q&A session of the documentary. The film is filled with beautiful and impressively shot surf scenes from around the world, with impactful interviews from locals in St Johns Parish played over top, being effectively balanced with interviews from industry leaders, environmental campaigners, and surf brands. Chris Hines MBE, the Co-Founder of Surfers Against Sewage described the film as ‘probably the most focused 50 minutes of environmental and social campaign by surfers ever'.
Arnold, who grew up surfing in the North of England and Scotland, is renowned for holding the surf industry environmentally responsible whilst diving into the clash of surfing’s countercultural roots with commercial interests seen today. Arnold has now been joined by writer and producer Chris Nelson and executive producer Demi Taylor. Nelson notes that The Big Sea isn’t just a film about the issue of mega-corporations harming the environment and small communities, it is also a story of environmental racism in a region overlooked by a vast history of slavery.
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| Image: Lewis Arnold / The Big Sea |
A shocking moment in the documentary comes when a wetsuit merchandiser for Australian brands Roxy, Quicksilver and Billabong reveals he has known about the connections between neoprene production and Cancer Alley for years but has not considered using an alternative material. Yulex, an FSC-certified natural biorubber is a toxic-free alternative that has been developed and is currently being used in Patagonia and Finisterre wetsuits but very few other brands have made the transition. There is also a notable lack of comment from Denka in the documentary, which Arnold assures us is not for lack of trying but rather that the corporation refuses to reply to him.
Faced with some tough and broad questions after the screening, Arnold earnestly highlighted the complexity of the issue for consumers in a constantly changing environment in an industry filled with greenwashing. On 28th February 2023, the US justice department sued Denka on account of the violation of the Clean Air Act and creating an imminent and substantial threat to the community. This has brought the people of St John’s Parish a small amount of hope that things could change for the better after 20 years of campaigning.
Find the trailer for the documentary here: https://thebigsea.org and you can support the teams kickstart here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thebigseafilm/the-big-sea
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