By the Numbers Q UA N T I F Y I N G S O M E O F O U R E N V I R O N M E N TA L & S O C I A L R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y W O R K F O R F I S C A L Y E A R 2018 ( M AY 1, 2 0 17- A P R I L 3 0 , 2 0 18 )
104 Million
103
951,482
100,288
Dollars (including monetary
Environmental internships
Single-driver car-trip miles
Pieces of clothing fixed
value of other forms of
(individual and group)
averted this year through our
by our Worn Wear® repair
assistance) given to support
completed this year
Drive-Less program
centers this year
547
200 Million
72
Total number of employees
Dollars certified by 1% for
Number of repair centers,
who participated in this year’s
the Planet® that its members
located in Patagonia stores
internship program
have donated to nonprofit
all over the world, that mend
Dollars given to fund frontline,
environmental groups since
clothing for free or for a
indigenous and marginalized
its establishment in 2002 by
nominal charge
environmental and social work since we started our giving program in 1985
7 Million communities in their environmental struggles since our giving program began
17,316
Craig Mathews and Patagonia
Volunteer hours worked this year through our environmental
1,082 Environmental groups that received a grant from us this year
internship program
2,589
improved benefits from Patagonia’s participation in the Fair Trade USA™ program
438,000 new and used clothing given this year through our clothingdonation program
in the shipping of products
products we take back
from the U.S. to Europe
internship program since its inception in 1994
Pounds of clothing we
for regenerative organic
recycled this year
agriculture, renewable energy,
179,000
+
Actions initiated this year
4.93
on behalf of our grantees
Kilograms of CO2 equivalent
through Patagonia
saved by trading in and
Action Works
reselling a piece of Worn
10,000
+
Patagonia Action Works
Dollars given by employees to nonprofits this year through our charity match program, which Patagonia matches dollar for dollar
82
of Patagonia’s Tin Shed Ventures® investment fund
8.4 Million
a new one; 6.6 gallons of
Square feet of derelict
water saved
fishing nets repurposed into skateboard decks, sunglasses,
84,235 Wear® repair events this year
at our Tools for Grassroots
85,627
Activists conferences in
Pieces of Patagonia clothing
Europe and Japan
and gear customers traded
Activists trained this year
8
backed since the inception
Wear rather than making
Hours of skill-based volunteering donated through
Start-up companies that work
1
water efficiency and more,
People who came to Worn
126,000
12
0
in this year
discs and other products by Bureo since Tin Shed Ventures®’ investment in September 2014
environmental + social initiatives
Dollar value (at our cost) of
Percentage of Patagonia
Percentage reduction of CO2
2018 environmental + social initiatives
their labor and/or received
achieved by changing logistics
6,797
Apparel workers who’ve earned a premium for
100
Employees who have taken
2
94
for recycling
part in our environmental
49,200
founder Yvon Chouinard
Our contingent at RISE for Climate, Jobs and Justice march, San Francisco, California. MICHAEL ESTRADA
Climate Crisis “I really want us to face up to the fact that we’re destroying the planet. It could very well end up uninhabitable in 80 years, at least for humankind and wild animals.” –Y VON CHOUINARD, PATAGONIA FOUNDER/OWNER
takayna / Tarkine, Tasmania “Neither the Tasmanian nor Australian governments support takayna / Tarkine as a World Heritage Site. But pressure from a global community of supporters may provide the impetus they need for protecting this amazing region.” — DAN E O ’ SHANA SS Y, COU NTRY DIR EC TOR PATAGONIA AUSTR ALIA & NEW ZEAL AND
Nicole Anderson runs through the rainforest. takayna / Tarkine, Tasmania. KRYSTLE WRIGHT
Grizzly and two cubs, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. THOMAS D. MANGELSEN
Grizzly Trophy Hunt “Harm to members of endangered species is irreparable because once a member of an endangered species has been injured, the task of preserving that species becomes all the more difficult.” —US DISTRICT COURT JUDGE DANA CHRISTENSEN
10 11 Raising Our “Earth Tax” .................................................................. 13 Staying True to Our B Corp Commitment ............................... 15 Standing with the Most Vulnerable ........................................... 17 We’ll Hook You Up ........................................................................... 18 Strike a Match .................................................................................... 21 Democracy Requires Showing Up .............................................. 24 Farm Like the World Depends on It ........................................... 30 Becoming Food Citizens ................................................................ 37 More with Less .................................................................................. 38 We Grow Outdoors .......................................................................... 41 Adventure, Commitment, Hope .................................................. 42 Invisible Dividends .......................................................................... 46 Making Headway on Living Wages ............................................ 51 Kicking Coal ....................................................................................... 55 A Small, Really Big Problem .......................................................... 56 Sights Set on Zero Waste .............................................................. 62 Tech and Activism Converge ....................................................... 65 Love & Greed in Europe’s Blue Heart ....................................... 66 From Social Media to Riot Police ................................................ 72 Not for Lease ...................................................................................... 79 And We Sell Clothing ...................................................................... 80 In It Together ...................................................................................... 86 Fundraisers, Fieldwork, Disasters .............................................. 88 Can’t Get Enough/Salmon Run .................................................... 89 Sharpening the Point ...................................................................... 91 Off to Do Some Good ..................................................................... 92 Struggle for Power .......................................................................... 99 We Take It Back .............................................................................. 100 Including the Carbon Sink .......................................................... 106 The Power of Bears Ears .............................................................. 110 By the Numbers .......................................................... Back Cover We’re Going to Try ........................................................................... Suing the President .........................................................................
10 We’re Going to Try
37 Becoming Food Citizens
Granted: Groups We Support Climate Justice Alliance ............................................................ 22 Surfers Against Sewage ............................................................ 28 National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition ....................... 36 Wangan & Jagalingou Traditional Owners Council ........ 40 Brown Girl Surf ............................................................................. 44 Hanford Challenge ......................................................................
52
Latino Outdoors ........................................................................... 54
64 74 Sierra Club BC ............................................................................... 75 Power Shift Network ................................................................... 78 Relaves ............................................................................................ 90 Grassroots Ecology .................................................................... 96 Outdoor Afro ................................................................................. 98 Green Korea United ................................................................. 104 Kumano I Ke Ala ........................................................................ 108 Coastal Watershed Institute ...................................................
WE ACT ...........................................................................................
66 Love & Greed in Europe’s Blue Heart
Contents
18
24
We’ll Hook You Up
Democracy Requires Showing Up
46
56
Invisible Dividends
A Small, Really Big Problem
100
110
We Take It Back
The Power of Bears Ears
9
“We may fail. But we’re going to try.” Y V O N C H O U I N A R D O N PATAG O N I A’ S S E N S E O F P U R P O S E
Last year, when the total of Patagonia grants to grassroots organizations topped $100 million, it seemed like there was a reluctance to go public with that, maybe because the company has never been one to boast about its numbers.
Yvon Chouinard: Oh, I’m not reluctant at all. I think we should be proud of that because it demonstrates what a company can do, and not just what its shareholders can do once they’ve collected on their investment and decided how to give away some of the proceeds. Our grants were given as we conducted business. Patagonia continues to give directly to activists, as opposed to setting up a philanthropic foundation independent of the company as many businesses do. As the company has grown, have you considered changing that?
We always thought the activists were the ones who needed the money most. There’s plenty of funding for science, but science without activism is dead science. And activists struggle to get funding
because everybody’s afraid they’ll do something radical. Companies, especially, see them as risky, and not worth the trouble. So we thought: Let somebody else do the science. Let somebody else do large-scale conservation projects like The Nature Conservancy does. And we’ll fund the activists. And that’s what we’ve done. If anything has changed, it’s that we’ve started producing movies like DamNation. We could have given money to international organizations that work on dams, but I felt like we could do a better job if we made a movie ourselves. And that proved to be true: DamNation wasn’t another environmental film that went nowhere. It really got around. I’ve always said that all of us, in our own way, according to what resources we have, must do something to confront evil. At Patagonia, we have In business to save our home planet, Patagonia owner/founder Yvon Chouinard. JIMMY CHIN
all these resources—we have better marketing expertise than most any environmental organization out there—and yet we were giving money away to other people to do the marketing on issues we care about. Why not use more of our own expertise? That’s what got us into the film business. We’re a film company now. I really want us to face up to the fact that we’re destroying the planet. It could very well end up uninhabitable in 80 years, at least for humankind and wild animals. That’s why we recently changed the company’s mission statement to “We’re in business to save our home planet.” That’s it, then, “We’re in business to save our home planet”?
Simple as that. I’m 80 now, and I’ve been asking myself why I still come into work. And it’s not to sell more clothes or to make more money. It’s because we’re destroying the planet, and it’s gotten so dire that we have to do something. When you talk to new people at our company, you’ll find that this is why they come here, too: because they’re committed to saving the planet. Aside from hiring those who feel the same urgency, how do you see the company further embracing this commitment?
We’ve come to the conclusion that the best thing we can possibly do is support regenerative agriculture. I don’t know of anything else that can really solve global warming. Sure, we could try to stop using fossil fuels. Good luck with that. Good luck with going against Exxon and all those big energy companies. We’d end up spending a lot of money doing effectively nothing if we tried to take them on. Instead, what we’re learning about capturing carbon with agriculture is encouraging. See, with organic agriculture, you remove all the harmful chemicals, but that’s about it. With regenerative agriculture, you’re able to grow more nutritious, better-tasting food; you’re growing topsoil; and you’re capturing carbon—so it’s a way of farming that’s a win-win-win-win situation. I see it as a real positive solution. It’s our best hope. Can regenerative agriculture really trap enough carbon in the soil to counter the greenhouse effect?
U P DAT E
We’re suing the president alright. (This could take awhile.) In December 2017, President Trump issued a proclamation slashing Bears Ears National Monument by 85 percent and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by half. In an unprecedented response, Patagonia joined a coalition of Native American and grassroots groups challenging the legality of the president’s action in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. The legal theory is simple: The Antiquities Act of 1906 grants the president the authority to create national monuments, but not to reduce or rescind them. There are five pending lawsuits—two for Grand Staircase and three for Bears Ears. The district court has consolidated each set of cases—the Grand Staircase suits on one hand, the Bears Ears suits on the other—for administrative purposes so that the cases within each consolidated set proceed on the same schedule. We are proud to join several Native American tribes and conservation nonprofits in the Bears Ears litigation, including our co-plaintiffs: Utah Diné Bikéyah, Friends of Cedar Mesa, Conservation Lands Foundation, Archaeology Southwest, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology and Access Fund. These two national monuments were designated to protect a multitude of archaeological, paleontological and anthropological sites, including many undisputed sites of cultural significance to Native Americans. The facts aren’t in dispute; all five cases come down to what the Antiquities Act does—or doesn’t—say. In January 2018, the Trump administration tried to move the case from DC to Utah (the court refused), and in October, the government filed a motion to dismiss the complaint. At press time, the parties were still filing briefs on the government’s effort to dismiss. A decision on whether the case will proceed is expected from Judge Tanya S. Chutkan in mid-to-late 2019. For Patagonia, joining the legal fracas was both extraordinary and obvious. For more than a decade the company has worked side by side with Native Americans, climbers, canyoneers, trail runners and anglers to protect these public lands, so when Trump tried to offer them up to oil, gas and mining interests instead, the decision to sue came quickly. “It took exactly one email to the board,” says Patagonia attorney Hilary Dessouky. “And the response was instant: ‘Yes. Absolutely. Go for it.’”
Well, according to studies completed by the University of California and the French 11
government, it can. They think that if we changed over to regenerative agriculture on a broad scale, we could more than capture all the carbon we are producing—more than all of it. And we’re not leaving it to other people to do something about it. At Patagonia, we’re writing the plan. We’re leading the charge on regenerative agriculture. One way Patagonia’s doing that is through the Regenerative Organic Certification [see page 30]. Are such certifications effective?
We’ve never ever done this before, and we may fail at it. It’s a very difficult thing to do. But we’re going to try. The key for getting regenerative agriculture to take off will be something that no one has really thought about yet, and that is, with these methods, farmers can create more nutritious products. It’s never been proved that organic foods are more nutritious, but we intend to prove regenerative organic produce actually is. Stanford University came out with a study in 2012 that compared organic vegetables to regular industrially grown vegetables, and they came to the conclusion that they are no better for you nutritionally. And that’s because they’re grown exactly the same way, except organic doesn’t use the toxic chemicals. Some don’t use cover crops or compost, so they’re not building topsoil. Many still use liquid nitrogen. So they’re still adding stuff to grow the plant, rather than replacing all the nutrients the plants draw out of the soil. In that case, organic produce is no better for you than conventional produce. Now if you adopt all the regenerative approaches, you’re putting all those nutrients back into the soil, and I bet we’ll find out these crops are off-the-charts with nutrients, the way our buffalo jerky is. Last year, I visited Dan O’Brien’s ranch. He raises the buffalo that are the source of our Patagonia Provisions® jerky. O’Brien’s bison are healthy because they’re eating hundreds of varieties of grasses and flowers and weeds every day. So when
Wild Idea buffalo battle climate change on the Great Plains. JILL O’BRIEN; Wes Jackson’s no-till Kernza® wheatgrass does the same. JIM RICHARDSON
you’re eating our bison, you’re getting far more micronutrients, and initial tests have proved that. Our plan is to study the nutrition in carrots that have been grown regeneratively. If we can prove that the regenerative ones have the most nutrition, it’ll be big. We’d have this unbelievable marketing advantage for our business, and we could potentially change the way agriculture is done around the world. People would be more willing to pay more for products that they absolutely know are better for them. Like the chef Dan Barber, you’ve also said that you believe there’s a connection between better flavor and nutrition.
I’m convinced of that. I’m convinced that when you eat a wild strawberry that’s about a quarter inch across and tastes like a real strawberry, it has way more nutrition than one
U P DAT E
Raising Our “Earth Tax” For decades, Patagonia has paid what we call our selfimposed Earth Tax: Since 1985, 1 percent of our net sales has been given to nonprofit grassroots environmental groups. That led to more than $100 million in cash donations that go directly to thousands of scrappy, dedicated groups of people around the world fighting to protect their own backyards. Why? Because these seemingly small battles are the most effective way to raise complicated environmental issues in the public mind. You can read all about them in this booklet. Twice in the last few years, we’ve also added millions more to our Earth Tax. First, in 2016, with 100% for the Planet, when we pledged all of our Black Friday sales to environmental activists. Thanks to our customers showing their true colors, we surpassed our initial sales projections within hours. Their support enabled us to turn over another $10 million to help activists protect the only planet we’ve got. The last of those grants were given this year. Because of an irresponsible tax cut, Patagonia saved $10 million in taxes in 2018. Instead of putting the money back into our business, we responded by putting those millions back to work for the planet, too. Our home planet needed this break more than we do. We have always paid our fair share of federal and state taxes. Being a responsible company means paying your taxes in proportion to your success and supporting your state and federal governments, which in turn contributes to the health and well-being of civil society. Taxes fund our important public services, our first responders and our democratic institutions. Taxes protect the most vulnerable in our society, our public lands and other life-giving resources. In spite of this, the Trump administration initiated a corporate tax cut, threatening these services at the expense of our only home.
