Carson Brown (MS ’22) sits on his surfboard, floating on the cool waters of Lake Michigan outside of his hometown near South Haven, Michigan. He makes a quick 180-degree turn, paddles hard, and catches the next wave into shore. With a big grin on his face, he picks up his board. While this may seem like a typical surfing scene, there is something unique about Brown’s surfboard. It is made of wood, and he crafted it himself.

Brown, who specializes in Ecosystem Science and Management, started his nonprofit organization, Old-Time Surfcraft, in 2021 as a way to expand the use of wooden surfboards and make them accessible so that more people “[get] out into the water and [learn] about their waterways and community.” Wooden surfboards are different from the surfboards that dominate the industry, which essentially are giant pieces of plastic. Wooden boards are made from sustainable materials that produce less environmental harm during construction and while they’re being used. Conventional surfboards, on the other hand, are petroleum-based products, namely styrofoam and fiberglass. Brown estimates that surfboard production emits about 1.08 million metric tons of CO2 per year, the same amount as the annual emissions of roughly 250,000 cars. Brown’s wooden surfboards emit approximately 93% less CO2 than petroleum-based boards, according to his estimates.

As an avid Great Lakes surfer, Brown started out making foam surfboards in high school. But after learning more about foam waste and ecology in his undergraduate studies, Brown was inspired to learn more about hollow-frame, wooden surfboards. During his time at SEAS, he met Ellis Wills-Begley, a student at the U-M Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, who helped him continue with wooden board construction and gain access to more tools and resources through the architecture school. “Ellis helped me learn about the digital fabrication side of things,” Brown said, while he taught Wills-Begley about the sustainability components of their work. “He inspired me to continue educating other people” about sustainable practices and woodwork, Brown noted. 

Through Wills-Begley, Brown met Glenn Wilcox, an associate professor of architecture at Taubman College, who helped approve their work for credit as an independent study and allowed the pair to continue building surfboards. Brown has explored many different ways of crafting his boards. His main approach consists of starting with a base panel onto which he adds an internal skeleton frame. He then builds up the sides with thin wooden pieces and secures a top wooden panel, and then finally carves the board into the shape he wants. Brown said that making a board can take between one and two weeks, depending on how much time each day he devotes to it and where he sources the materials from.

He has used northern white cedar to build boards; the trees are native to Michigan and are good for surfboards since their wood is relatively light and water resistant. But Brown has experimented with different types of wood, including various plywood boards from hardware stores and marine boat supply warehouses. He is still delving into the different sustainability considerations when thinking about sourcing his wood. “Using wood from a dead tree in the woods would be the most sustainable,” Brown said, but getting this wood and using it for his product is not always easy. 

Brown’s studies at SEAS have influenced his approach to Old-Time Surfcraft. “Studying ecology trains our thinking to be relational,” he said. “We are a part of our environment, and everything is connected in ecological systems. How we manage our ecosystems is directly tied to our value systems and the way that we harvest, use, and work with materials from the environment.” 

Brown embodies his values by using sustainable materials to create a product that gets people more connected to nature. He also has been able to expand his academic and professional breadth through SEAS. “The interdisciplinary environment at SEAS has provided many opportunities to learn skills that I might not have learned in a conventional ecology degree, such as 3D modeling, life cycle analysis, and environmental justice courses that have shaped and influenced my work,” Brown said. 

He is excited to use these new skills as he continues with the education and public outreach aspects of Old-Time Surfcraft, which started as “a way of getting my own wooden surfboard so that I could paddle out and feel proud of the board under my feet as I caught a wave,” Brown said. But Old-Time Surfcraft has expanded beyond this. It incorporates an educational component to encourage people to make the “sustainable choice” of wooden surfboards while also expanding their accessibility, since wooden boards tend to be more costly as compared to their petroleum-based counterparts. These classes will explore the interdisciplinary aspects of surfing, surf history, sustainability, and woodworking. 

Using the funds generated from selling his boards, Brown intends to subsidize the cost of other boards and board-making kits to make sustainable surfboards more attainable. There is an “intertwined nature” about the educational and profitable work that Old-Time Surfcraft does, with a “spectrum of ways to get involved,” Brown said. 

Brown is excited to continue his work with Old-Time Surfcraft after he graduates. He already has begun teaching classes and giving presentations through Old-Time Surfcraft, which he wants to expand. “I see the future of Old-Time Surfcraft as a sort of hub for connecting and sharing watercraft methods and knowledge so that more people can get into the water and do so while building relationships with their community,” he said. “I look forward to connecting with other ecosystem managers, craftspeople, and educators as I develop my own curriculum.” 

Upon graduation, Brown plans to split his time teaching at the University of Michigan Biological Station and working on Old-Time Surfcraft. “I’m excited to go out and teach ecology in the field,” he said, “and I think the work will go together really well.” He will use his teaching experience to help him develop more curriculum and resources for Old-Time Surfcraft, which he’ll devote his full-time efforts to at the end of this summer. 

Old-Time Surfcraft serves as an example of a SEAS student’s ability to combine his hobby with his passion for his studies. Brown hopes to develop his organization into one that “supports the research, development, and communication of sustainability through watercraft and the ecology of our waterways.”