OCEANS MATTER PODCAST 13 - JOSH KIRKMAN
Josh Kirkman is the newly appointed CEO of grassroots surfing organisation Surfers For Climate, a grassroots organisation aimed at enabling the surf community to take action on climate change.
For those who may not be familiar with Surfers For Climate they are one of Australia's leading charitable organisations aimed at uniting and educating the surf community on the realities of Climate Change.
Founded by Belinda Baggs and Johnny Abegg on the back of the Triumphant Fight the Bight Campaign that saw surfers paddling out all across Australia to hit back against big oil. The organisation has been running hard hitting initiatives such as the travelling Carpark cinema which projected several short docos about climate change and also had guest politicians discussing their future climate policies. They also have had a their Salty Brains Trivia, part surf & ocean knowledge and part Climate Change Trivia. Josh discusses his latest mission The Trade Up, aimed at empowering the surfing tradies community to take action on the part they can play .
In Joshs previous life he was also a professional bodyboarder, traveling the world to pack heavy slabs at the highest body boarding competitive level. Josh climbed the ranks to world number 7 on the tour and we chatted about his thoughts on the competitive bodyboarding landscape and where he thinks the sport is heading. We also take a journey back through his memories most epic barrels and beatings, a couple of stories that lets just he was lucky to walk away from.
As well as being a top tier bodyboard, Josh is a waterman on many different levels being super handy on the surfboard and even spending times working professionally on a yacht. We delve through all these areas of his past lifes and finish up with what he believes are the big issues on the horizon for Surfers For Climate.
It was a pleasure to chat with Josh get some more insight into Surfer For Climate! if you are interested in supporting Surfers For Climate you purchase our Boardsox x Jake Ross Skeletor model donating 10% of proceeds to these legends. Alternatively you can head over their website to donate directly. Hope you enjoy the podcast, tap in below.