13
of those berries that are two inches wide and hydroponically grown so they taste like water. Even so, it’s never been scientifically proved. That’s what I want to do. I want to prove it. What Dan Barber talks a lot about is how nobody has ever bred seeds for taste. They’ve only bred a tomato to be square, so you can ship more of them in a truck, or they’ve bred them to last longer without perishing. No one has ever bred them actually for taste alone, and that’s why he wants to start a seed company. I’m on the same track. I really want to know if you can grow a better carrot where it should be grown—not forcing it to grow somewhere it shouldn’t. Carrots should be grown in sandy soil, and you get far better-tasting carrots in a cold climate than you do in Baja California in the summer, where many of the ones in the grocery store are from. There are probably
thousands of different kinds of carrots than the orange ones we’re used to. Those purple carrots have more antioxidants than orange carrots. What do the other varieties have? It’s an exciting field. Getting back to the certification—regenerative agriculture applies to cotton, to fiber, too. Is the work on agriculture at Patagonia Provisions informing the parent company as well?
Oh absolutely. Growing cotton organically and making organic cotton clothing doesn’t do the world much good. It just causes less harm, that’s all. It’s better for you in that it doesn’t have all those toxic chemicals. But growing cotton organically does not grow topsoil. And to tell the truth, when the United Nations says we need between 30 and 70 percent more food by 2050, growing cotton on farmland where you could be growing food is pretty irresponsible. So we have to
Regenerative ag practices building soil and capturing carbon in a cotton field in India. TIM DAVIS; Might it also improve nutrition? We intend to find out. AMY KUMLER
U P DAT E
Staying True to Our B Corp Commitment Earlier this year, representatives from a French retail and apparel company almost 50 times our size approached us to ask what they could do to become more socially and environmentally responsible. As a rather small player in a huge global industry, we were both flattered and a little surprised. We often get such requests from other companies. Following our values to “use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis,” we agreed to meet with the company’s board of directors.
grow it regeneratively in the future. Patagonia has two pilot programs of regeneratively grown cotton in India, and I hear they had a bumper crop. Patagonia’s adopted a pair of progressive benchmarks for cleaning up its own act. One was becoming a B Corp in 2011. Has that been worthwhile?
Yes. It hasn’t caught on as much as I’d hoped, but it does provide a framework. We’ve heard from other businesses that it’s helped them, too. When we started looking into a lot of this, there weren’t many places to go for help. Now there are some pretty good ones.
We told them about our goals, the things we’ve been able to accomplish and our experience in the B Corp movement, which has proved a huge help to us in identifying shortcomings and opportunities concerning social and environmental improvements. We suggested they, too, look into what B Corp has to offer. We became a B Corp in December 2011, with certification from B Lab. In October 2012, we amended our articles of incorporation to adopt a commitment to sustainability and to continue to provide a supportive work environment, and we registered our business in California as a benefit corporation. Every few years we complete the B Impact Assessment (BIA), a self-assessment to evaluate our operations and recertify ourselves as a B Corporation—corporations using business as a force for good. In 2014, it showed us we needed to do a better
job of measuring our environmental impacts, which we now do. Whether or not a company joins the B Corp movement, B Lab’s B Impact Assessment is a great place to start. It’s free to use, whether a company is working toward B Corp Certification or just wanting to take a hard look at itself. The assessment does take some time to complete, because it reaches into all areas of an organization to evaluate how its operations and business model and governance impact its workers, community, environment and customers. According to B Lab, “[It] is the only certification that measures a company’s entire social and environmental performance. From your supply chain and input materials to your charitable giving and employee benefits, B Corp Certification [through the BIA] proves your business is meeting the highest standards of verified performance.” At Patagonia, we’ve found that the assessment tool provides a clear indication of our strengths and weaknesses and how our business decisions impact all stakeholders, not just shareholders. From there, it’s much easier to develop a road map for improvement.
15
What about the Higg Index, which the company uses to assess social and environmental issues in the supply chain?
The index helps us stay on track, but I’m disappointed that bigger companies haven’t done more. When we started down that road in 2007, everyone was talking about “sustainability,” and now that word is basically meaningless. Given how daunting the climate crisis is, it’s going to take lots of different actors to change course, including the government. Do you see Patagonia working more with the government to save the planet?
We can’t rely on this government. The current administration is evil. All they want to do is destroy
the planet for profit. You’re not going to change their minds. You’ll just beat your head against a wall. You know, I don’t make a very good martyr. I really think we just have to get them out of there. As a company we’re going to spend more on political policy, but for me it’s a waste of money compared to what we could be doing on the causes, instead of the symptoms, of global warming. When we first started giving money away, we knew that we were doing harm to the planet, but we didn’t know that we were totally destroying the planet—and destroying it very, very quickly. What I
U P DAT E
Standing with the Most Vulnerable There is no question that climate change is here. The seas are rising, natural disasters are increasing in frequency and intensity, and our global average temperatures have reached record levels. Marginalized communities are disproportionately impacted by these climate changes—first and worst. That’s why, following the overwhelming success of Patagonia’s 100% for the Planet initiative on Black Friday 2016, we committed $1 million to grassroots organizations focused on climate, and vulnerable communities in particular.
really want to get across is that we’re in an all-hands-on-deck type of situation. What’s at stake is not only the future of some endangered species or large mammals; it’s the future of humankind. And it’s gonna happen within people’s lifetimes. It’s a whole different scenario now. So let’s get on it. Interview by Brad Wieners
Seeing our current administration’s views on climate and climate justice play out over the past two years, it became clear to us that we needed to double down on our support. Through our targeted climate initiative, we funded groups like Western Organization of Resource Councils, which is working to defend BLM and EPA rules against natural gas pollution that are currently threatened. We gave money to groups fighting fossil fuel infrastructure, like the Stand Up to Oil coalition, which successfully defeated the Tesoro Savage project in Vancouver, Washington, the largest oil-shipping terminal ever proposed in North America. We also invested in groups advancing community-led climate justice, such as the Environmental Health Coalition in San Diego, which is developing tools to organize and empower environmental justice leaders to defend their communities from climate impacts. We didn’t just give to groups fighting threats to climate stability; we also gave to those advancing climate solutions. We donated to others working for clean energy alternatives, like Vote Solar, which promotes rooftop, community and low-income solar access, and seeks to modernize the grid for clean energy technologies. Groups such as California Environmental Justice Alliance used Patagonia’s funds to pass groundbreaking climate change related policies, like California’s SB100 bill to achieve 100 percent clean renewable energy. By backing groups like these that can effectively disrupt the status quo, we stand with those most likely to bear the brunt of our extractive economy and overheated planet.
Climbing ambassador, Tommy Caldwell, and friends rally in our San Francisco store. MICHAEL ESTRADA
17
We’ll Hook You Up HARNESSING THE POWER OF OUR COMMUNIT Y THROUGH PATAG O N I A AC T I O N W O R K S
Back in 1998, we published a pamphlet with no fleece, rain shells or rugby shirts mentioned within. It was green, simple and thin— about the thickness you would need to balance out a wobbly table. Titled “Louder Than Words,” it attempted to answer a question some had been asking. “What’s a rag seller doing on the environmental soapbox?” We’d been giving money to grassroots environmental groups since 1985, and working to reduce our own manufacturing harms since the early ‘90s. But because of the questions (and occasional criticism) we were getting, we thought our efforts might need a little more explanation. So we went public, writing a few stories about funding the front lines, our use of organic cotton and PCR plastic for fleece, our environmental internship program, reducing our environmental impacts, and so on. And, on the back cover of the pamphlet, we ran a piece of “fan mail” from a resident of Grants Pass, Oregon, who was angered by our support for a forest-protection group working in his area. “Saw your ad in the Daily Courier,” he wrote. “I have a suggestion why don’t you bastards keep your nose out of our business. And our lives!! Come around here and we will take care of pukes like you! YOU LIE AND WILL BE STOPPED. STAY OUT AND STAY HOME. MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS.” At first read, publishing an angry letter might be considered a bit petty, but we included it for good reason: “Mind Your Own Business” was exactly what we were doing, and one of the big reasons we started giving money to environmental groups in the first place. We knew then, as we do now, that as a business that benefits from a healthy environment, public lands and landscapes that inspire recreation, we needed to help protect them. The special interests of the logging/development/mining/oil and gas world certainly weren’t going to do it for us. And because concerned citizens—keeping a watchful eye over the places and communities they cherished—were stepping up, organizing and taking a stand, we felt it was very much in line with our mission and our business interests to support them wholeheartedly.
You can get involved directly with environmental work in your community with Patagonia Action Works. FOREST WOODWARD
Over the years, we haven’t stopped telling the story of why we fund these groups, or hesitated to give our grantees the soapbox to do so themselves. Rather, as our environmental grants program has now grown, to more than $10 million a year, so too have
our efforts not only to tell the story of our grantees, but also to provide opportunities for them to form direct relationships with Patagonia’s audience of more than 2 million people.
19
To do so more effectively, in 2018 we launched Patagonia Action Works—an initiative aimed at boosting the efforts of the organizations we fund, and at helping connect them to our audience, wherever and whoever they may be. Patagonia Action Works enables individuals to get involved directly with environmental groups in their communities to support the issues they care about. They can find out about events, sign petitions and volunteer their skills. The online platform is designed to harness and direct the energy that exists to protect the places and communities we all care about. Since the start of Patagonia Action Works, more than 179,000 actions have been initiated on behalf of our grantees. For our grantees this means more petitions signed, events attended and donations received. People have volunteered more than 10,000 hours of their time, designing new logos, revising fundraising plans, revamping websites and more. In short, a lot of real
Environmental grantees nearby
Ventura, CA
Ventura, CA
Ventura County Farm to School Ventura County Farm to School is schools, farmers and communities working together to build a sustainable...
View & Support
SOAR Nonprofit SOAR works to limit urban sprawl, protect open space and agricultural lands, and promote livable and...
View & Support
New volunteers, donations and environmental action have boosted the efforts of groups we support since this Action Works launch event in March 2018 at Patagonia SoHo. FOREST WOODWARD
Ame Lo
This gr advance c climbin
connections have been formed between our audience and the groups we support.
U P DAT E
We’re continuing to improve and add to Patagonia Action Works using feedback from our audience and the groups that benefit to develop a toolkit that creates even more meaningful connections. So while our support for environmental organizations and causes still brings the occasional piece of angry “fan mail,” we’re proud to continue our efforts to help protect and improve the places we all rely on for healthy, happier lives. We’ll keep on minding our business, and we hope others will be inspired to do so, too. Go to patagonia.com/actionworks to #AnswerWithAction
10,000+
1.6 Million+
Hours of skill-based volunteering donated
Dollar value of skilled volunteer hours donated
179,000+
10 Million+
Actions initiated on behalf of our grantees
Impressions on web and social media for our grantees’ actions
Strike a Match Remotely Volunteer Through Catchafire on Patagonia Action Works Not everyone can easily travel to volunteer with grassroots environmental organizations, and not every job requires it either. That’s why Patagonia Action Works hosts skill-based volunteering jobs through our partner platform, Catchafire. By visiting patagonia.com/actionworks, you can remotely volunteer with the groups we support on over 100 different types of projects. It’s a useful tool to help create meaningful connections between our community and the groups we fund, to build capacity for those organizations and to stoke out everyone involved.
Ventura, CA
erican Alpine Club – os Padres Chapter
roup provides leadership to climbing interests, broaden the ng community and promote...
View & Support
Ventura, CA
Ventura, CA
VCCool
California Institute of Environmental Studies
VCCool champions sustainable, carbonneutral living by providing tools and expertise for change, influencing policy...
View & Support
Learn more at patagonia.com/actionworks
This organization specializes in seabird ecology and is dedicated to promoting the conservation of natural resources.
View & Support
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GRANTED: GROUPS WE SUPPORT
Climate Justice Alliance OA K L A N D, C A L IFORN I A
Mission Climate Justice Alliance consists of 67 community, frontline and environmental justice organizations at the forefront of the climate crisis. Our members come from traditionally underrepresented constituencies, including Indigenous Peoples, African American, Latinx, Asian Pacific Islander and lowincome white communities often located near toxic, dirty energy facilities and/or other polluting industries. We work together to build local resilience, remedy the root causes of climate change and lead a Just Transition out of the extractive energy economy. (Just Transition is a vision-led, unifying and placebased set of principles, processes and practices that builds economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.) Activities In 2018, we successfully supported and amplified our members’ frontline-led Just Transition projects and campaigns. We popularized Just Transition by developing a Just Transition Principles and Toolbox, implementing trainings-for-trainers and expanding seven Just Transition Regional Hubs. To provide support to our members’ Just Transition projects, we built out the infrastructure for a nonextractive loan fund. We implemented people-to-people solutions through our Just Recovery campaigns following climate disasters in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. We also supported our members’ understanding of complex carbon-pricing policies and proposals through a report titled “Carbon Pricing: A Critical Perspective for Community Resistance.” Accomplishments In September, parallel to the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) in Ohlone Territory, San Francisco Bay Area, we worked with our It Takes Roots (ITR) partners to organize the Solidarity to Solutions (Sol2Sol) Week of Actions to let climate leaders know that climate solutions must be People’s Solutions. We co-organized and co-convened 1,500+ ITR members to participate in Sol2Sol, which highlighted Just Transition models and community-led climate solutions in contrast to the market-based schemes and technofixes proposed at the business- and government-centric GCAS. During Sol2Sol, ITR members joined more than 30,000 people for the Rise for Climate, Jobs & Justice march to demand climate action that places the interests of communities over corporations. Following the march, ITR coordinated community tours of Just Transition projects, an ITR member exchange and the Sol2Sol Summit, which featured 28 frontline community-led workshops. We also introduced the People’s Solutions Lens—a tool for assessing whether climate solutions are equitable and just through three simple questions: Who makes the decisions? Who benefits? What else will this impact? Written by Climate Justice Alliance
SOL2SOL: Members of the It Takes Roots coalition march in San Francisco for climate action that places the interests of communities over those of corporations. BROOKE ANDERSON
Connect with this group at patagonia.com/actionworks
Democracy requires showing up. BY R O S E M A R C A R I O, PATAG O N I A C E O
In early 2018, a small group sat tightly packed around a conference room table in Patagonia’s Lost Arrow Building. The subject turned to the upcoming midterm elections. Fresh in our minds was the weight of our decision, just a few months earlier, to sue the Trump administration over its illegal attempt to remove protections for two national monuments in southern Utah, part of an all-out assault on America’s public lands. We knew the stakes for this election could not be higher.
