Member Spotlight: Surfers for Climate

During this segment, we interviewed Josh Kirkman, CEO of Surfers for Climate!

Surfers for Climate empowers and educates the surf community about the climate crisis and how it can be a powerful force behind the fight against climate change! The surf community is a large and passionate group encompassing people from all sectors. Through various community programs and campaigns, Surfers for Climate aims to mobilise surfers for climate policy advocacy and to promote sustainable surfing. 

The not-for-profit hosts a diverse range of programs including educational trivia nights and community film nights, a Shopify platform to promote sustainable surf products, and a program called the Trade-Up that is promoting a shift towards green building for tradespeople. Finally, their advocacy work is also increasing pressure on banning offshore oil and gas and sea mining projects!

We discuss the incredible advocacy work currently happening at Surfers for Climate and what inspires and guides them to keep on the fight. 

1.Can you tell us about the story of Surfers for Climate, how did it start and what was the push to create such a meaningful movement and focus on the surfing community?

I’m definitely not the best person to tell this story as I wasn’t there, but legend has it that Belinda Baggs, global surf activist for patagonia met a man named Johnny Abegg on a remote island in the northern coast of Queensland on an island in the Great Barrier Reef called Heron Island. They came together at an event hosted by the Climate Council and I believe with many of the people who went on to create Groundswell. They came together to learn more about the issue of climate change and what everyone could do about it. 

At that moment they were shocked to hear about the severity of the issue but then also understood the opportunity that surfers could play when it came to climate action in Australia. Concurrently at that time, there was action from surfers for the very first time for a very big oil and gas project in the Great Australian Bight, and this was called the ‘Fight for the Bight’. And this was really the first time that surfers were galvanised as a constituency to take action against a fossil fuel project that was proposed in the ocean. 

There were mass paddle outs with 1000s of people around Australia engaged. It was quite craftily campaigned by Patagonia and supported by many other stakeholders that the spill modeling showed that there were so many beaches around Australia that would be affected if there was an oil spill. The Gulf Of  Mexico oil spill was really still present in people's minds and the concerns from that ongoing bloom of oil escaping from the seabed with no hope of stopping it concerned everyone.

You had these dual events happening when there was this pollution risk that scared the crap out of people and activated them and then you had Belinda and Johnny meeting up on Heron Island talking about the link between that and climate change. And so, Surfers for Climate was born out of that moment to say - how do we get surfers to care about this issue beyond the pollution risk factor and how do we connect the dots between oil and gas exploration and climate change?

Surfers for Climate was born and it had this wonderful launch into COVID with big plans that got shelved. Once it was fully able to kick off, I was fortunate enough to be recruited as the Operations and Development Manager and we have gone from strength to strength since we were able to start actually doing things. Now we are here today!

2.You’ve been involved in a few exciting projects, can you tell us more about the main one you are working on with your team and how people can get involved?

Right now we have a campaign called - Line in the Sand - focused on new oil and gas in Australian waters. This campaign is all about trying to get a federal ban on new oil and gas projects and making that policy or legislative change by 2029. 

We settled on the ambitious timeline of 2029 given the timeline of the political cycle that we are in right now and 2029 would be a suitable time to get that legislative shift permitted. 

What we’re seeing at the moment is progress toward that goal. We have the NSW Parliament considering legislation put forward by the Liberal and National party with the support from a number of Independents. This legislation would put a ban on NSW waters and on any infrastructure that would support oil and gas exploration in Commonwealth waters. State waters are 3 nautical miles off the coast where there is not a lot of oil and gas happening typically so we are pretty happy to get a ban in those waters. But what is really critical is the infrastructure in coastal waters that would support Commonwealth exploration which is the PEP-11 project which has been lingering like a bad smell for quite some time for coastal communities. That’s the goal, to get this legislation passed and put into law. 

The timeline for that is that there is a submission process right now in August so there is the possibility to make submissions to the Environment and Planning Committee who will review this. On October 9th, there is a public hearing where different stakeholders will be able to voice their concerns directly to the Environment and Planning Committee which is reviewing legislation. In the middle of November, that committee will hand over its findings and recommendations for what we hope will be strengthened legislation and really do the job of locking up NSW from future exploration activities. We imagine that this will go to vote in the new year with the parliamentary sitting days as they stand.

