How can we make skateboarding more sustainable?
I'm glad you asked.
In this video,
I'm going to ride on three crazy skateboards
from three different materials.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Skateboards have changed a lot in just these last 60 years.
But for the last 20, it's just been the same,
Canadian maple, boring.
Skateboarding maybe isn't always nature friendly
but as of lately, we've seen some really innovative stuff.
I'm going to try out some crazy boards
made from upcycled and repurposed materials,
and my favorite board, I'm going to take it to Lisbon.
One of the biggest stair sets there.
[DRAMATIC OPERA MUSIC]
Bring out the first board.
-[COMPUTER NOISES]
Can you hear me? Mom!
OK... Oh, this is not a light board.
Whoa...
I used to have one of those.
We've all got old phones lying around,
so we thought we put them to good use.
Made of indestructible upcycled old phones,
we've made a board that should last forever.
Nothing lasts forever.
All right, let's try it out.
[UPBEAT MUSIC]
So I've made a brick phone skateboard.
It's just lots of phones made up in a little skateboard cast,
and then use an epoxy resin that I coat around it,
above it, below it,
to give the kind of structure of the skateboard...
Definitely the weirdest board I've ever skated.
[UPBEAT MUSIC]
Let's see if I can ollie.
Oh yeah!
MATTY: So when doing it, I wasn't sure how strong it's going to be.
I left it to set long enough, but it turned out perfect I think.
I mean, knowing the brick is probably going to be pretty strong.
The weakest point, I'd say, is in the middle.
Let's try a kickflip.
-[BOARD CLINKING] -[CHEERS]
MATTY DISTORTED: Probably gonna be pretty strong.
-[MADARS SCREAMING] -Nothing lasts forever.
That epoxy is not that good.
I can't believe it's already broken.
Let's see what's in the other two boxes.
[PIANO MUSIC PLAYING]
[PAPER RUSTLING]
Whoa! It's blue.
"Ceramics are a massive export of Portugal,
making up millions of euros worth of its economy.
You see it everywhere.
So we wanted to celebrate local culture,
and made a ceramic board."
Oh my God!
Wow!
How beautiful is that?
Welcome to Portugal, guys.
ROBERT GAGLIANO: This project, it was challenging.
It was definitely weird.
I never imagined to make a skateboarding clay.
Look at the wheel base on this one.
Must be crazy to ollie.
ROBERT: Clay itself is extremely ecological,
and it's always a recycled, there is no waste.
[MADARS YELPS]
It is much stronger than glass.
It works!
And less flexible than wood.
I'm skating a clay board.
The stronger points are where the wheels will be bolted together.
It's perfect.
[CLINKING]
I just put it on the...
on the coping to drop in, and it broke super quick.
I'm keeping the tracks.
[SOFT MUSIC]
Light as a feather.
[PAPER RUSTLING]
Whoa!
"Portugal is the biggest manufacturer of cork.
They make everything out of cork.
So we tried making a board.
The grip is even made from the soles of recycled skate shoes."
Check it out.
Wow.
That looks like a real skateboard.
I've never seen grip tape made out of skate shoes.
So I'm going to use skate shoes, skate on my skate shoes grip tape.
[ERROR CHIME]
Cork is the Holy Grail of sustainability.
You need to chop the tree,
you just take the skin of the tree out,
they grow back.
All right, let's test it out.
[WHEELS RATTLING]
Ah, Madars!
[GRUNTS]
It's going to take a little bit to get used to it.
[CASH CHIME]
First try!
RICARDO:
so there's no transportation,
it's actually provided from local suppliers.
Cork seems pretty sturdy.
It's definitely not as flexible as a hard rock maple.
It's a pretty good alternative, I would say.
As long as it's got four wheels and a board,
a pair of tracks, that's all it needs.
Ah, I wouldn't do that.
The grip on the skateboards nowadays, it's made from sandpaper,
so you can imagine what it does to the shoes.
[OLDIES FOLK PLAYING]
RICARDO:
then it's really nice because it saves some shoes
from the skaters,
and recycled shoes from regular people.
[FOLK MUSIC PLAYING]
[YELLS]
I think I'm ready for the stairs.
[DRAMATIC OPERA MUSIC]
But first, let's go meet the maker.
The maker of the skateboard.
I got to change it up a bit.
[SOFT MUSIC]
-RICARDO: It's open. -MADARS: Hey!
Tell me everything. What did you think about the board?
Weird, right?
It's amazing.
[HARP CHIMES]
Super sick.
Kind of fat.
-Nice grip tape. It works. -[BEEP]
But I want to make a new board please.
-Is that possible? -Of course it is.
I know that you are from the street and then want to jump,
probably and do some tricks, right?
I wanna scare these stairs, man.
OK, then we take this model as a base
and see what we can come up with.
[SOFT CLASSICAL MUSIC]
[SAW WHIRRING]
[BLOWS]
That's pretty cool.
RICARDO: [YELPS] Oh nice!
[DRILL WHIRRING]
Oh… it works.
It definitely works.
[THUD]
Are you going to show me your skills?
[CLANKING]
-[GAME BEEP] -Hey!
Nice!
I think I'm ready to take it to the stairs.
[UPBEAT MUSIC]
Finally, we're here.
One of the biggest sets in town.
I've made myself a brand new skateboard from cork
in a popsicle shape,
which hopefully is going to help me clear this set.
[TECHNO MUSIC]
[WHEELS RATTLING]
Ah! I can't believe I'm going so slow.
[CHEERS]
[THUDS]
Oh!
[WHEELS WHIRRING]
[THUD]
[CHEERING]
MAN: Yeah!