Removing Barriers to Voting
Over the preceding months, as we worked hard to defend Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, our team’s mantra had solidified: Unprecedented threats demand unprecedented action. As we huddled to discuss Patagonia’s strategy for the 2018 midterms, it became clear this election would require a different approach, too.
As the 2018 election approached, we took a closer look at tanking voter turnout in recent decades. In the 2014 midterms, just 37 percent of eligible voters cast ballots, down from 42 percent in 2010. Why is this? Too many hardworking Americans have to choose between a paycheck and voting.
Companies getting involved with elections and influencing policy is nothing new (just ask the oil and gas industry). The difference with Patagonia’s efforts in the midterms was simple, but important: We put our logo on it. We aimed to be fully transparent about our intentions and our efforts—to increase voter participation and protect public lands. These issues are deeply personal to Patagonia and fundamental to the future of our country—and they are within our power to help change. To do so, we decided to try a few new things.
At Patagonia, we’ve always encouraged our community to get out and vote. We view the responsibilities of citizenship as a precursor to activism. Democracy requires showing up. Voting is the first and last step in creating positive change. In 2016, we took it up a notch. We decided to close all of our US-based stores, offices and distribution center on Election Day— both to make sure our employees could make it to the polls, and to send a message to our customers about the importance of civic engagement. Too many voters still stayed home—and the election outcome, in turn, made it clear we needed to do more.
I wrote a blog post announcing Patagonia’s decision to again close on Election Day and making the case for why other companies should do the same. I also emailed friends at other companies to see if they might want to join us. We had a goal in mind—if we could convince more CEOs to encourage their employees to vote and remove barriers that prevent them from getting to the polls, we could increase voter participation. Beyond that, we didn’t have much of a plan. So we picked up the phone. We began making calls to friends at other companies, one by one. And, while not everyone
Unique Vance, an environmental/community activist from Compton, California, joined Patagonia as a summer intern to work on our Time to Vote initiatives and took to the streets with us on Sept. 8 in San Francisco at the RISE for Climate, Jobs and Justice march. MICHAEL ESTRADA
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THEN CAME TRUMP: Some 5,000 Utahns rallied Dec. 4, 2017, in Salt Lake City to denounce the administration’s reduction of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. ANDREW BURR; Endorsing candidates, like senator-elect Jacky Rosen of Nevada, was a first and a success. ETHAN MILLER/GETTY IMAGES
jumped on board (at least right away), our idea seemed to click. Typically fierce competitors, most CEOs we spoke with quickly understood the power of businesses coming together to protect our democracy by empowering all American workers to be good citizens. Things snowballed from there. Along with the option to close down completely on Election Day, we incorporated other creative but meaningful ways for companies to join us, like a no-meeting day, providing resources for mail-in ballots, or offering paid time off. We decided against formally partnering with other groups to avoid liberal or conservative bias and to differentiate our new businessled movement. We launched the nonpartisan Time to Vote campaign in September with more than 140 companies. By Election Day, the movement grew to include more than 400 companies from all 50 states, and represented a diverse group of industries—from tech to transportation to health care. More than 80 Patagonia wholesale partners across the country proudly joined as well.
Creating a national movement encompassing hundreds of major brands is no easy task. Doing it in just a couple of weeks might have seemed impossible, if not for the stakes at play for our democracy. Our teams hashed it out together over long days and many nights, with coffee going cold and, at times, emotions running hot. I believe the impact was significant. Voter turnout in the 2018 elections was higher than it has been for a midterm election since 1966. We continue to hear positive feedback from the companies that participated. Charting New Territory for Public Lands Starting in 2004, Patagonia’s election-year campaigns were designed to encourage our customers to walk into the voting booth with the planet at the top of their minds. The nonpartisan campaign, first known as Vote the Environment, and then, in 2016, Vote Our Planet, provided a broad message designed to inspire voters to vote their values, while leaving specific candidate and ballot measure research to them.
But because of the unrelenting and unprecedented attacks on America’s public lands and waters over the past two years, we knew we had to change our strategy. We have been doing everything in our power to protect wild places—including shutting down our website and forging new partnerships between hunters and hikers. We sued the president and his administration over their attempts to remove protections for the sacred lands of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments and open them to his rich pals in the oil and gas industry. Patagonia had never endorsed a political candidate for office. In fact, campaignfinance experts can’t recall a US corporation ever endorsing a candidate for office (without hiding behind shadowy PACs and other entities). Sadly, the path to apply dark corporate money in our elections was far more well defined than an endorsement in pure daylight (although, ironically, both are enabled by Citizens United). We were treading new ground, and we worked diligently to stay on the right side of the law.
Patagonia also endorsed Montana senator Jon Tester, who retained his US Senate seat in a close race. TOM WILLIAMS/GETTY IMAGES; Work demands often keep would-be voters from the polls, so we closed our US operations and encouraged other companies to do the same. TIM DAVIS
Our objectives were clearer. We wanted to stay true to the spirit of Vote Our Planet, but we also felt compelled to get more specific—to help voters understand which candidates for federal office will act as responsible stewards of our public lands and ensure protection for the most special among them, places like Bears Ears or the Boundary Waters. In mid-October, we announced two endorsements for the US Senate: Rep. Jacky Rosen in Nevada and Sen. Jon Tester in Montana. In both states, public land issues were front and center and there was a clear choice between an advocate for wild places and one who favored oil, gas and mining industries. And, in both states, Patagonia has a long company history and a strong record of grassroots support for major conservation initiatives. Our message was clear: A vote for Jon Tester and Jacky Rosen was a vote for public lands. Our election endorsements were not born from a desire to go deeper into partisan politics; in fact, it’s the opposite—it was about standing up and fighting against anyone who seeks to undermine our democracy and destroy our planet. That’s something we will always do, regardless of political party. I’m happy to report that Senator Tester was reelected to represent the great state of Montana for another term; and that Jacky Rosen was sworn in as a US senator from the great state of Nevada in January.
What’s Next? I’m proud of our team’s hard work in 2018—a year of many firsts for Patagonia and tireless effort from environmental and civic groups around the country. But it’s clear we have a lot of work yet to do. Our public lands remain under serious threat, and we will continue to fight harder than ever to protect them. And even with record turnout, 50 percent of Americans still did not vote in this election. How do we turn the corner from our broken politics to a vibrant, healthy democracy? We must make it far easier to vote. Voting is the central and most powerful expression of American citizenship. But we must recognize it takes leadership to enable a move toward collective citizenship. We should enact major changes that would remove more barriers to voting—like making Election Day a national holiday, and creating a national vote-bymail program. We must continue to fight against anyone trying to limit voting rights in this country, as well as outsiders seeking to meddle in our elections. And businesses large and small should continue to step up and do their part to boost civic participation. As a nation, we face many intractable problems, including immense threats to our home planet at the hands of a few cynical politicians. The EPA has been stripped of its mettle; drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is close to becoming a reality; and the climate crisis grows more urgent by the day as our government does nothing. But far more voters showed up in November, and Rosen and Tester won. So I’m feeling optimistic about a civic resurgence. It’s our very best way to turn things around. 27
GRANTED: GROUPS WE SUPPORT
Surfers Against Sewage ST. AG N E S, CORN WA L L , U N ITE D K ING D OM
Mission Founded as a single-issue campaign group to fight poor water quality, Surfers Against Sewage has grown to lead the fight against any threat to our coastline. We are committed to empower our supporters to combat issues at a local level while working toward positive national change. Plastic pollution, climate change, development, restricted access and coastal projects all pose threats to our blue spaces. We mobilize thousands of volunteers at beach cleanups, provide real-time water-quality information across the country and run the only cross-party group of members of Parliament concerned about ocean conservation. We tackle the issues at a grassroots level, with government officials and with industry leaders providing a holistic approach to protecting our environment. Activities In the past year we have grown our grassroots, unstoppable, people movement determined to rid our coast of plastic waste. Our 2018 Big Spring Beach Clean had over 35,500 volunteers collecting 65 tons of plastic waste from 571 beaches across the UK. We submitted to the prime minister the largestever environmental petition calling for a deposit return system to stop plastic bottle pollution. We created the Plastic Free Communities project, empowering local communities to take action to rid themselves of their reliance on single-use plastics. Over 360 communities across the globe are now working to meet our accreditation objectives to help stop plastic at the source. Accomplishments We continue to equip individuals to take action against local threats. We created the Surf Activists Toolkit to help activists lead successful localized campaigns. We have seen victories with improvements to water-treatment outfalls, businesses’ use of single-use plastics and stakeholder engagement with marine planning establishing better understandings of locals’ needs. A major victory for grassroots activism saw thousands lobby their members of Parliament in spring 2018 to rid the UK Parliament of single-use plastics, establishing the first parliament globally, to go plastic-free. Written by Surfers Against Sewage
MORE THAN SEWAGE: SAS volunteers collected 65 tons of plastic waste this year. The group also fights climate change, poorly planned development and restricted beach access in the UK. GREG MARTIN
Connect with this group at patagonia.com/actionworks
The Rodale Institute began pioneering regenerative agriculture decades ago. Farmer trainees Ryan and Hendro help grow the movement. RODALE INSTITUTE
GAINING GROUND: STEPS TOWARD REGENER ATIVE ORGANIC CERTIFICATION
Sept 2016
Dec 2016
Apr 2017
We draft first internal white paper on regenerative agriculture to determine what the term “regenerative” means to Patagonia.
Second annual Patagonia Case Competition poses the question: “How can Patagonia scale regenerative agricultural practices to combat climate change?”
Ten teams of graduate students present their proposals to scale regenerative organic agricultural practices to Patagonia executives at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley.
Farm Like the World Depends on It W H Y W E ’ R E C O M M I T T E D T O R E G E N E R AT I V E O R G A N I C C E R T I F I C AT I O N
Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC) touches on much of the company’s mission and daily life, including public advocacy and engagement, but above all, the way we source food and fiber at the farm level. We asked a few of the people here at Patagonia, who are intimately involved with the Regenerative Organic Alliance, to explain just what it is we’re up to. Phil Graves, our senior director of corporate development, is spearheading the company’s efforts on behalf of the alliance. Birgit Cameron, senior director of Patagonia Provisions, is responsible for execution and implementation of ROC for our food business. And Cara Chacon, vice president of social and environmental responsibility, is responsible for certification for fiber.
Phil, how did we get to this point where we’re trying to change the entire agricultural system? PHIL: Patagonia Provisions [our food company] has taught us an important lesson: that we can change the world through the way we source our products, whether it is catching salmon as they return to their natal waters or producing bison jerky from animals raised in a way that restores the Great Plains, or brewing Long Root Ale (the first commercial use of Kernza®, a great story that Birgit should talk about).
Regenerative is important because its practices—no-till or low-till, composting, cover cropping, intercropping, row crops mixed with pasture or trees—essentially allow nature to restore itself to health. You’re using nature to grow food or fiber. But rather than use chemicals to boost productivity, you create the natural conditions that will generously yield high-quality fiber and nutritious food. And it has the important side benefits of improving biodiversity and drawing carbon out of the atmosphere, where it pollutes, and into the ground, where it helps to grow food.
May 2017
Sept 2017
Dec 2017
After countless conversations with likeminded partners, such as the Rodale Institute and Dr. Bronner’s, senior Patagonia executives, including CEO Rose Marcario, determine that a high-bar certification is vital to scale regenerative organic agricultural practices and create consumer awareness about the importance of these practices to combat climate change.
First draft of the framework for the Regenerative Organic Certification (ROC) is published and the public comment period begins. Contributors include: Rodale Institute, Patagonia, Dr. Bronner’s, Compassion in World Farming, Demeter International, Grain Place Foods, White Oak Pastures, Fair World Project and Textile Exchange.
Public comment period ends, yielding more than 300 pieces of feedback from farmers, auditors, NGOs, scientists and others that help refine certification. The Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA) is created as a standalone nonprofit to support ROC. Nine board members with expertise in each pillar of the standard, including Rose Marcario, come together to lead the organization. 31
Turning atmospheric nitrogen into nitrogen fertilizers, lentils like David Oien’s play an important role in regenerative agriculture practices at Timeless Natural Food’s farm in Montana. AMY KUMLER
Feb 2018
Mar 2018
Apr 2018
Patagonia invites four key cotton suppliers from around the world to discuss ROC and how it can be incorporated into Patagonia’s apparel supply chain.
Rose Marcario officially launches ROC on behalf of the ROA through a keynote speech at Natural Products Expo West, the largest natural food event in the world.
The ROA selects NSF International (an American product-testing, inspection and certification organization) to manage the ROC program.
So regenerative goes well beyond organic. But the word is not well defined. We’ve grown uncomfortable with recent actions by the agrochem giants, which are starting to advocate regenerative practices like no-till, but telling farmers they should also buy some chemicals to boost the yield and control pests. That, in the long run, will not improve soil health, on which food and fiber production— and the health of the planet—depend. So we started to think about creating a new certification that identifies genuine regenerative practices. And we sought out Rodale Institute and Dr. Bronner’s as partners for this new certification? PHIL: Yes, we didn’t want to go down this road on our own. We prefer coalition models for the strength different partners bring to the table. Rodale, our anchor nonprofit partner, has been a pioneer in regenerative organic ag for decades, and Dr. Bronner’s has done radical heavy lifting to introduce regenerative practices with the farms and farmers in their supply chain. Both Rodale and Dr. Bronner’s understand that ROC, though essentially about soil health, has to take a holistic view. Life has to be good for the animals and for the farm families and communities as well as the soil for this to work in the long run. So we reached out to both companies at Expo West, the big organic trade show, in 2017. And they were eager to jump in. Birgit, Phil mentioned Long Root Ale. Can you talk about it as an example of a higher standard, and a little bit about what ROC will mean for Provisions? BIRGIT: Ah, Long Root Ale. It’s been the lifework of Wes Jackson, and The Land Institute, which he started, to restore the Great Plains to natural health. It’s hard to imagine now that the Great Plains in places had topsoil 18-feet deep, and it’s largely degraded now due to the monoculture of cash crops like wheat, corn and soy, and over-tilling. Fifteen years ago, The Land Institute began breeding a wheatgrass perennial that became Kernza®. Its roots extend 10 feet or more into the ground, and deep roots are like reverse plowing without side effects. The roots break up the soil in a way that enriches it, creating a perfect home for the microbes and fungi that produce soil biomass, and draw carbon out of the air and fix it deep in the earth.