Our goal (and it has always been) is bipartisanship. We don’t want this to be a law that is put into effect by one party with another party not fully involved. We love the leadership from the Liberals and Nationals on this and we love that there are so many Independents on this. And we are encouraged by the number of Labor Party members and leaders who support this as well. We’re very optimistic that we’re going to find the legislative outcome that we have been chasing. There are a few steps to take to get there but we are really confident that NSW will become the first state in the country to make this type of legislation stick. That’s really exciting for our goal of getting a nationwide ban in the next five or so years! 

3.What specific policy advocacy are you currently focused on, and what effect do you see as a community-led group?

Presently, as I mentioned above the NSW government is considering legislation right now and this is where the real game is at the moment. We have a real opportunity to effect change that will be lasting and the first of its kind, which is really exciting for us as an organisation. We think that the community can really activate and make sure that this happens. There will be a number of opportunities that we will try and create for the community to get involved.

We’re going to look at different activations and strategic electorates where we feel like politicians need to understand that their community wants action on this. Because we've already got the support of the coalition, what our focus is on now is the number of seats held by Labor members and to ensure that these members are informed that the community wants action on this. But as I said, we don’t want this to be a Labor thing or a Liberal thing.

There’s also a number of Independents who can effect change and we want to make sure that they understand that there is a role that they can play in this. I guess the real goal behind all of this is to really get politicians to understand that the community wants real legislative change. That happens in every electorate, it doesn't really matter what party they are from. We’re going to try and do the best we can with the limited resources we have to enable such community support for this legislation to be heard by politicians so that it can stick. 

The other really exciting priority area for us which is constitutional is the Voice to Parliament referendum which is likely going to take place in late October. Surfers for Climate was one of the first organisations to release a statement of support for the Yes vote in the referendum. We hold our topline value to recognise and respect the true locals, the First Nations peoples of this country. 

Climate action that is sustainable is not really possible without addressing climate justice. And what we know about climate change, is that some of the impacts which we are going to feel even with limiting temperature increase to 1.5C is that those impacts are felt by First Nations people first and hardest. Because they are on the literal front lines. We already know stories of people in the Torres Strait who have had to deal with burial grounds inundated and having to remove the bones of their ancestors to higher ground. And we know that First Nations people deal with the fisheries at risk from climate change and they rely on them quite a lot for their own nourishment and survival.

First Nations people are on the front line of this issue and the impacts of this issue. The impacts are not felt equally so we really feel that the Voice to Parliament is a really important step towards addressing a lot of the big issues that Australia has. We feel that it is well overdue for First Nations people to have that voice in our constitution and that recognition. We support it and we are looking to hold a number of events on this in September and at the end of August. We want the surfing community to recognise that they do have a role to play in this referendum and that whilst the Voice to Parliament won’t solve every single issue for First Nations people in this country overnight, it is what we see as a stepping stone towards much greater reconciliation and walking together in a positive way for our nation. 

4.As a not-for-profit, what has been your greatest achievement to date and the biggest issue you face in your leadership?

Our greatest achievement is not going broke! I mean you also do have to hit your advocacy goals which I feel like we are doing with our NSW parliamentary progress and really hitting the mark on our advocacy. We are getting towards that legislation change opportunity which is what every not-for-profit should be looking for. It’s just not enough to raise awareness about stuff without having an agenda on how you are going to change it.

I see this a lot and I will say something that might annoy people here. We see a number of businesses and different stakeholders that go and clean up a beach from a bit of plastic and signal to the rest of the world to show that they are doing something great. It is good but it is not enough. Cleaning the beach once will not stop the flow of plastics in our oceans. I am not interested in addressing the symptoms - I don't want to take a Panadol to cover up the fact that I have really bad flu. I want to address the actual causes. 

I think that there is a really important piece of work to get that legislative change if you’re going to do anything. Our current advocacy work and pushing for this legislation is our greatest achievement so far and I also think that maintaining a budget and not falling into a pit of lack of resources is what every not-for-profit has to have thought out. I am happy that we seem to have made nice progress in our revenue and keep growing. And I mean, you keep growing because people believe in you and that you’re doing the right thing. If people don’t believe we’re getting the job done then people won’t support us financially - there’s a clear correlation there. 

