A Greener Future On The Water
When I stand on a paddle board I feel happy, I feel free, I feel at peace. These feelings that I receive while I stand on a paddleboard make me want to do better for the planet, each and every single time. The feelings I have described were ones that my friends and family said they were also feeling when they spent time on a stand up paddle board. To me this was a very interesting finding that I felt the need to investigate further. But let me give you a little bit of back story first…
During my childhood I was always outside, but didn’t spend a lot of time near the water. I was always running around in my backyard forest with my brother and sister, playing games and building forts, or going for hikes with my parents. In the summer of 2007 my family and I went to a cottage in Sauble Beach, which sits on Lake Huron one of the five Great Lakes here in Canada. One day at the beach we saw these two men paddling on SUP’s, and that was the moment I first saw a SUP. I was fascinated. When they came out of the water, I ran to them to ask what their crafts were. They said “stand up paddle boards… would you like to try?” and my life has been devoted to the craft ever since.
That first meaningful interaction inspired me to start a fundraiser, compete on the international stage, and study the sport of SUP for my undergraduate and masters degree. As I continued to grow and progress with the sport, my love and affection for the water continued to grow alongside. Comparing my own personal journey with my friends and family, I started to ask myself “do these pleasant feelings that come with participation in stand up paddling create a general sense of environmental awareness for those who paddle?”. This statement alone became the topic of my undergraduate thesis. When I approached my supervisor about this topic, Dr. Stephen Murphy at the University of Waterloo thought it was unique and innovative. I discovered through the study that paddlers do tend to have a greater sense of environmental awareness and responsibility when stand up paddling due to three factors; time spent on a SUP (more time = greater sense of responsibility), purpose (those going out to leisurely paddle felt greater responsibility than those who race, etc.), and location (where they paddled and what they saw in the water influenced participants' sense of responsibility).
My undergraduate thesis proved with academic literature that water recreation in the form of SUP can inspire and fuel one's desires and actions towards the environment. I already knew this for myself personally, but to be able to back up my own experiences with other stand up paddlers experiences in the form of qualitative data, was very satisfying. I was not the only person inspired by the water to become an advocate for the environment. These findings were enough for me to continue to study the sport of SUP for my masters degree. I decided to research children to try to understand if participation in the sport at a young age will also be enough to generate environmental awareness and/or appreciation. I am very excited to understand what the data will reveal, all in due time.
I truly believe that those who participate in water-based recreation, whatever the craft may be, tend to create a bond with the environment. There’s concepts we talk about in the literature such as the Participatory Ecological Approach, and Blue Mind, that help us to understand the motivations behind humans environmental stewardship efforts. Overall, many water-based outdoor recreationists want to do better because the natural world has given us a place to not only survive, but to feel good, to heal, and to connect with each other on a deeper level. We still need more research to prove the astounding impacts of this sport, but I am honoured to be at the forefront of it all alongside many wonderful organizations such as A Greener Future, Brock University, Paddle Niagara and Starboard SUP. Personally the water has given me so many intrinsic rewards, and I will never stop continuing to give back and protect the waters that have shaped me to be the person I am today.
Pro Stand Up Paddleboarder, Team Canada