May 2018
July 2018
Aug 2018
Pilot version of the ROC framework is finalized, incorporating feedback from the public comment period, as well as additional review from the ROA and other ally organizations.
Twenty-two brands, farms, ranches and vineyards from around the world are selected to participate in the first pilot of ROC.
NSF officially launches the ROC pilot.
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Already Fair Trade and organic, Serendipol, Dr. Bronner’s sister company, is conducting a pilot program for the new Regenerative Organic Certification standard at this coconut farm in Sri Lanka. DR. BRONNER’S
So Kernza® is amazing. But try to get anyone to grow it! The farmers would tell us there’s no market for this grain, and if we can’t sell it, we can’t plant it. So we got the wild idea to work with a brewer in Portland, Oregon, to include Kernza® as an ingredient, and use the beer to tell the story. We took the idea to Whole Foods, which signed on to sell Long Root Ale in 108 stores. As a result, Kernza® was planted for the first time—an experimental 200 acres in Minnesota, and a nice 80th birthday gift from us to Wes. And we got the story out. Now a major food company is interested in Kernza®’s potential. Including it as an ingredient in their breakfast cereals could result in the planting of more than 40,000 acres.
paperwork and audits. We wanted to take advantage of proven standards and programs like Fair Trade Certified™ for labor and Certified Humane for animal welfare or the Global Animal Partnership rating system most visibly supported by Whole Foods.
This is the best of all possible worlds for us—to create a vision the industry can see and a movement people can join when they take stock of the benefits. Our experience—with Kernza®, salmon, bison, all of the wonderful grains coming out of the Skagit Valley— shows us how much of a difference regenerative practices can make. And the ROC will create a framework for us that will help define, as well as support, the future of Patagonia Provisions.
And where do we go from here?
Phil, where is Patagonia, as a whole, with ROC? PHIL: In 2017 we began work in earnest to develop a working draft of the ROC with Rodale and Dr. Bronner’s. Cara’s social and environmental responsibility (SER) team and Matt Dwyer’s materials teams did a lot of work internally to help develop the standard. We don’t want to burden the farmer with more
We wanted to create a certification that rewards good practices but, even more, shows the way to better practices, so we will have bronze, silver and gold standards. We submitted the working draft of ROC for public feedback and received more than 300 comments about where the bar seemed too high or too low. Then Rose [Marcario, Patagonia’s CEO] and David Bronner launched the ROC to the industry at this year’s Expo West.
PHIL: We’re starting a pilot program at the farm level. We had nearly 80 applicants wanting to take part, which is a good start, with a good representation of different agricultural sectors— grass-fed beef, dairy, row crops, tree crops, cotton—in different regions. Twelve months from now we hope to review the results of the pilots and improve the standard. NSF, which independently manages our Traceable Down and wool programs, will be the certifying body. In the meantime, the Regenerative Organic Alliance will be working hard to sign up more brands, like Danone North America and Campbell Soup Company. The more brands—and consumers— support the movement, the faster the transition will go.
R E G E N E R AT I V E O R G A N I C A G R I C U LT U R E : T H R E E P I L L A R S
Soil Health
Animal Welfare
Social Fairness
• Builds Soil Organic Matter
• Grass-Fed / Pasture-Raised
• Fair and Safe Working Conditions
• Little or No Tilling
• Limited Transport
• No Forced Labor
• Cover Crops
• No Concentrated Animal
• Living Wages
• Crop Rotations
Feeding Operations • Fair Payments for Farmers • Suitable Shelter
• No GMOs or Gene Editing • No Soilless Systems • No Synthetic Inputs • Promotes Biodiversity • Rotational Grazing
• Democratic Organizations • Five Freedoms: Freedom from discomfort Freedom from fear and distress Freedom from hunger Freedom from pain, injury or disease Freedom to express normal behavior
Cara, what role will you and your colleagues on the social and environmental responsibility team play? CARA: This past summer we helped map out and write the standards for social responsibility and animal welfare for NSF, which will administer the ROC. We also reached out to our colleagues at Fair World Project, which monitors fair trade programs. This past February, the SER and materials teams organized our first-ever cotton-supplier conference, asking our partners to help pilot the ROC. Two of them, Arvind and Pratibha, both of which have farms as well as factories in India, agreed to join us in the initial effort. Going forward, Rachel Kanter Kepnes, who manages our supply chain responsibilities for farms and special projects, will work with Arvind and Pratibha. Wendy Savage, our director of social responsibility and traceability, and I will oversee the work. We hope in the future to work with other suppliers on ROC pilots and eventually move on to other types of farmed fiber. We’re really excited because ROC entails a holy grail of responsibility—for soil health, animal welfare and worker wellbeing. The pilots give us our first look at labor conditions on
• Freedom of Association • Long-Term Commitments • Continuous Improvements • Transparency and Accountability
farms. For years we’ve concentrated our work on our social and environmental impacts in factories and mills. We’ve worked with animal-welfare standards for sheep, ducks and geese. But we’ve never addressed labor and community issues at the farm level. We’ll begin to fully understand what our impacts are, then begin to make improvements through the ROC process. Our team is also excited to learn so much about what a difference healthy soil can make, and how it might result in economic improvements for the farms that grow our fibers—for instance, from intercropping cotton and turmeric, which gives the farmer a second cash crop. The potential is there to help lift communities out of poverty. Rick Ridgeway [Patagonia VP of public engagement] and I had an amazing meeting with Professor Rattan Lal at Ohio State, one of the world’s leading soil scientists, to learn about carbon measurement, but also about how optimal soil health can bring people out of poverty, create food security and help create political stability across the world. For our department, this work is a dream come true—an exemplary blend of how environmental and social responsibility practices can work together for the common good. There is so much potential here to create positive global change. 35
GRANTED: GROUPS WE SUPPORT
GROWING SUPPORT: NSAC works for a safe, nutritious, ample and affordable food supply produced by a legion of family farmers. REANA KOVALCIK
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition WA SH INGTON , D C
Mission The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) is an alliance of over 120 grassroots organizations that advocates for federal policy reform to advance the sustainability of agriculture, food systems, natural resources and local communities. We support small and midsize farms, lowering barriers to farming for a new generation, increasing funding and support for critical sustainable agriculture research, building a more climate friendly and equitable food system and conserving critical natural resources. Activities This year we focused on the 2018 Farm Bill and elevating the voices of our members and grassroots leaders on Capitol Hill. In addition to publishing free resources for farmers, policy analysts and advocates to make sense of the next farm bill, we led farmer “fly-in” events around both the farm bill and appropriations bills so family farmers could come to the capital and speak their truth to power regarding the importance of sustainable agriculture programs and policies. NSAC spearheaded countless grassroots initiatives to build and show support for sustainable agriculture issues in the farm bill, including an organizational sign-on letter with over 300 co-signer organizations supporting the advancement of programs and
policies that strengthen food-producing communities and expand farm-to-fork connections. Accomplishments NSAC secured major victories in the FY 2018 Appropriations package, including historic investments in the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Extension program, the Organic Transitions research program, the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, and the Food Safety Outreach Program. We developed comprehensive policy recommendations for the 2018 Farm Bill, which resulted in the introduction of 15 NSAC-endorsed marker bills spanning our priority issue areas of conservation, beginning farmers and ranchers, local/regional food systems, research, and crop insurance reform. Most notably, we successfully defeated the toxic House draft farm bill when it was first brought before the full chamber for a vote—a historic feat that has only happened once in previous farm bill history. We also advanced the priorities of family farmers and sustainability advocates in the Senate draft farm bill, which included significant victories for farmers of color and socially disadvantaged farmers, conservation agriculture and local/regional food systems. Written by National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
Connect with this group at patagonia.com/actionworks
Becoming Food Citizens P R O V I S I O N S C R E AT E S A M A R K E T F O R N O U R I S H I N G F O O D T H AT N O U R I S H E S T H E E A R T H
What if farming encouraged farmers to be creative, thoughtful and inquisitive? Not parts of an agricultural machine, but fully engaged participants in their farming ecosystem? The Patagonia Provisions® team saw what that looks like when we walked through lentil fields in Montana with farmers using regenerative organic practices.
At each farm, a lentil plant was pulled up and passed among us. We examined the nodules clinging to the roots of each one, indicating the nitrogen-fixing wonder of lentil plants.
In a time when we’ve seen the decline in multigenerational farms and fewer and fewer young people choosing to be farmers, it is hopeful to see methods of farming that not only allow plants to do
Regenerative organic farming is a holistic approach to farming and building soil fertility. Liz Carlisle, Stanford lecturer and author of Lentil Underground, wrote, “An important thing to remember about regenerative organic agriculture is that it’s a whole system for supporting life. That’s what we mean by building soil and building soil health. It’s about supporting the life in the soil and the life aboveground too.” Aboveground, farmers like David Oien listen and learn from their farms, allowing their plants to do what they do best. But they have to be attentive and engaged. Hot summers, exceptional rainfall, swarms of an unexpected insects … they watch and adapt. David and his partners started Timeless Natural Food over 30 years ago, and they’ve grown slowly and steadily as a learning community of farmers. They are not just learning how to manage adversity, but how to accentuate their wins and discoveries. During our visits to their organic lentil farms—vast green expanses, outdistancing the horizon— we shared in their discoveries: A lentil variety that intercrops perfectly with wheat; perennial pollinator strips that thrive between fields; a lentil variety that thrived during the dry summer.
“As food citizens, we make conscious decisions about the environmental and social impact of what’s on our plate. And what’s on our plate determines how farmers farm.” David Oien, organic lentil farmer and cofounder of Timeless Natural Food
what they do well, but also allow farmers to be creative, intelligent, engaged humans. We started Patagonia Provisions to generate market pull for ingredients that are farmed with the future in mind. Inspired by cover crops like organic lentils, Provisions launched Organic Savory Seeds this year, a delicious, crunchy snack made from Timeless lentils, buckwheat and hemp. Changing our food sources means changing ourselves—how we farm and also how we eat. We’re learning how to become food citizens.
Jim Barngrover (center) shows root nodules that indicate nitrogen fixing. AMY KUMLER
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More with Less A I M I N G F O R 10 0 % R EC YC L E D, R EC L A I M E D O R B I O BA S E D FA B R I C S
We know that more than 85 percent of Patagonia’s carbon footprint comes from manufacturing, dyeing and finishing the fabrics we use to make our products. We also track water use and the efforts made by our supply chain partners to reduce environmental impacts in their facilities. And while we don’t often talk about our goals—because they can easily be dismissed as just more talk—to minimize harm, we are working to make all of our products from 100 percent recycled, reclaimed or biobased materials. We began this process in 1991 with a life-cycle analysis of four of the textiles we use. (See the accompanying time line.) Here are a few highlights from this year.
ABOUT TIME
1991 We commission a life-cycle analysis of cotton, polyester, wool and nylon.
1992 We hire our first sustainability manager and perform an in-house environmental assessment.
Hemp Since the launch of Workwear in the fall of 2017, we’ve grown our offering of hemp styles to 54. Hemp is a natural fiber that’s cultivated with low impact on the environment. It’s a resilient plant that’s not susceptible to most pests, so it doesn’t require pesticides. Growing hemp can actually improve soil health by replenishing vital nutrients and preventing erosion. One of the most durable and versatile natural fibers on the planet, it can be transformed into a fabric with a wonderful drape comparable to that of linen. We’ve long supported the cultivation of industrial hemp, a plant whose use in the United States was taxed almost out of existence in 1937 and then outlawed directly in 1970. With the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, however, hemp is legal once again.
1993 We introduce fleece made from recycled plastic.
1996 We begin using only organic cotton.
1997 We begin using hemp.
LEGAL AT LAST: Since introducing hemp clothing in 1997, we’ve had to buy our hemp from other countries. Henan Province, China. LLOYD BELCHER
Recycled Cashmere The world’s love affair with cashmere has Mongolian herders raising more and more cashmere-producing goats, which have so overgrazed grasslands on the Mongolian Plateau that it’s turning to desert. We didn’t want to be part of that, so we stopped using virgin cashmere several years ago. But our customers wanted cashmere, so in fall 2017 we reintroduced eight styles made with 95 percent recycled cashmere and 5 percent wool fiber. Recycled cashmere comes from discarded cashmere sweaters and waste scraps from factories that are shredded into fiber and blended into yarn to make new cashmere sweaters. By providing a market for recycled cashmere, we help to divert discards from landfills and incinerators and, in our own small way, take no part in the desertification of Mongolian grasslands.
2000 We team with bluesign® technologies to improve consumer and occupational health and safety, and to optimize the efficient use of resources in making our fabrics.
2002 We flirt with, but decide against, using polylactic acid (PLA) to make fabric because the corn it comes from is GMO.
2003 We start making products with TENCEL® lyocell, a fiber made from wood pulp.
2007
We use recycled/recyclable polyester, chlorine-free wool.
2008 Recycled Wool Raising sheep for wool takes vast amounts of land for grazing. Its production also demands energy, water and chemicals to convert the fleece shorn from the sheep into clean fiber of consistent quality, which can then be dyed into beautiful wool products. One way to lessen those impacts is to recycle used wool—a practice that dates back hundreds of years. In our case, old wool sweaters are collected, shredded into fiber and woven into new wool products. In 2018 we offered 23 styles, ranging from hats and beanies to outerwear, made with recycled wool. Most of these styles contain more than 50 percent recycled material, which we typically blend with recycled nylon and recycled polyester for strength. Recycled Nylon We started making Baggies™ shorts, the original phunhogs, 36 years ago. And we sell more of them than ever. In spring 2018, we switched from making them with virgin nylon (from petroleum) to recycled nylon. The result? We use 52 percent less water, reduced Baggies’ CO2 equivalent footprint by 18 percent and require 92 percent less virgin petroleum as a raw material to make the fabric. REFIBRA™ We also use fabric made from wood pulp and recycled cotton scraps produced by Lenzing, a manufacturer based in Austria. Five products in our spring 2018 line were made from REFIBRA lyocell fibers. The wood pulp is a renewable product that comes from sustainably managed forests; the recycled cotton scraps are diverted from the waste stream and replace some of the wood pulp, which reduces the amount of raw materials needed. These fibers are produced in a closed-loop cycle that captures 99.7 percent of the solvents and uses them over and over again. Beyond that 0.3 percent, the only outputs are REFIBRA fabric and water. We used recycled wool from the Calamai factory in Prato, Italy, to make 23 styles of clothing and accessories in 2018. TIM DAVIS
We adopt recycled nylon.
