Professor Ponting rides a wave
Surfing is a $7 billion a year industry. Much of that money is generated through tourism. The most hardcore surfers will travel the world in search of the perfect wave. But a big discovery may mean more than new footprints and empty coconut shells. Towns that have never known tourism can spring up quickly to accommodate surfers--sometimes with devastating environmental results. A new center at San Diego State University studies the effects of surf tourism. Jess Ponting joins us with the story of one idyllic Indonesian beach that was changed for the worse by an influx of surfers. Ponting directs the Center for Surf Research at SDSU.