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Sustainability in Paddling

Paula Mckenna • Jan 17, 2023

The Elephant in the Room...

I suspect, by now, you have all converted to an electric vehicle, a timber framed, canvas clad, kayak and are wearing waxed cotton rather than oil based synthetics. You are probably imagining yourself a pioneer, as "The Canoe Boys" - leading in this changing world, protecting the environment in which you play and care so much about. You’ll be anxiously doing whatever you can to move 'Earth Overshoot Day' https://www.overshootday.org/ as far forward as possible.

On the other hand you might be carrying on as normal wondering what on earth you can do that might possibly make some sort of difference. We are not, overnight, going to get rid of our diesel vans and cars. We are not going to stop using our plastic kayaks and we will continue to dress in oil based synthetics. These things work well and we love paddling. Are we selfish, arrogant or misguided? Should we cease our hobby, our way of life, immediately?

We are, big picture, low impact. Along with hikers, runners, cyclists and other outdoor pursuit practitioners, we are aware of the fragility of our environment and we do care about it. Our kayaks and canoes last a very long time It’s in our nature to make our clothing last a long time and we tend to minimise our driving, share vehicles and take our time, if only to save money. What we gain by going paddling is a greater love of, and a better knowledge of, and a greater understanding of the places we live and play.

Without knowledge and understanding, without a passion for the environment, there is no care. By that, what I mean is; people will only tend to care about the things they know about. That we play intimately in beautiful places, with tidal forces and river flows, surrounded by wild species, gives us a greater understanding of how precious this planet is.

If it’s any comfort we are not the worst offenders. There are some people who, legally, race around the countryside, off road in internal combustion engine driven motor vehicles. There are others who import millions of pheasants which fuel an explosion in numbers of corvids, foxes and birds of prey - whose numbers they then seek to ‘control’. Simply watching, and supporting the football World Cup in Qatar was probably the maximum damage you could do to the planet without moving!

None of us are setting out to deliberately harm our favourite places. Currently, leadership from business and government is probably not moving fast enough towards a sustainable future. Indeed, economic growth is locked into our current political system - perhaps we need to be the leaders and we need to find ways forward that will make a difference. So, beyond staying in bed all day (with the heating turned off), what can we do to reduce our impact to move towards sustainability?

Well, it’s clearly not straightforward, it is something I shall write about in 2023. I would love to hear from you though.

What are you doing?

What do you think?

How can we make paddlesports a sustainable activity, or at least less damaging?

A lot will boil down to personal attitudes and behaviours. So let’s start by wearing that cagoule for one more season, using that paddle for one more season. Let’s leave the single use packaging in the shops, tell them we don’t need it, let’s work harder to share vehicles…

Can we make a difference in 2023?

Mike Raine

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