2011 We source merino wool from sheep grazed sustainably in Argentina.
2014 We trace our down supply chain from farm to factory to try to ensure animal welfare.
2015
We begin using denim dyed without harmful chemicals.
2016
We adopt recycled down and begin using Yulex® natural rubber in our wetsuits.
2018
Our backpacks are solution dyed to reduce use of water.
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GRANTED: GROUPS WE SUPPORT
DEFENSE OF COUNTRY: Their lands threatened by a massive coal mine, Wangan & Jagalingou Traditional Owners and their supporters protest at Queensland’s Parliament. WANGAN & JAGALINGOU TRADITIONAL OWNERS COUNCIL
Wangan & Jagalingou Traditional Owners Council BRISBA N E , AU STR A L I A Mission Defense of Country. We are the Traditional Owners and native title claimants of Wangan & Jagalingou Country in the Galilee Basin in centralwest Queensland. We Wangan & Jagalingou people have been custodians of our traditional homelands for tens of thousands of years, taking responsibility for protecting our lands and waters, people, knowledge and history, their story places and sacred sites. Multinational conglomerate, Adani Group, with strong support from Australian state and federal governments, is pushing to open up the Carmichael Coal Mine on our traditional lands. The mine would be one of the world’s largest, emitting more than 140 million tons of additional CO2 into the atmosphere. That’s more carbon pollution than the entire European Union releases in a year. The mine would tear the heart out
of the land, polluting and draining billions of liters of groundwater, obliterating a system of protected and sacred springs, and potentially wiping out threatened and endangered species. Activities We launched a public campaign in Defense of Country in March 2015, after Adani and Queensland’s state government attempted to override our native title rights in the land. We launched a legal and political strategy challenging the mining leases and a land use agreement they obtained despite our people saying no on four occasions. We held a ceremonial gathering to empower our resistance and began organizing young W&J people to build a new generation of Indigenous rights campaigners. We’ve built a network of civil society groups, unions and environmental NGOs to put pressure on state and federal governments, and
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inspired other Indigenous nations to broaden the campaign of resistance to resource extraction and for free prior informed consent. We have generated hundreds of thousands of supporters in Australia and around the world. Accomplishments Wangan & Jagalingou Traditional Owners Council have stood our ground against Adani for more than six years now. We continue to oppose it in court and continue to withhold the consent Adani needs to attract finance and lawfully proceed with its mine. The campaign has built an international profile and is actively engaged with United Nations agencies to procure support for Indigenous peoples’ rights and against racial discrimination. Written by Wangan & Jagalingou Traditional Owners Council
We Grow Outdoors P R O M O T I N G E N V I R O N M E N TA L J U S T I C E , E Q U I T Y A N D AC C E S S
As environmental funders, we understand the importance of protecting the environment not only for the environment’s sake, but also for the communities and people who inhabit those places. Since the beginning of our environmental grants program in 1985, we’ve supported more than 500 organizations and given over $7 million to fund activism in frontline, Indigenous and marginalized communities that often suffer disproportionately from environmental impacts and climate change. While historically we’ve supported frontline communities in their environmental battles, their ability to access nature has also been a challenge. In 2017, wanting the next generation of environmental activists to reflect our country’s demographics, we started building relationships with organizations working to help people in underrepresented populations get outdoors. In 2018, we donated $577,000 to groups working on equity and justice in communities across the country and established a grants council dedicated to funding this work. We continue to invest heavily and intentionally to support groups working on equity and access in the outdoors. Whenever
geographically possible, we leverage our retail stores, our “boots on the ground,” to build relationships locally and use our district environmental coordinators as conduits to bring more equity into the grants process on the local level. Notably, we made changes to our grants guidelines to more clearly include environmental work by underrepresented people and communities. Looking ahead, we recognize that providing financial support is only part of the answer. We are looking internally at our own hiring processes, the people we feature across our media platforms, and the voices we amplify as leaders in the environmental field. We will continue internal trainings to unpack our biases around race and the environmental movement, and will dig deeper into the more systemic barriers that have led to injustices across communities. More broadly, we will continue to bring equity into our grants processes and will make sure there are diverse perspectives in decision-making. To be successful in our mission to save our home planet, we must join people from all backgrounds and use our resources to amplify the voices of the next generation of environmental activists.
In October 2017, Patagonia employees and friends got together in Yosemite National Park for conversations leading to the promotion of greater diversity, equity and inclusion in the outdoors. EUGENIE FRERICHS
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Adventure, Commitment, Hope S T O R I E S T H AT E D U C AT E , I N S P I R E , AC T I VAT E
Continuing a 10-year-plus tradition of great narrative, enhanced with terrific photos or illustrations and design, Patagonia books program produces award-winning publications that carry messages of adventure, commitment and hope. Among this year’s releases is Path of the Puma: The Remarkable Resilience of the Mountain Lion, by wildlife manager and conservationist Jim Williams. Williams writes that during a time when most wild animals are experiencing decline in the face of development and climate change, the intrepid mountain lion—also known as a puma, a cougar and by many other names—has experienced reinvigoration as well as expansion of territory. What makes this cat, the fourth carnivore in the food chain—just ahead of humans— so resilient and resourceful? And what can conservationists and wildlife managers learn from them about the web of biodiversity that is in desperate need of protection? The mountain lion’s story is fascinating for the lessons it can afford the protection of all species in times of dire challenge and decline. With hands-on experience in both the Rocky Mountains and the wilds of Patagonia in South America, Williams tracks the path of the puma and, in doing so, challenges readers to consider the role of humans in this journey as well as what commitment to nature and conservation means in this day and age. Other titles produced this year by Patagonia are: Swell, by Liz Clark; Paddling My Own Canoe, by Audrey Sutherland; and a revised second edition of Simple Fly Fishing, by Yvon Chouinard, Craig Mathews and Mauro Mazzo. patagonia.com/shop/books
Resilient, resourceful and expanding their territory. LAURA CRAWFORD WILLIAMS
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GRANTED: GROUPS WE SUPPORT
Brown Girl Surf OA K L A N D, C A L IFORN I A
Mission Brown Girl Surf works to build a more diverse, environmentally reverent and joyful women’s surf culture by increasing access to surfing, cultivating community, amplifying the voices of women of color surfers and taking care of the earth. Activities Brown Girl Surf creates a surf culture that celebrates our diverse experiences as women, so that more women—and women of color in particular—can surf, connect with the ocean and enjoy all the benefits that come with it. Programs include Surf Sister Saturdays, which provide cultural, financial and logistical access to the ocean. This includes replacing negative narratives around women of color and the ocean with positive ones; repositioning surfing in familiar cultural spaces for communities of color, and uplifting histories and cultural traditions that connect women of color to the ocean and water. Accomplishments Based in Oakland, California, we have connected over 300 girls and women to the ocean to date. Over 90 percent of our participants, and over 85 percent of our volunteers, are women of color. Our staff is 100 percent women of color. This year, in addition to participants from local communities and school groups, we had others travel to join our program from Los Angeles, Portland, Cleveland, Atlanta and Kansas, who’d heard about Brown Girl Surf through our media outreach. We get requests on a regular basis to open chapters in Southern California, as well as on the East Coast. We are also becoming a leader in civic engagement and environmental advocacy, working to reduce environmental hazards, protect the earth and ensure equity in coastal access. Brown Girl Surf was a featured speaker in the Rally to Protest Offshore Drilling, held in Sacramento in February 2018. We are currently working with government agencies and partner organizations to fight financial and legal (permitting) obstacles that nonprofit organizations like ours face in bringing underrepresented populations to certain state beaches. This fall, we hosted our first “Civics is Sexy!” workshop to promote civic engagement within our community. We are a small organization with a big mission. Thank you for being part of our movement! Written by Brown Girl Surf
IN THE LINEUP: Brown Girl Surf has introduced more than 300 girls and women, like Risa Padilla from Oakland, to the ocean. KRISTI CHAN
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Invisible Dividends FA IR TR A DE IS MOR E THAN JUST MONEY
Like most apparel companies, Patagonia doesn’t own the factories that make our products. We make every effort to partner with like-minded suppliers that meet our high standards for quality, safe and healthy working conditions, and social and environmental best practices, but there’s one thing that’s very difficult for us to control—workers’ wages.
As a company deeply committed to social and environmental responsibility, we’re working to ensure that full-time workers in our supply chain earn a living wage—that is, a wage sufficient to cover the basic necessities of life for them and their families. That includes food, water, housing, health care, education, clothing, transportation, child care and other essential needs, along with provision for unexpected events. And we’re striving to promote this industry-wide. But we’re a pretty small fish in an industry built on lean paychecks and often lousy working conditions that caters to consumers’ hunger for inexpensive clothing. Dwarfed by brands with far greater earnings, and the clout that comes with that, it’s tough to do this on our own. This is one of the reasons in 2014 we chose to partner with Fair Trade USA on their Factory Standard for Apparel and Home Goods. To more thoroughly explore how the Fair Trade USA Factory Standard works, we talked to Allison Fite, business development manager of the manufactured goods program at Fair Trade USA.
PATAGONIA: Every Fair Trade purchase pays factory workers a premium for their labor, which they can use in various ways. Can you give us a couple of examples of how workers who make Patagonia products chose to use theirs this year? FAIR TRADE USA: Of course! First, though, let me say that Fair Trade USA believes that people best understand their own personal, family and community needs. And that’s why we empower workers to decide how they will spend their premiums. This year, workers who make Patagonia products chose to use their premiums for a variety of things. Some took cash bonuses that supplement wages; some bought bicycles; some put the money toward education scholarships for their children. Workers at V.T. Garment Co. in Thailand voted to use theirs to help migrant workers at the factory who don’t speak Thai, by paying for translators to accompany them on their hospital visits so that they could communicate with medical staff. They also started a “Friends Help Friends” program through which workers can receive financial support in times of emergency.
Some 49,200 apparel workers, like Ye Min Tun, a fabric stockroom worker at V.T. Garment Co. in Thailand, have earned premiums for their labor and enjoy better working conditions through Patagonia’s participation in the Fair Trade program. THEODORE KAYE
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“If the Fair Trade day care didn’t exist, I’d be at home and would never be able to achieve my aspirations.”
“Fair Trade honors the workers and gives some of the sales profits to us. I want customers to know that when they buy the products, we also get the profit.”
Upkesha Madushani Hirdaramani Mihila Factory, Sri Lanka
Than Win Tun V.T. Garment Co., Thailand
The sale of Patagonia’s Fair Trade products has sent millions of dollars back to the communities that made them. JAMES RODRIGUEZ
“Fair Trade makes me feel very proud to work with fleece and of the work we’re doing.” Pascuala Patricia Marin Valdez Hong Ho Factory, Mexico
Workers at Vertical Knits (Mexico) and at Pratibha Syntex (India) voted to use their premiums to purchase gas stoves, blenders and pressure cookers for their homes. Many families depended on wood-burning stoves or low-quality gas stoves that made preparing meals a lengthy and burdensome process. With these new appliances, workers report that they were able to reduce cooking time, which enabled them to spend more quality time with their families at night and get to work on time in the morning more often. At Hong Ho, another factory in Mexico, workers chose to use their premiums to buy either a washing machine, a television or a laptop. These items made a big difference to them and their families. PATAGONIA: Beyond premiums and better working conditions, you’ve talked about “invisible dividends.” What are those? FAIR TRADE USA: Improved working conditions and the additional income gained from premiums are the most visible and commonly discussed benefits of the Fair Trade program. “Invisible dividends” refer to some of the less obvious and more long-term benefits to workers and their communities. For a factory to be Fair Trade Certified™, the workforce must first elect a group of its peers to represent them on a Fair Trade committee, which is the body that decides how to spend the Fair Trade premium. The committee does so by gathering workers’ input through surveys and/or interviews, a process that helps to identify a workforce’s challenges and experiences with access to education, food, health care and more. How the money will be spent must be decided by a majority of workers and the committee—often with support from factory management. Spending the premium can be a massive undertaking.
Organizing, bargaining, purchasing and distributing 600 washing machines to workers across eight villages in Mexico was no small feat! It is through this collaboration that “invisible dividends” are generated. During this process, workers and factory managers come together to openly discuss workers’ needs and challenges, working toward a solution that improves their lives and community. This shared experience is rare in the manufacturing sector, where cultural expectations and power dynamics often keep managers and workers apart. So, we’ve seen that the greatest value of the Fair Trade program is not always the impact of the premium itself, but of the improved relationships between the workers and factory management. PATAGONIA: Can you give some examples of how workers have benefited from these invisible dividends? FAIR TRADE USA: Sure. We asked this question of Julian Ernesto, the Fair Trade committee president at a factory in Mexico. “[The premium program] taught me many things,” he said, “for example, how to produce and manage a [spending] project. I never had the opportunity to manage such large projects, to organize people. But now, I know I can do it.” Speaking to Fair Trade’s effect on the factory community, Julian said the program “has helped us employees get to know each other better, which has improved the morale of the factory,” adding that the program also makes the workforce “feel good about ourselves, because we know that the consumer pays more for these products. And they do it because they care about us, our wellbeing. So that makes us feel special.”
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“When the benefits came, we honestly could not believe it,” Adriana Robles, a mother of three working at Vertical Knits in Yucatán, said of the Fair Trade program. JAMES RODRIGUEZ
PATAGONIA: Apart from the benefits factory workers receive from Fair Trade, what sort of benefits do brands like Patagonia receive by being a Fair Trade partner?
and workers in turn want to create great products to maintain Patagonia as a buyer, improving product quality and brand/ factory relations. It is a win-win-win for all of the people involved.
FAIR TRADE USA: This is the era of the conscious consumer. With a more global view and concerns about sustainability, people increasingly want to shop their values. They want to know more than just what a product is made of, but also where and how it was produced. The Fair Trade Certified™ label acts as a badge of merit, communicating to those buying Patagonia products that they were made with respect for people and the planet; that the people behind the products received a premium for their work.
PATAGONIA: Do you have plans to grow and/or change the Fair Trade factory program to try to include more brands, factories and workers? And do you see any hurdles to that growth?
