GOD SAVE THE GREEN! 
No longer is being green for the hippies and granolas. True to the environmental cause, one of our owners has the largest residential solar panel system in Southern California.
We know that you have to walk the walk in today’s business world by practicing what you preach at home. Otherwise – it is just another extension of greenwashing. We refuse to be a part of the cradle to grave (one way trip to the landfill) industrial system whereby companies have viewed nature as a limitless resource and continue to tirelessly abuse it.
Ultimately, we want to be a part of the Cradle to Cradle Design; closing the loop from the birth of our bamboo to where that final deck ends up. We haven’t finished the loop entirely, but we are doing our due diligence to minimize our impact on earth. Pledge to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle your brain!
Environmental impact:
It grows fast.
- Bamboo is not a tree—it’s a grass, and it grows like one. Many species of bamboo can grow two feet or more a day.
- When it’s harvested, it need not be replanted, because it will grow a new shoot from its extensive root system, often 4 to 5 new shoots.
- It renews itself readily, unlike hardwood trees, which, once cut, are gone forever. Canadian Maple trees take around 40-60 years to mature before they can be cut down. Bamboo is an endless renewable resource.
- According to the Science Channel (January 2008, Episode 7 - “Invention Nation”), skateboarding has replaced flooring as the #1 contributor to deforestation of maple trees in North America.
It enhances the environment.
- Farmed bamboo stabilizes the earth with its roots, preventing erosion.
- It takes in greenhouse gasses and produces oxygen. In fact 35% more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees.
- It can also provide habitat for birds and animals (though our bamboo is not preferred by pandas, and is therefore panda-safe).
- In nature, bamboo filters heavy metals from groundwater and removes four times more carbon dioxide from the air than an equivalent-size stand of trees.
BambooSK8 Carbon Footprint
- Managed bamboo forests = stabilizes the earth roots while producing 35% more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees
- Bamboo is cut with hand axe, directly behind the factory = no pollution (maple trees are cut down with gas chain saws)
- Water-based glue exceeding EU compliance standards = no volatile VOC’s being released
- Production waste is recycled into other bamboo products = minimized waste in landfills
- Maximized logistics/container load = reduced transportation pollution (We don’t ship from unmanaged forests in Canada to ASIA/Mexico and the back to USA like most maple manufacturers do)
- Pushed delivery (increased purchase quantities to shops rather than many small purchases) = reduced transportation pollution
- Local customers goods delivery built in with our local errands = reduction in transportation pollution
- Broken or worn-down bamboo decks are given to low income families/charities or to local artists to be used for various art projects = recycling
- A % of our profits are given to charities that give back to the earth = direct carbon offset
- 100% of our office furniture was used and purchased from craigslist = recycling
- Recycle all cans and paper (limited to necessary printing only) at the office = recycling
- ASR booth was 90% constructed from bamboo = sustainability
- Individual homes – recycle paper, metal and plastic, compost, solar panels, turn lights off, energy efficient light bulbs, walk or bike, shun plastic bags, etc. = reducing green house gases