When it comes to leadership, as a first-time CEO there’s so much personal growth that has to take place when you’re in a growth company. It is no different to running a start-up as an entrepreneur. It’s all the same challenges! How do you grow at the right rate so that you don’t die from your own growth or you don’t die from a lack of growth? There’s a really fine line I think between the two. Growth has its own challenges, you’ve got to get good at recruiting the right people and you’ve got to get good at making the right decisions and budgeting for the right opportunities. A lot of that is the organisational piece but then the personal growth stuff is what actually allows you to do the organisational stuff. For me, this is a huge maturing process. I need to look in the mirror everyday and realise what I’m good at and what I’m crap at and work out how I can get help to fill the gaps.

The best analogy I came up with the other day is, I’m like Swiss cheese. It’s still good but the goal is to fill the holes and make it cheddar. Nobody’s perfect and no organisation is perfect. It’s all about trying to fill those gaps and understand your strengths and weaknesses. That’s a personal and organisational thing that is ongoing and I don't think ever stops. 

I think it’s good to back yourself but there’s a trick too with a growth organisation like Surfers for Climate and for any entrepreneur. I have had a lot of exposure to entrepreneurs in this phase of our journey and I think there’s this piece around you that needs to be slightly delusional - you have to see something that isn’t there, which is tricky. But you can’t see something that nobody will ever see. You have to be delusional enough as you’re trying to change the world, you’re trying to create something out of nothing other than an idea of what could be.

A lot of people never thought that legislation would be introduced by the Liberals or Nationals to ban offshore oil and gas. That was a slightly delusional idea for many people. I think that’s where hope comes in and that's where understanding that big things have happened in our history of humanity that was just an idea first but they got it across the line. People think it's impossible but then it becomes possible in the end. I think that’s the trick in this role - be a little bit delusional but not too delusional! There’s a fine line!

5.What are your hopes for the future in the climate space as you continue to lead Surfers for Climate?

I hope that more and more people understand that the most important thing above all else is to be nice to people if you want to get anything good done. For me, if I was too demanding or too annoying, I don't think anyone would want to listen to me and especially the people who have the power to change things. I love the friendships I have been able to make through this role. 

We have done the combative stuff and there’s a lot of people who suffer from real climate anxiety and they want to go and get it done now, now, now. And it is a now, now, now issue. But at the end of the day, we’re dealing with humans. We’re dealing with systems that are already in place and we have to be honest with ourselves about how we change systems in a way that works in a democracy. 

I just think we need to be nicer to each other, we need to make sure that we lead with our heart. At the end of the day, the most important thing is that we understand where we fit into this broad spectrum of action. Some people are way more ready to chain themselves to a tree in an old growth rainforest and block that, and that’s their space and there's people that believe that is the way to change the world. I think for us at Surfers for Climate, we recognise that it’s all about creating those positive relationships, not trying to put square pegs in round holes. You have to recognise that there is such a journey ahead for people involved. 

We’ve got programs that engage people from where they’re at, not where we want them to be. Just like surfing, it’s a journey! You catch a wave and you don’t know where it’s going to end. That’s what we’re trying to create for the community, a wave they can jump on and it can be a fun ride. I want to change legislation and I won’t feel like I have done a good job unless that changes but at the end of the day, it matters how you do it. And if you take the wrong approach, you’re not going to get anything done anyway. Be nice!

6.What motivated you to join the Subak community and how has your experience been so far?

I think the thing you can do in these types of positions is forget to prioritise learning as you’re always ‘doing’. My list of things to do is long and never gets shorter. When you look at big organisations with over 100 employees, learning is embedded in their space and factored into their structure while it can get lost in smaller start-ups.  

One of our board members, Charlotte, who is a mentor at Subak, told us about the program and that we should get involved. For me, it’s been great to sit down and listen to others with experience. You can get stuck in the doing without giving yourself space for thinking.

That’s important - there are so many smart people in the world who can help you understand things better and the Subak experience has been really valuable for me there. I have had the opportunity to lock in and listen for a change which is really good to do as a leader. It’s been a great experience!