Furthermore, the Fair Trade program enables Patagonia to share business success with those who make their clothing and gear. Factory management
Fair Trade works to facilitate and promote a business model where the entire supply chain is more connected, understands each other’s needs and creates dignified
FAIR TRADE USA: We would love to have more consumers buy products from responsible brands that make their products at responsible factories. The more agents that we have participating in the model—consumers, brands, factories and their workers—the better.
working conditions and business relationships for all. We’re working alongside brands like Patagonia to create transformational change within a complex industry. But creating this change is challenging and can sometimes run counter to usual business practices, which makes it difficult to scale the program effectively and quickly. PATAGONIA: Consumers have a lot of options, and Fair Trade products may cost a little more. Why should people buy Fair Trade? FAIR TRADE USA: We live in a time when there has never been more to care about. There are so many challenges we face—politics, climate change, land rights, you name it. It’s almost too much, too overwhelming. Not everyone can donate large sums of their income, volunteer or run for office. But everyone must eat and everyone puts on clothes in the
U P DAT E
morning (presumably). Choosing Fair Trade is a way to channel those small, everyday choices into something meaningful. Every time you buy something, you’re casting a vote for the world you want to live in. PATAGONIA: Patagonia was one of the first apparel brands to join the Fair Trade USA Factory Certification program for Apparel and Home Goods. And to date, we have the most Fair Trade Certified products in that category. What impact have we had on the growth of the program itself? FAIR TRADE USA: In 2014, Patagonia became an early adopter and champion of the Fair Trade program in factories. Since then, it’s been a trailblazer. Starting with one Fair Trade Certified™ factory in one country, it now supports 29 Fair Trade programs in 10 countries. Today, through Patagonia’s business, over 49,200 people receive benefits of the Fair Trade program, and Patagonia products have sent millions of dollars in premiums back to the communities that made them. Beyond this, Patagonia’s partnership has paid its own invisible dividends, such as raising consumer awareness about the Fair Trade program and setting an example to its industry peers that business success and doing good are not mutually exclusive. Because of this, we see more consumers looking for the Fair Trade Certified label while shopping for their clothes and gear, and more brands asking questions about the program.
Making Headway on Living Wages Partnering with Fair Trade USA is our first step toward paying workers who make Patagonia products a living wage. It’s a great start, and for now it’s the most direct way of getting more money into workers’ pockets. But we need to find a permanent solution to ensure all workers who make our clothing earn a living wage. We’re making headway. In last year’s update on this topic, we talked about two big issues preventing progress on living wages: the lack of an agreed-upon definition for living wage, and the fuzzy notion of what amount might constitute a living wage in disparate locales. Since then, the Global Living Wage Coalition—a group of nonprofits and experts—has achieved consensus on a definition, while the Fair Labor Association has compiled publicly available living-wage benchmarks. Here at Patagonia, we’ve also finished collecting and analyzing detailed wage data from the contract factories that make our products, which has given us a much clearer picture of what they’re paying their workers. The good news is, we’re in better shape than we thought. Based on our initial analysis, our apparel suppliers pay at least 81 percent of the living wage, with 18 percent of them paying above the living wage. This is something we’ll continue to monitor and validate over time, but we’re headed in the right direction. We’ve also confirmed something we’ve long known—that by placing predictable orders with our suppliers, they are better able to pay their workers a living wage. Factories whose orders fluctuate from season to season have a bigger gap between actual wages and living wages. Responsible purchasing practices are key to realizing our goal of paying a living wage, and also a key principle of our Fair Labor Association accreditation.
Working for a more equitable global trade model that benefits
We’re feeling good about the progress we’ve made and will continue our work. We’re also happy to report that we’re seeing a growing number of other brands also making Fair Trade clothing, thereby paying even more workers a premium for their labor and getting them closer to a living wage.
people, industry and the earth, Fair Trade USA’s Amy Blyth, Allison Fite and Desta Raines. MICHAEL ESTRADA
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GRANTED: GROUPS WE SUPPORT
AMERICA’S CHERNOBYL: The work of Hanford Challenge has led to multiple health and safety reforms at the badly contaminated former nuclear production complex. JEFF T. GREEN/GETTY IMAGES
Hanford Challenge SE AT TL E , WA SH INGTON
Mission Hanford Challenge, based in Seattle, Washington, creates a future for the Hanford nuclear site that secures human health and safety, advances accountability and promotes a sustainable environmental legacy. Activities We collaborate closely with insiders to report on and avert nuclear and environmental catastrophes, protect the workers performing the cleanup, participate in cleanup advisory bodies such as the Hanford Advisory Board, educate the public with an emphasis on youth, and organize campaigns to push for urgent reforms. Accomplishments Thanks to Patagonia’s grant, this year Hanford Challenge installed three real-time radiation monitors near the Hanford Site that measure and report radiation data onto a website accessible to anyone. We also conducted environmental monitoring and collected 30 samples from vehicles and homes to assess whether contamination may have escaped. Findings of offsite contamination were reported in an amazing article in BuzzFeed, and another in the Seattle Times. Another report, released in early September 2018, found biologically significant plutonium particles on-site, including a particle calculated to exert nearly 10 times the EPA allowable standard for an off-site emission. This finding by the Department of Energy’s contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), utterly conflicts with representations of Hanford officials following bioassay testing as to the minimal health risks faced by 42 plutonium workers exposed to contamination. We hope that this work will lead to a bigger, independent study of the Hanford-area environs, particularly structural contamination where human inhabitants reside, whether at home, work or school. Thanks to Patagonia, we conducted oversight in a manner that no other organization, including the state of Washington, is able or willing to do. The publication of our results has led to multiple reforms at Hanford, including significantly slowing down the process to restart demolition of the plutonium-finishing plant to prevent the spread of contamination and make sure the job continues more safely. Written by Hanford Challenge
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GRANTED: GROUPS WE SUPPORT
CULTURA Y FAMILIA: Through outdoor activities, Latino Outdoors is contributing to the renewal and growth of the country’s conservation constituency. RAÚL HERNÁNDEZ
Latino Outdoors RE DWO OD RE GIONA L PA RK , C A L IFORN I A
Mission Latino Outdoors inspires, connects and engages Latino communities in the outdoors. We embrace cultura y familia as part of the outdoor narrative, ensuring Latino history, heritage and leadership are valued and represented. Activities Latino Outdoors is powered by volunteers who support each other in leading outdoor recreation and expanding outdoor access for underrepresented communities. This is exemplified by a September 2018 hike in Oakland, California, at Redwood Regional Park, in partnership with the Latino Community Foundation, which brought together 60
people (including eight first-time hikers) to walk among the giant coast redwood trees. Before getting started, foundation staff warmly welcomed everyone and Latino Outdoors hike leaders touched on the wellness benefits of spending time with nature, trail safety tips and leave-no-trace principles. They also spoke to the fact that it was National Public Lands Day, which promotes both popular enjoyment and conservation of federal, state, regional and local public lands. Accomplishments Since our founding in 2013, Latino Outdoors has expanded from a California-based organization to a
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national volunteer movement connecting approximately 1,500 people each year to hiking, backpacking, camping and other transformative experiences in nature. The organization has also grown into an inspirational platform for sharing cultural connections and narratives about nature that are often overlooked by the traditional outdoor movement. By strengthening the presence and voice of Latinos in outdoor recreation, conservation and environmental education, Latino Outdoors is contributing to the renewal and growth of the country’s conservation constituency. Written by Latino Outdoors
Kicking Coal PATAG O N I A J A PA N ’ S T O O L S F O R G R A S S R O O T S AC T I V I S T S C O N F E R E N C E
As the hottest, and wettest, summer we’ve ever experienced in Japan was ratcheting up, 22 activists from 18 environmental organizations came together for Patagonia Japan’s sixth Tools for Grassroots Activists Conference, June 29-July 1, at KEEP Association’s Seisen-ryo in Kiyosato Plateau, Yamanashi Prefecture. Tetsunari Iida, executive director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies, gave the conference’s keynote address. Titled “Policies and Sustainable Communities for Climate Change Solutions,” it set the agenda for the next three days. He spoke of an enormous surge in worldwide divestment from fossil fuels and an exponential increase in the spread of solar and wind power. Mariko Kawaguchi, chief researcher of the Daiwa Institute of Research, followed later, contrasting the rise of renewables in other countries with what’s happening in Japan, whose government has shown little interest in anything other than burning fossil fuels and using nuclear energy.
Conference-goers spent time inside and out over beautiful meals and Patagonia Provisions® Long Root Ales exploring root causes for the fossilized state of energy in Japan and strategies and tactics to move the country quickly toward renewable energy. During rest times, they went fly fishing and trail running in this beautiful area, inhabited by Japanese deer, foxes, squirrels and over 100 kinds of birds. Participants shared stories about their individual efforts on behalf of the environment. We also discussed how we could work collectively to make sure the almost 35 coal-fired power plants now in the planning process, which would join some 100 such plants currently burning away, could be stopped and replaced with renewable energy to help solve climate change.
Activists plot a carbon-free future at the Tools for Grassroots Activists Conference in Japan. TAISHI TAKAHASHI
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Plastic debris from the North Pacific Gyre deposited on the Big Island of Hawai�i’s Kamilo Beach is broken down by pounding surf and UV exposure. JIM HURST
A Small, Really Big Problem Patagonia expects to make significant progress over the next few years on microplastics. Solving this pollution at its roots may take decades. Patagonia has always had a plastics problem, though we didn’t know its full extent until recently. While we’ve made significant progress incorporating recycled polyester and nylon into our product line, we’re now summoning the energy and effort required to deal with the tiny plastic fibers that shed from garments over their lifetime and can end up where they shouldn’t be, such as inside a seabird.
to 99 percent of microfibers entering their system. We learned that quality matters: In the study, a low-quality, generic-brand fleece shed significantly more over the course of its lifespan than Patagonia’s products. Fabric construction appears likely to impact shedding. The type of washing machine also makes a difference: Fleece jackets washed in top-load washers shed about seven times as many microfibers as those washed in front-loaders.
Research on ocean plastic confirms that the ocean is awash not only in old fishing nets, straws and bags, infamously swirling in a Pacific gyre spread over an area larger than Texas, but also synthetic microfibers, defined as being five millimeters or smaller.
We went to work on several different fronts to address the challenge. We alerted the Outdoor Industry Association and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition to the problem, as well as key partners and competitors. We joined with REI, MEC and Arc’teryx, Ocean Wise and Metro Vancouver to conduct research on fabric shedding, fiber weathering, and wastewater treatment capabilities. One component of the research, published last summer in Marine Pollution Bulletin, revealed that even with as much as 99 percent effective filtration (of 1.8 trillion particles), significant amounts (30 billion particles) of microplastic escape into the ocean. The microplastics that escape are estimated to be made up of 66.5 percent fibers, 28.1 percent plastic fragments and 5.4 percent plastic pellets.
Microplastics come into the ocean from many sources, frequently breaking off from larger plastic pieces. The vast majority of it comes from automobile tire dust, resin from manufacturing processes, or minuscule beads in toothpaste and cosmetics that are too small to be filtered out by wastewater treatment plants. However, some of this ocean-borne plastic includes microfibers shed from synthetic garments, and some of those come from nylon shorts and Patagonia polyester fleece. Given that the most comprehensive solutions for microfiber shedding—better filtration in washing machines and municipal wastewater treatment plants—are beyond our control, we’ve commissioned research projects to better understand the scope of the problem and what we can do about it. One of these projects took place at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara. From this study, published in 2016 as “Microfiber Masses Recovered from Conventional Machine Washing of New or Aged Garments,” we confirmed that Patagonia and other users of polyester and nylon textiles likely contribute a portion of microfiber pollution to the ocean. The quantity is still unknown, as is the extent to which these fibers may harm life in the oceans. We learned that wastewater treatment plants vary in the effectiveness of their filtration, from a low of 65 percent up
In 2017 and 2018 we worked with North Carolina State University to develop a rapid fiber-shed test methodology to assess the potential of fabrics to shed during laundering. With a standardized test method, Patagonia’s materials development team could test any fabric’s potential to shed and compare our results to findings from other tests also measuring fabric shedding. The hope is that insight into fabricshedding tendencies will help Patagonia identify fabric and yarn constructions that shed less. We also approached washing-machine manufacturers in search of better in-home systems to filter microfibers out of the waste stream. We learned that the technology already exists. In fact, filter systems were once offered on washing machines. We identified effective after-market washing-machine filter systems like the Lint LUV-R and the WEXCO Environmental Filtrol 160, 57 57
2010 We give our first plastic-pollution-focused grant to Surfrider Foundation for its “Rise Above Plastics” campaign advocating for a reduction of single-use plastics and the recycling of all plastics.
2011
Our materials team meets Dr. Mark Browne from UCSB and learns about the high concentrations of microplastics found on shorelines. Dr. Browne’s research inspires us to commission further research.
2014 Tin Shed invests in Bureo, a Ventura, California-based company that turns fishing nets into sunglasses, skateboards and recycled nylon fiber. Bureo has diverted over 8.4 million square feet of fishing nets from the Chilean coast.
2015
We commission UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science & Management to research microfiber shedding. Experiments show a top-load washing machine releases seven times more fiber than a front-load washing machine.
both of which can be installed in a home laundry room for about $150 plus the plumber’s bill. Through our Tin Shed Ventures® fund, we invested in TERSUS Solutions, a textile-processing company whose waterless technology has been applied in commercial laundering. It’s our hope that further innovations will make waterless laundry possible at home. In addition, we have granted more than $200,000 to environmental nonprofits working on microplastic issues, including Algalita, Adventure Scientists, Surfrider Foundation and the 5 Gyres Institute. We also began selling the GUPPYFRIEND™ Washing Bag for cleaning synthetic clothes in home washing machines. The bag’s slick inside surface minimizes abrasion and reduces release of microfibers into the waste stream. (It is worth noting that all textiles shed fibers when machine washed; but microfibers from natural fabrics like hemp and cotton biodegrade when flushed out to sea.) In addition to engaging the industry, commissioning academic studies, supporting appropriate NGOs, setting priorities for our materials team, and researching filters and waterless solutions to microfiber waste, we have improved our advice to customers on product care. About half of a garment’s lifetime environmental impact occurs after it leaves the store, with most of it caused by your washing machine and dryer. We recommend less frequent washing to both extend product life and reduce microfiber shedding. When you need a new washing machine, we suggest that you invest in a front-loader that will use less water and shed seven times fewer microfibers than a top-loader. And filters help, from the imperfect but inexpensive GUPPYFRIEND Washing Bag to a permanently installed filtration system like the Lint LUV-R or WEXCO Environmental Filtrol 160. We also recommend the purchase of high-quality clothes for their greater integrity and durability. Buy only what you need and make it last.
2016
Patagonia will persist in our efforts to keep microfibers from entering the sea. We are supporting further research on how microfibers (and other forms of plastic waste) harm ocean ecosystems. We will continue to work actively within our company and the outdoor and apparel industries as a whole to develop fabrics that shed less—and on innovative ways to keep microfibers out of municipal wastewater treatment systems and ultimately the ocean.
