But wait! Could free market capitalism save the day?
A nightmare scenario is developing in California’s other surf city. A terror so grave it is almost impossible to imagine. Santa Cruz, and its iconic waves, could be entirely undone by climate change leaving Pete Mel, Ken Collins and Jason Collins all bereft.
Santa Cruz has a surf history as rich as any hamlet on earth, of course. Three Hawaiian princes are said to have brought their favorite pastime to those pristine shores in the late 1800s and it has flourished ever since. Steamer Lane, Pleasure Point, The Hook etc. all now very famous.
But, again, climate change and its deniers might just snuff them out.
But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the Save the Waves Coalition and Black Surf Santa Cruz embarking upon the most in-depth economic value of surfing in Santa Cruz in an effort to inspire care and conservation!
Save the Waves Senior Manager Trent Hodges told Lookout Santa Cruz, “We’ve never done a holistic picture of what surfing brings in terms of economic impact, from the surfers visiting here to coastal property values and travel costs. All that information is really important when we think about how to prioritize protecting our surf breaks.”
The study will be conducted alongside California State University Channel Islands and funded by a $199,999 grant. Professional surfer Shaun Burns, the World Surfing Reserve coordinator for Save the Waves, shared that he hopes the various surveys will pinpoint exactly how much money surfing pumps into the local economy. “Everyone always starts out with millions of dollars,” he said. “But the funny thing is, no one has that exact number.”
Surfider Foundation CEO Chad Nelsen, who coined the idea of “Surfonomics” wherein the monetary value of waves causes businesses etc. to become more ecological based upon greed, declared, “There’s no lift-ticket price for swimming and surfing in the ocean. But there’s a value to the waves at Steamer Lane even though it’s free to access them.”
Economist Jason “Ratboy” Scorse was the first to ever examine how surf impact housing prices, in 2013, and discovered that people were willing to pay $100,000 more dollars to live near good waves. This new study will be much fuller, though, and the team hopes to be finished by March 2025.
If you had to guess, what Shawn Dollar amount would you put on surfing’s value to Santa Cruz?
Please don’t start out with a million.
No other ocean based activity attracts tourists like surfing. Buy land at a newly discovered wave, wait a few years and it will be worth a mint.
this just released…
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Climate change is what climate does…. https://media0.giphy.com/me…
Erosion is a hell of a drug.
Whether or not you believe in climate change, or sea level rise for that matter, the ocean is a destructive force. It’s silly to think that we can stop the changing of our coastline. I say let it ride! Could create new, better waves!
https://www.scvibesmagazine.com/stories/managed-retreat
https://media2.giphy.com/me…
that’s for the Climate /Sea level deniers!
FFS , come to Torquay, $1/3m median house value…..fastest growing place in Australia ..last 5 years more than 20K increase in residents and 80K to come…coastal erosion at incredible levels as the continents are sinking, so who pulled the plug?……will bells/surf exist by 2050?
surf will exist by then. human beings, maybe not
Interesting in France that in 1980 , the high tide mark was 100m from the sand dunes. The Sandunes were 20-30 m tall…..now the high tide mark is on the bottom of the dunes and the dunes have lost 15 m…really interesting that sea level differs all around the world
Not just across the world. Even in some very closely related coastal areas. Especially in NSW. Some naturally accrete and others erode. Add in long shore sand transport and beach related infrastructure to help confuse the issue. Some coastal basins are almost self sufficient / well balanced – whilst others are at the mercy of events both in and out of their control due to previous changes done by humans. It’s a very complex problem. Different issues impact different locations irrelevant of sea level rise forecasts. We love to put training walls on rivers as they hit the ocean. And other places love car parks like at Byron.
higher housing prices near surf areas.
sounds like there’s METHod to this madness.
Santa Cruz?
cunt of a place
Anybody else see Kelly bragging about getting Dana Whites’ new cell number on his insta story. What a toolbag
Didn’t see it but totally agree with ya.
The well known hierarchy of Santa Cruz surfers:
slugs>millionaire tech blow ins>east siders>west side bitches
#teamslut
#crystalmeth
If you want to see how warm, mediocre waves contribute to skyrocketing housing prices then just check out the property prices in Guiones, Costa Rica. Already high prices doubled in 18 months during and after covid and continue to rise.
And the new residents love to talk politics and conspiracy. No pizza parlour is safe from speculation (unless it’s run by a genuine Eye-talian).
fuck, was there in 2000 and I thought the place was beyond blown out when I returned in 2016.
It probably was, by then.
But, in fairness to those who want to live there, they probably get more and more amenities for people who want a more modern lifestyle. I’ve lived rural before (very rural) and most modern conveniences that are added to the community were welcomed.
