The Big Sea

About

Surfing is killing it. This $10 billion global industry – built on a clean, green dream – has never been more popular. But surfing has a dirty secret… and people are dying.

This essential documentary from filmmakers Lewis Arnold and Chris Nelson exposes surfing’s hidden links to Cancer Alley and the devastating impact of the wetsuit world’s toxic addition to Neoprene.

While a natural rubber alternative quite literally grows on trees, the majority of wetsuits on the market today are made of Neoprene – the commercial name for chloroprene rubber. This synthetic material is born out of a carcinogenic chemical process so toxic that the California government requires wetsuits to carry health warnings.

The sole chloroprene plant in the USA rises from the site of a former slave plantation in Cancer Alley, casting a deadly shadow over the community where the fallout from the plant has resulted in the highest cancer risk in the USA – 50 times the national average.

Four years in the making and giving voice to the lived experiences of community activists, accompanied by insights from scientists, surfers, industry insiders, environmentalists and more, The Big Sea uses the lens of surfing to unwrap issues of environmental racism, social justice, corporate responsibility and greenwashing.

This life and death tale of two seemingly unconnected communities holds an inconvenient mirror up to the surf industry while exploring the power we have as individuals to effect change.

Accompanied by a very special filmmaker Q&A hosted by ★★★★