2017
Of all the environmental challenges Patagonia faces in our supply chain in the short term, microfiber pollution is one of the two largest, equal to or larger than the danger to the environment posed by nonbiodegradable water repellents used on many of our products.
North Carolina State’s Wilson College of Textiles helps us improve testing standards for microfiber shedding.
Tin Shed Ventures invests in the development of GUPPYFRIEND™ Washing Bags, which limit the amount of shedding during washing, and Patagonia starts selling them. We commission Vancouver Aquarium to study how different materials shed and how microfibers travel through wastewater systems.
2018
The American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists drafts standards for testing labs.
For the longer term, we need to crack the biggest problem: Plastic comes from oil, and fossil fuels, even if employed usefully in long-lasting products rather than burned in a tailpipe, need to stay in the ground. This is a problem not easily or quickly solved—and will take much longer to solve than reducing microfiber pollution—but we have taken solid steps down that path, too. The day will come when polyester and nylon clothes from Patagonia will be sourced entirely from some of the 6 billion tons of plastic already circulating on the planet. Or these fabrics will come from natural sources, plants grown in a way that will not displace the production of food. Either 100 percent recycled or biobased polyester and nylon will still come at some environmental cost, but one far less dear than the one now paid by all creatures who live on the planet.
Barely visible, microplastics 5 millimeters or smaller enter the food chain and are nearly impossible to clean up. JIM HURST
You might think the gyre of straws, bags and fishing nets in the Pacific that’s bigger than Texas is an alarming amount of plastic. Yet what’s floating at or near the surface accounts for 1 percent of marine plastics. The rest of the plastic that enters our oceans eventually ends up out of sight, on the sea floor.
TEXTILES 525,000 TONS
TIRE DUST 420,000 TONS
NEW OCEAN PLASTIC 9.5 MILLION TONS ANNUALLY
PRIMARY MICROPLASTICS 1.5 MILLION TONS ANNUALLY
CITY DUST 360,000 TONS
PAINT 160,000 TONS
Not all plastic comes from the same place, with most plastic coming from land-based sources such as soda bottles, straws or fibers shed from garments. Out of the 9.5 million tons of plastic that wash into our oceans in a year, an estimated 1.5 million tons are microplastics and textiles.
PERSONAL CARE 30,000 TONS
PLASTIC PELLETS 4,500 TONS
Sources: Boucher, J. and Friot D. (2017). Primary Microplastics in the Oceans: A Global Evaluation of Sources. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. 43pp. Eunomia Research & Consulting Ltd. (2016)
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Bait ball. Waimea Bay, O�ahu. RYAN T. FOLEY
Microplastics “We will continue to work actively within our company and the outdoor and apparel industries as a whole to develop fabrics that shed less—and on innovative ways to keep microfibers out of municipal wastewater treatment systems and ultimately the ocean.” — VINCENT S TAN LE Y, PATAGON IA PH ILOSOPHY DIR EC TOR
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Sights Set on Zero Waste W O R K I N G T O L E AV E N O T H I N G AT T H E L A N D F I L L
Our headquarters in Ventura, California, are located a quarter mile from Surfer’s Point, our local surf break. It was a strategic choice by our founder more than 40 years ago; one he made to assure quick access when the waves were good. Surfer’s Point is relatively clean—both in terms of wave quality and the water itself. But a few times each year, winter storms roll in from the Pacific. They rain like hell, flushing the streets, storm drains and natural drainages of all the trash and other less visible waste that’s been accumulating for months. Reality hits home when the plastic bags and bottles, food containers and other disposables wash up onshore. (Though invisible, the bacteria from the other waste is every bit as nefarious, keeping the wise from the waters for at least 72 hours.) Local nonprofits sponsor cleanups to remove the trash. But we all know it’s a Band-Aid. (We find those, too.) The reality is there’s a huge trash problem. On a global scale, scientists predict that by 2025 humans will generate 2.2 billion tons of discards each year. On average, only 35 percent of it will be recycled or composted, which means the majority will be buried, incinerated or tossed—later to wash up at our favorite surf break or its equivalent. Researchers estimate that well over 5 million tons of plastic alone end up in our oceans
each year. By 2025, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. Most of it will take over 450 years to completely degrade. Patagonia has offices, stores and warehouses around the globe where employees eat granola bars in single-use wrappers, ship products in plastic bags, print invoices and create seasonal store displays with painfully short life cycles. So we are definitely part of the problem. We’ve been trying to reduce what goes into our collective garbage can for quite some time, with reusable cups and plates, recycled paper, more bins for compost and recycling, and recycling systems for the polybags our products and samples come in. But we know it’s not enough and we can do more. So this year we began working to become a zero-waste company at all of our owned and operated facilities. That means all discards from our offices, distribution centers and stores will either have to be reused, recycled, donated, composted or upcycled. Nothing ends up in the landfill, incinerator or on the beach. We will have to change many of our operations, purchasing practices and behaviors. We will have to change our
convenience-based habits for zero-waste solutions that require significantly more thought, time and energy. We will have to change. To move us forward, in spring 2018, a group of volunteers at our Ventura headquarters collected and sorted three days’ worth of trash, recycling and compost. It was more than 1,200 pounds of food scraps, packaging, batteries and all sorts of other stuff. This sobering act helped us to identify our primary discards and how well we were doing to recycle and compost things that could be recycled and composted. (Not bad, not great.) We did the same at our Reno distribution center, and we’re rolling out waste audits in our retail stores as well. Working with teams across the company, we’re analyzing different parts of our business to figure out how we can reach zero waste. In our stores across the globe, we hosted a Zero-Waste Week during which employees trained their colleagues how to shop without creating waste and how to repair torn clothing. We hosted community events to promote like-minded businesses working to enable low-waste living, and challenged every employee to bring their own to-go kit that included a mug, water bottle, metal straw, spork or chopsticks. In February, we opened our newest store in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The crew there hosted a blow-out party that generated no waste. Instead, in exchange for a donation to a local nonprofit partner, they provided celebrants with compostable utensils, dishes and gave out metal pint cups filled with free beer. Now all of our other stores are following suit, making it their goal to hold only zero-waste events by May 2019. One thing we’ve learned from being so close to a great surf break all these years is that you never catch a wave you don’t paddle for. Will our zero-waste goal make our waters as clean as a glassy wave on a windless morning? Maybe not, but we’re at least in the lineup and definitely going for it.
2.2 Billion
1,200
Tons of discards scientists predict humans will generate each year by 2025
Pounds of trash, recycling and compost disposed of over three days at Patagonia HQ in Ventura, which volunteers collected and sorted as part of a solid-waste audit
35 Percentage of those discards that will be recycled or composted
5 Million
0 Amount of waste Patagonia store events will generate by May 2019
Tons of plastic that end up in world oceans each year
450 Estimated number of years it takes for plastic to completely degrade
Volunteers at Patagonia headquarters in Ventura go through the garbage during a three-day waste audit. KYLE SPARKS
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GRANTED: GROUPS WE SUPPORT
SCIENCE AND OUTREACH: Members of the Coastal Watershed Institute have documented and shared exciting changes to the Elwha River since two dams were removed. DR. ANNE SHAFFER
Coastal Watershed Institute P ORT A NG EL E S, WA SH INGTON Mission Based in Port Angeles, Washington, the Coastal Watershed Institute (CWI) works to protect and restore marine and terrestrial ecosystems through scientific research and community/ place-based partnerships. Among our priorities, CWI coordinates a number of projects on the Elwha River led by a group of scientists, managers and citizens dedicated to understanding and promoting restoration of nearshore environments associated with upcoming dam removals. Activities With the removal of Elwha Dam and Glines Canyon Dam (the largest dams ever decommissioned), the Elwha River flows freely from its headwaters in Washington State’s Olympic Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. CWI has been monitoring the Elwha River’s nearshore for more than a decade, and since the dams came down, we’ve witnessed many exciting changes. With the Patagonia grant, this year we continued our studies and outreach. We took monthly samples of six beach seines each along the Elwha and Salt Creek/Crescent Bay estuary and
monitored water quality in Elwha and Salt Creek. We completed two fish spawn surveys and documented, for the first time, surf smelt spawn along the majority of the Elwha drift cell. We also presented our data at community workshops, on social media and in scientific gatherings. And we conducted four community workshops in Olympic Peninsula communities and one workshop at the Seattle Patagonia store. Accomplishments The data we’ve collected have proved invaluable in helping to identify and activate work to restore and conserve Elwha’s nearshore zone. Our community dialogs engaged landowners, natural resource managers and community members (both locally and around the world). We link our science and outreach to promote actions necessary for long-term, ecosystem-based protection in partnership with local, regional and national managers, scientists and citizens. Written by Coastal Watershed Institute
Connect with this group at patagonia.com/actionworks
Tech and Activism Converge With the rise of activism over the last few years, taking action for the things people believe in has become a step toward unity, bringing together unlikely folks to protect their people, places and homes. Reaching beyond our core community of climbers, surfers, trail runners and skiers in the interest of meeting and engaging with newto-Patagonia people, Patagonia San Francisco hosted an opening event on November 8 for AfroTech, an annual, national conference billed as the groundbreaking, revolutionary experience for black techies, start-ups and entrepreneurs. The panel discussion, devoted to the convergence of technology and activism, demonstrated how Patagonia Action Works is helping our company form more meaningful relationships with the grassroots environmental organizations we fund, and how the 100 or so people who attended the event could use their professional skills to help protect the communities we all care about. Civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson moderated the discussion along with Patagonia grantee Rue Mapp of Outdoor Afro, joined by a few members from Patagonia’s brand activism, tech and recruiting teams.
An engaged audience joined panelists in discussing the use of technology for activism during an opening event for AfroTech at our store in San Francisco. MICHAEL ESTRADA
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LOVE & GREED IN EUROPE’S
H EL PI N G TO AV ER T N E W DA M S A N D H O N O R THE REAL HEROES IN THE BALKANS
“Honored friends of the Vjosa and of my country, thank you for your invitation and thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak before the European Parliament. I was ready to travel even on foot from Albania to raise this most distressing problem facing the inhabitants of my region. I was even prepared to sleep outside. I was ready to beg for a hearing, any hearing, but you made it possible for me to have an audience in the Temple of Democracy, Liberty, and Justice itself.” Trifon Murataj, Kuta villager & activist
Seeking to Save the Blue Heart of Europe, Albanian activist Trifon Murataj, Igor Vejnovic from Bankwatch, Patagonia’s Ryan Gellert and Mihela Hladin Wolfe and Gabriel Schwaderer from EuroNatur stand before the European Parliament. JASON ALDEN
67 67
It is June 27, 2018, and Trifon Murataj is standing in the European Parliament in Brussels pleading for help. It is a story the Albanian businessman has traveled over 1,000 miles, to the heart of European political power, to tell: His home, the tiny, 2,000-year-old village of Kuta, is in danger, and Parliament might be able to save it. The culprit is a series of 38 unnecessary hydropower developments on Albania’s Vjosa River, along which Kuta sits. These dams, Trifon tells the assembled politicians and bureaucrats, will cause the extinction of Kuta and many other villages along the Vjosa. In doing so, it will eliminate Europe’s last completely free-flowing river and the ecosystems and communities that call it home. Trifon’s powerful speech isn’t an isolated moment; for the group of activists and our Patagonia team sitting in the audience, it is the proud culmination of years of effort. As attested to by the document in Trifon’s hands—a petition against international banks investing in these hydropower projects, signed by over 120,000 concerned individuals—it is an effort with plenty of support. The path to this moment began in 2015, with the European tour of Patagonia’s movie DamNation. With each stop, we heard from more and more antidam activists describing an all-too-familiar scenario. From Portugal to Georgia, a wave of proposed hydropower projects was sweeping Europe, an unprecedented assault on the Continent’s few remaining stretches of free-flowing river. When we at Patagonia first heard from the Save the Blue Heart of Europe campaign group, it became obvious one area was in the greatest peril. The Balkan region was to see the construction of over 2,800 dams across six countries. Alarmed by these numbers, we journeyed to the area with a small group of kayakers, where we found pristine rivers, wild canyons, indigenous fish and bird species, and timeless communities. The scale, urgency and complexity of the issue, however, was overwhelming. Those doubts lessened after talking with Yvon Chouinard. I presented the problem and challenges, and Yvon’s response was clear: It would be difficult, yes, but this was a battle worth fighting. And, as is often the case with real change, the best way to do so was from the ground up.
(left) Activists delivered 120,000 petition signatures opposing the dams to the European Parliament. JASON ALDEN; (above) The global premier of Blue Heart was shown on an abandoned dam in Bosnia. FLYFISHING NATION
A few weeks later, we were standing in front of the Albanian prime minister’s building in Tirana, alongside a group of ambassadors, activists and protesters asking him to designate the Vjosa River a national park. Police formed a chain in front of the building, a firsthand example of the resistance from local governments and authorities. It was intimidating, but we persevered and were soon given a green light to start shooting a new film—Blue Heart, the Fight for Europe’s Last Wild Rivers. Rivers tend to unite people; they are a tangible way of linking shared, intangible passions. Over the course of filming, we found people and communities linked by love for their rivers, of which they were previously unaware. As we experienced the local food, the abundant wilderness, the generations-deep history and the unifying kindness, we gained a vivid appreciation for the region and a realization of how vital it was to protect. The global premier of Blue Heart was held at an abandoned dam in Bosnia. Over 400 locals were in attendance, many from communities in the film, and, as I sat on a piece of driftwood with my family, I watched their emotional reactions. It was a powerful and symbolic moment.
The next few months were intense. Along with film director Britton Caillouette, our NGO partners and a cadre of Patagonia employees, we entered a whirlwind of almost daily Blue Heart screenings, first throughout the Balkan region, then Europe, then globally. At first, we met people with family ties to the area, then people who’d traveled there, then NGOs from different countries working on similar issues. By June of 2018, we had our 120,000 signatures and a meeting with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, one of the big financial stakeholders in the dams. In a glass business tower in London, we sat next to our NGO partners and faced the money behind the projects, presenting the petition alongside proposals for better, less-impactful energy development. The meeting was completely removed from those it could potentially destroy, a meeting based around business—and one in which a business such as Patagonia could speak loudly and legitimately, and hopefully shift the balance of power. In the following days and months, key victories surged. The Bosnian villages of Kruščica and Fojnica, both featured in our film, stopped seven dams. In Fojnica, this marked the end of a 69
The Una is just one of many wild rivers on the Balkan Peninsula threatened with the prospect of hydroelectric dams. Bosnia and Herzegovina. ANDREW BURR
(top) Villagers of Kruščice guarded their river around the clock for 16 months to prevent the construction of power plants. ANDREW BURR; (bottom left) Activists make their case at the European Union Parliament. JASON ALDEN
10-year fight and, after guarding their river 24 hours a day for nearly 16 months, the people of Kruščica finally went home. In December 2018, the Albanian government halted all hydropower projects on the Vjosa (including the Poçem dam in Albania near Trifon’s Kuta) with a request from the Bern Convention for deeper environmental impact assessments. The European Parliament passed a resolution stressing how the effects of small hydropower dams undermine the EU’s environmental standards. Banks have been urged to reconsider their support for hydropower. The Albanian government announced plans for its first large-scale solar plant. It is clear: European institutions and beyond are reevaluating hydropower as a fossil fuel alternative.