I enjoy hanging out in guiones, but it’s probably 10X more expensive than I’ll ever afford, property wise. And Nicoya and samara have also developed much quicker because of all the cash that’s arrived in the area. As you rightly say, it’s not for everyone. Too many cunts, as well, alongside the genuinely nice folks.
guiones is unmined beach grit gold
For fuckin real. Chazz needs to go down there and recruit a correspondent. Or just cruise the Facebook accounts and lift stories from there that can be unfairly embellished.
the whole scene is accidental parody…an Instagram village for wealthy VALs
A million…
I got $5 on it
Damn you!
Ocean surfing is on the blink. Good job the wave pool is here to save the world. Future shock is here and pumping.
“We’ve never done a holistic picture…”
if you see a dangerous situation in this pleasant beach town (that looks like every other world wide beachtown) you may be a ‘Karen.’ BTW, WSL failed to get permits for big wave Peahi contest and Surfrider is still fightin to eliminate seawalls. Kinda puts the lid on wasting money on activism.
Eliminate seawalls? They’d have a heart attack if they saw those monstrous walls in Sydney.
Sick photo. As for the “sea level risings” that all the mentally ill speak of,….please explain Manhattan!?
That will be all.
Not so fast, good VS.
Climate alarmists must get the last word here, and add their strident yelps to the incessant whining about the election results! 🙄
I thought we came here on BG to have a wine/whinge …I like a Shiraz
Got any weed? Psychedelics?
elmer’s glue, then resin…
yep , there’s no such thing as seal level rise the orange one quoted as 1/4″ sea level rise over the next 400 years……ha we all know the continents are sinking , which explains why we are losing beaches/cliffs etc………it couldn’t be the Artic and the Antarctic losing ice or the glaciers melting or the ocean heating up……???
Hang on. (run to end of property….check) Nope, haven’t lost 1 sq ft. of beach front property since ’98. Weird, 3 decades…..you’d think….nah, I’ll just listen to the inlanders explain everything.
yet here on the Southern Coast of Australia…beaches have disappeared , cliffs collapsing…..some area s have lost 3m ‘s of beach in the last 5 years….just don’t look down at the ocean…and it’ll be alright!
Waves constantly beating on the land eh? Poor ciffs eroding 😭
yeah lost 30 m in the last 10 years….one young guy was killed as a cliff collapsed about 2 k from Bells….we have one of the fastest eroding coasts on the planet….but nothing to see here!
What is the geology? Old sediment or bedrock? A costal cliff like Jalama or Indicator to Carp is mostly sediment, some adobe, shale, sandstone. Granite protecting the rails and freeway. There hasn’t been any significant change in my lifetime.
it’s different all over the world!
So… why is it happening? And what can be done to stop it?
At this point in time we are in the process of having a different climate , which will affect this civilization as we are not ready for the increases in volatility in our weather and the threat to our food sources……we can’t stop it , but if you accept that we are going into another severe climate affected civilization well ya make a plan!
Wow what university is your degree in Climate Science from? School of burning fatties in the Bells parking lot? Torquay Pub Stste?
it’s called…if you have an opinion on something make sure you have all the facts….so it’s easy read what the scientists say , don’t read opinion pieces and check and double check your sources….I have followed the weather/climate my whole life…so my climate science is from the book of life!
Just interested in what sources you use and why?
Well I’ve followed the weather my entire life as well. Surfed nonstop for 50 years.
Just spent a couple weeks in Santa Cruz crazy how the Point at the Lane is disintegrating. Actually has made the Slot a touch better.
Currently on n shore and its equally wild seeing the houses between Rockies and Kammies falling into the ocean.
What’s sickening is watching the global elite class pontificating about climate change while flying nonstop.
Also disgusting is the American Left preaching about being the Party of the working man while threatening to stop selling gas cars by 2035 ( Gavin Newsome ). It seems to most that they just don’t want normal people to have the freedom to get around.
It all seems so disengenuous.
hoping to get back to hawaii for Xmas, if I get a visa…..everytime I spend time away from Hawaii/France /SoCal….when I go back it’s easy to see how much beach is gone……..we are not going to stop sea level rise , but we can plan to move back….from the coasts.
With all of that, I hope you are well!
Every year that goes by, emmisions increase, but yeah, blame Trump.
Maybe its because of global demand, like, from you.
haha Bexy, I don’t blame don for his gullible cult followers….climate changing , seal level rising……we the people are like the grasshopper in the Ant and grasshopper story…I mean what could possibly go wrong with a civilization that is burning the candle at both ends where food is harder to grow , water harder to find….and when you see values of coastal properties plunge because the sea level is rising …welcome to the new world!
Just saying
It’s your own fault.
yes it’s the fault of man , being a sinner!
True.
I know you are taking a position, just not sure which.
I have seen in my lifetime whole beaches and sand dunes disappear…all because the sea level rise……but I tell all the non-believers , ” what about the continents sinking?” bit like Haitians love for fresh pet??
2 different beaches approx 40km apart that grew up surfing as a kid have gotten bigger by at least 50m or so… the wave used to break off this group of rocks that is now in the shorebreak. There was also a rock shelf 50-100m out that was great for snorkeling thats pretty much on the shoreline now. So yeah, rising sea levels this way that way.