High-Flying Aspirations

By Kyle Conrad

Frank Scura’s soft tongue and calculated comportment belie his fervor for widespread environmental sustainability. As founder and executive director of the Action Sports Environmental Coalition (ASEC), he speaks eloquently, but with an unmistakable fire that has been slowly kindled by personal experience.

As Scura explains, “I left California a crazy rocker guy and came back a hippie with all of these ideas of organics, sustainability and free love.” While living in Oregon, he adds, “I started really discovering how I felt as a person and that was the foundation of the work I’m doing now.”

Founded in 2001, ASEC is an alliance of concerned advocates that take an active role in practicing and teaching progressive eco-education. Here, Scura discusses the challenges, rewards and future of the organization’s collective sustainability concept.

SGB: How successful has ASEC been in accomplishing its goals?
SCURA: It’s been miraculous. We’re really on track in fulfilling our goals and I think the cooperation and enthusiasm in the industry is epic. First and foremost, it was uniting the industry on the collective sustainability concept, and that has happened. We have over 40 corporate members, and more coming in all the time.

SGB: What are ASEC’s current goals?
SCURA: We have all factions working in unison. Our other primary goal still in play is mapping the industry terrain. We are taking an environmental assessment on the industry and identifying our strategic approach through what is available. We also want to dig down and find more of a solution for a long-term plan. It’s a very challenging process because you’re mapping a myriad of different companies and identifying all of their commonalities.

Our other goal is to [promote] the collective uniting of our industry, assembling events like the X Games, and more and more action sports that are incorporating sustainability. Everybody’s doing something and that’s increasing more, and companies are considering their “footprints.”

SGB: How does ASEC approach those who aren’t interested in action sports and/or don’t sympathize with the sustainability message?
SCURA: The overall strategy of ASEC and our industry is a strategic focus to inspire these people. Our reality is that the action sports industry is either an inspiration or a threat to most mainstream industries. [The action sports industry is] one of the greatest social influencers of our time; especially when you’re talking about youth. Statistically, more kids are skateboarding than playing Little League baseball, football or soccer.

Our whole premise is an impeccable, pragmatic transition to sustainability. If the action sports industry creates this platform, it means that the choices that we make are based on sound science, due diligence and proper research. The best thing we can do for the world is to have the most successful sustainability platform and to have the highest-functioning platform that we can. The best thing we can do for people who don’t care about action sports is to do exactly what we’re doing, because if we do it correctly, then that gets attention, and that attention proves it can be done. If [companies] don’t change, we’ll come after their market share [and] we’ll gain more support. It will inspire others, and it’s already happening.

SGB: How has utilizing the action sports industry benefited ASEC?
SCURA: It has created an atmosphere of hope, stimulated greater creativity, and enhanced the already “stoked” industry morale, while at the same time bringing in a whole new arena of [eco-conscious] investors and sponsors. It is a synonymous relationship, and we are connected like a head and brain connected to a body.

SGB: What prompted you to take a more active role in sustainability?
SCURA: My community has always been based in skateboarding, surfing and biking. Through those experiences, that’s always what I come back to. Divine intervention brought me to Oregon [from California], where I met people who grew gardens and cared about who you were, and not what you were wearing. I left California a crazy rocker guy and came back a hippie with all of these ideas of organics, sustainability and free love. At the same time, my industry was growing as the X Games came about. Somewhere in the middle, a pragmatic reality came about as I started getting back into the fold.

SGB: What personal experiences contributed to ASEC’s inception?
SCURA: While I was in Oregon, I went through a total transition. I was so sickened with humanity and what was going on in the world and the way we lived. I decided I was going to go into the woods and start a commune with these dogs and birds I had adopted. There was an old 1950s trailer on the property with a lean-to over it, and I lived there without running water or electricity a two- or three-year period. I started really discovering how I felt as a person and that was the foundation of the work I’m doing now.

This is what came of the series of different events that made me want to change my industry. I believe the whole thing is an act of some serendipitous divine intervention; God is having fun with me, and vise versa.

SGB: How did people respond to your message?
SCURA: At first I was a bit extreme, and then I just kind of came back around to the pragmatic business realities that people were facing and decided to do what I can as a consultant. At first, people thought it was crazy, but as it grew, people started asking me how they [could become involved]. I started figuring out the hows and whys. I learned about forest stewardship from loggers in eastern Oregon and have been mentored by some of the greatest minds in sustainability, natural product and action sports. It was a manifestation of what was missing in our industry.

We realized there were more of us in the industry who felt this way, and most of us didn’t know what to do. So we started inspiring, influencing, and having conversations trying to figure out what could be done, and a business model formed. It was an uphill battle for a long time identifying what those interactions should be, but fortunately the boulder is getting lighter as we reach the plateau.

SGB: How have members such as pro skateboarders Bob Burnquist, Danny Way and Geoff Rowley helped facilitate ASEC’s efforts?
SCURA: One of the most unique things about ASEC is our support from the influencers in the industry. It’s unprecedented. Imagine if all of the athletes in the NBA or NFL were involved in something proactive like this-actually lending their voices and actions to be a part of architecture. That’s what we have. [It’s] a diverse group of athletes that are lending their voices [and] its ASEC’s most valuable asset.

[The athletes] bring authenticity and sincerity to the fan base. The reality is that companies don’t sell products in our industry. Images, endorsements and associations sell. They don’t just influence the fan base; they influence the parents and the sponsors. It’s these athletes working with their sponsors and saying ‘Hey, I want to represent eco-products, this is something I believe in.’ It benefits the entire industry.

SGB: How valuable have the X Games been as a medium for ASEC to promote its message?
SCURA: We strive to inspire independence for companies and X Games is the perfect example of that. X Games has an independently operating environmental platform, and an independent faction of Disney Corp. called Environmentality achieves that. They focus on carbon offsetting, composting, and all other practices implemented on-site, and we are extremely proud of them.

SGB: What does ASEC have planned for the near future?
SCURA: On October 11, ASEC is introducing a national holiday that will be supported by action sports retailers and Chipotle [Mexican Grill]. The holiday is called “Roll Anything Day” (RAD) and anyone who goes into a Chipotle on October 11 will get a free burrito if they come on a skateboard, bike, rollerblades, or anything like that. It’s dedicated to the use of non-motorized transportation as an environmental solution.

SGB: Why is non-motorized transportation such an important issue for ASEC?
SCURA: One of the most heinous contributions from America to the world has been our ideal and idea of success: it’s the big house, the car, the materialism, the electronics, the new disposable economy system. The reality is, you have countries like China and India that have quadruple our population, but they all want that model. China’s [automobile demand] is growing at an astronomical rate, and the world can’t support those kinds of resources. The world can’t support the impact. The greatest contribution we can focus on in our country right now is to reinvent the way we function.

With this kind of initiative, we are going to address a myriad of concerns-childhood obesity, quality family time, economic growth, and making non-motorized transportation a viable transportation solution, and at the same time making it safe and fun.