Which brings us back to Brussels and the EU Parliament, where Trifon Murataj is just finishing his speech. Its total impact is still to be determined, and the fight is far from over. But as Trifon sits to applause, we can see the power of our role in such a campaign— our power, and the power of a single river, uniting people from all corners of the world around its wild, pristine waters. Written by Alex Weller (marketing director, Patagonia Europe) with Mihela Hladin Wolfe
296 Film screenings
20,791 Filmgoers
126,287 Petition signatures
527,359 Blue Heart website visits
21,280,000 People reached via social media 71
From Social Media to Riot Police EUROPEAN TOOLS FOR GR ASSROOTS AC TIVISTS CONFERENCE
“If you wanted to learn anything, from optimizing your social media campaign to facing off against riot police, this was the place to be. Tools left us equipped, connected and inspired; ready, in our own tiny way, to make the world a better place.” Dan Yates, cofounder of Save Our Rivers, Wales
Believing that environmental conferences held in dark, air-conditioned rooms should be phased out immediately, just like fossil fuels, we convened this year’s European Tools for Grassroots Activists gathering in Bosnia and Herzegovina at Una—one of the youngest national parks in Europe. Besides wanting to enjoy the outdoors, we wanted participants to experience a beautiful region that is part of Patagonia’s Blue Heart of Europe campaign devoted to stopping the construction of some 2,800 dams on the region’s free-flowing rivers. Setting up camp May 30–June 2, 2018, next to the undammed Una River, activists from 60 organizations all over Europe, along with Patagonia employees, facilitators and special guests, joined the fray. Participants were challenged and given the tools to work on campaign strategy, understand communications opportunities, dive into social media, visualize their thinking, understand lobbying and institutions in Brussels, learn fundraising tactics and practice direct action. During breaks, yoga, rafting, fly-fishing and dancing continued to bond us.
Activists shared their stories and learned new skills on the banks of the Una River, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (above) PIERRE CADOT; (right) JAN PIRNAT
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GRANTED: GROUPS WE SUPPORT
MOBILIZING NORTHERN MANHATTAN: Members of WE ACT for Environmental Justice fight environmental racism and improve environmental health, protection and policy in communities of color. WE ACT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
WE ACT N EW YORK C IT Y, N EW YORK Mission We build healthy communities by ensuring that people of color and low-income residents participate meaningfully in the creation of sound and fair environmental health and protection policies and practices. WE ACT is New York City’s oldest environmental-justice organization, and one of the state’s first environmental organizations led by people of color. For the past 30 years, we have mobilized northern Manhattan residents to fight environmental racism and improve environmental health, protection and policy in communities of color. Our work impacts policy at the local, state and national levels, while improving quality of life, climate resiliency and environmental protections. Activities This year we advanced our Northern Manhattan Climate Action plan, which includes policy recommendations and local actions to improve community resiliency in the face of climate change. Developed through community input, this plan prioritizes energy security and emergency preparedness, while also addressing systemic inequality and the needs of vulnerable populations in northern Manhattan.
With better communication infrastructure, our communities can quickly recover from weather-related difficulties and emergencies. We designed and placed bilingual signage throughout northern Manhattan to direct vulnerable populations to 43 public cooling centers in their neighborhoods during summer heat waves. We also launched Solar Uptown Now to provide clean, affordable, renewable energy to more than 900 residents in low-income communities in northern Manhattan. We completed one solar array, trained 75 residents in solar installation and helped create five full-time green jobs. Accomplishments Our ongoing work to educate and mobilize our northern Manhattan community on environmental issues and policies affecting their quality of life has established WE ACT as a leader in the nationwide grassroots movement for environmental justice. Written by WE ACT
PULLING TOGETHER: Indigenous-led legal challenges delayed construction of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline and tanker project. Protests, like this one in Vancouver, BC, kept the project in the public eye. JIMMY JEONG
Sierra Club BC VA N COUV E R, BRITISH COLU M BI A Mission Sierra Club BC works to protect, conserve and educate the public about British Columbia’s wilderness, species and ecosystems—within the urgent context of climate change impacts. Activities Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline and oil tankers project would threaten our climate and put salmon, whales and communities on both sides of the border at risk of diluted bitumen spills. A number of First Nations chose to defend their lands and waters by fighting the project in court, and it didn’t seem right that they should have to shoulder this burden alone. Our goal was to amplify Indigenous concerns and raise public support for the legal challenges, while building understanding of Indigenous rights, reconciliation and climate justice. We relaunched our Pull Together initiative, which had been hugely successful in raising money for Indigenous legal challenges that led to the cancellation of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline in 2016. Through Pull Together Round 2: The People v. Kinder Morgan, together with our partners, Sierra Club BC offered a range of ways people could get involved by donating, fundraising online and organizing solidarity events for the Tsleil-Waututh, Coldwater, Squamish and Stk‘emlúpsemc te Secwépemc First
Nations’ court cases. Sierra Club BC did not keep one penny of the funds raised. Through events, communications, business involvement and grassroots organizing, we engaged hundreds of people to take part and told a powerful story: that these nations aren’t standing alone. Accomplishments With the generous support of Patagonia, we helped raise more than $660,000 (CAD) for the Indigenous-led legal challenges that won in court. In August 2018, the nations declared victory as a Federal Court of Appeal decision quashed the project’s approval. Though the fight isn’t over, the pipeline and tankers project has been significantly delayed. In the process, we helped build organizing capacity of local leaders, mobilizing a groundswell of support for a livable climate and resilient communities. Pull Together offered an opportunity for individuals and dozens of businesses to take steps toward reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. Together, we showed that while stopping a pipeline is serious business, we can build community and have some fun along the way. Written by Sierra Club BC
Connect with these groups at patagonia.com/actionworks 75
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge “I am proud to stand with the committed citizens across this nation who are ready to pull out all the stops to save the Arctic Refuge—and to honor the Gwich’in people’s request to protect their homeland and their way of life.” —SENATOR TOM UDALL, (D-NM)
Caribou calves during their annual coastal plain migration in the Arctic Refuge. NATHANIEL WILDER
GRANTED: GROUPS WE SUPPORT
THE VANGUARD: These Youth Climate Intervenors led the fight against the proposed Line 3 tar sands pipeline in a Minnesota permitting case. ANDY PEARSON
Power Shift Network WA SH INGTON , D C Mission The Power Shift Network mobilizes the collective power of young people to mitigate climate change and create a just, clean energy future and resilient, thriving communities for all. Activities Young people today are at the vanguard of our nation’s diverse, bold, progressive and powerful climate movement. By 2020, millennials are expected to comprise one out of every two-and-a-half eligible voters. Yet few organizations are dedicated to organizing this vital constituency. And while most young people have a basic understanding of the threat posed by climate change, and a desire to see the nation take urgent action to combat it, they often lack an understanding of how their voices can make a difference. To address this, all of our programming is dedicated to recruiting, mobilizing and empowering young activists from both majority and minority racial, ethnic and socioeconomic communities to advocate for a just and clean energy future. Through a combination of our tar sands work and Developing Tomorrow’s Green Leaders program, we are fighting to block the expansion of tar sands extraction and empowering young people to halt the proposed Enbridge Line 3 pipeline. We have trained youth leaders in setting goals, planning campaigns and amplifying their voices to the media, enabling them to carry
out campaigns against Line 3 and become climate leaders. We have also given material and financial support to these youth-led campaigns, providing them with seed funding to build their Line 3 campaigns. We have placed an emphasis on training individuals from frontline communities, minority populations and low-income individuals. Accomplishments With the support of the Power Shift Network’s Developing Tomorrow’s Green Leaders program, 13 young people between the ages of 17 and 24 led the fight against Enbridge’s proposed Line 3 tar sands pipeline in the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) permitting case. They were granted legal standing in the case as the Youth Climate Intervenors. These youth represented themselves in court and brought expert witnesses to the case, including climate scientists and Indigenous elders. They used their platform to engage legislators and community supporters around the country and, along with several organizations, collected more than 38,000 petition signatures opposing the pipeline. These young organizers are now in the process of appealing the PUC’s decision and getting ready to stop this pipeline at its construction site if necessary. Written by Power Shift Network
Connect with this group at patagonia.com/actionworks
P R O J E C T U P DAT E : A R C T I C N AT I O N A L W I L D L I F E R E F U G E
Not for Lease The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is America’s largest designated refuge, comprising 19.6 million acres of one of the wildest corners left in North America. Its biological heart—the 1.5 millionacre coastal plain—is home to countless species of birds and numerous iconic land mammals, like musk ox, caribou, wolves and polar bears. The place holds special meaning to the Gwich’in people, who today rely on caribou for their sustenance, as they have for thousands of years. For many adventurers, a visit to the Arctic Refuge is the wilderness experience of a lifetime.
gas development. Later in 2018, the administration moved to authorize seismic exploration for oil and gas, whereby convoys of 56,000-pound
the brunt of consumer backlash. In 2018, over 100,000 phone calls and emails to the company demanded they withdraw their permit.
After decades of protection, in December 2017—as the tax reform debate closed in Washington, DC—Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski snuck two pages of prodrilling text into the final bill. Now President Trump is working to finish the job, to hand over the Arctic Refuge to oil and gas companies with minimal public review. “thumper trucks” would drive as close as 660 feet apart across the entirety of the Arctic Refuge coastal plain looking for oil.
Last spring, the Trump administration announced the preparation of an Arctic Refuge lease sale environmental impact statement. During the limited 60-day comment period that followed, over 700,000 people—the large majority of respondents—opposed oil and
The threat is large, but fortunately, there are still numerous ways to prevent damaging oil and gas activities. A bill reinstating protections for the Arctic Refuge has been introduced in Congress, and we [Alaska Wilderness League] are building a strong record of public opposition in each comment period. If the Trump administration breaks the law—and we’ve seen them do it before— we’ll see them in court. Meanwhile, oil companies and the financial institutions that fund them are increasingly aware that social responsibility and climate change play an essential role in their “bottom line.” The sole company to apply to conduct destructive seismic testing in the refuge, SAExploration, has borne
Market forces may ultimately be the thing that keeps industry out: Last year investors representing $2.5 trillion released a letter outlining the financial risks of drilling in the Arctic Refuge. We expect additional chances for the public to weigh in during 2019. You can sign up to get involved by taking action today and every day on Patagonia Action Works. Written by Alaska Wilderness League
Trump is intent on handing over the Arctic Refuge to oil and gas interests at the expense of wildlife, Indigenous people and tourism. (top) KEN MADSEN; (others) NATHANIEL WILDER
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WE SIGNED UP: Employees at our Salt Lake City Outlet speak out for public lands. LEE COHEN
Salt Lake City When President Trump came to town on December 4, 2017, to announce that his administration would be reducing the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, employees at our Salt Lake City store, Patagonia sport ambassadors and members of our corporate environmental team, along with over 5,000 Utahns, were there to meet him on the steps of the state capitol. Preceding the demonstration in support of the sanctity of our public lands, staff held an event at the store to make signs, arrange carpools to the protest and enjoy some food and drink.
Washington, DC Staff from our DC store joined the Montgomery County Conservation Corps (MCCC) in July to clean up Maryland’s Long Branch-Garland Neighborhood Park. They hauled out tons of trash, preventing it from traveling down Long Branch stream into the Anacostia River. The day of activism had special significance as MCCC is a workforce development program of the Latin American Youth Center with which the store partnered this year through a hiring initiative. Four of its members worked at the store during the summer, becoming an integral part of Patagonia DC’s team. A few continued into the fall and holiday season.
And We Sell Clothing C E N T E R S F O R E N V I R O N M E N TA L AC T I V I S M , PATA G O N I A S T O R E S P R O V I D E M O N E Y, VOLUNTEERS, CLOTHING AND EVENTS
Back in 1993, managers of our 10 North American stores met in Ventura to discuss operations. About halfway through the weeklong meeting, in walked Patagonia owner Yvon Chouinard saying he wanted the stores to become more environmentally active in their communities. The stores went on to create grants councils made up of employees to decide which environmental groups in their locales should receive money and clothing donations. Employees started volunteering as well, taking advantage of the company’s new internship program. Now, 25 years later, we have 34 stores in North America with an annual budget of $2.5 million to donate to environmental work. Along with that money, Patagonia stores continue to give clothing, volunteer staff time, host events to raise awareness and support for environmental issues and groups in their communities, and rally for hearings and peaceful protests. Here are a few of things they’ve been up to this year.
Pittsburgh Patagonia Pittsburgh staff member Wesley Hammett used his retail activist hours this year to help the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy plant about 200 native trees and plants in a bioswale maintained by the conservancy. The bioswale manages runoff from part of the park, keeping polluted water from entering storm drains and Pittsburgh’s polluted rivers.
Pittsburgh is a new market for Patagonia, and our staff has already developed strong partnerships with the city’s environmental organizations: volunteering, hosting events and granting money. On Saturdays, store staff spend time they would normally devote to their morning meeting picking up trash from the street in front of the store. Leading by example, they’ve inspired other businesses and residents of the neighborhood to join them, which has resulted in cleaner streets and stronger community partnerships.
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Adalis, a high school student from Queens, was in up to her armpits clearing
2.5 Million Dollars donated by our stores to environmental groups in their communities through our retail grants program during fiscal year 2018
125,732 Dollar value of products and inkind services also granted
1,412 Volunteer hours supplied this year by store staff
335 Nonprofit environmental groups that benefited from the retail grants program
phragmites during a volunteer outing at the Ridgewood Reservoir. RYAN STRUCK
Chicago Staff from our two Chicago stores joined nearly 300 advocates in Springfield, the state capital, for Environmental Lobby Day. This annual training is organized by Patagonia partners Illinois Environmental Council, Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club and Faith in Place. During the event, we learned more about state and national environmental issues, received tips for talking to legislators about issues and gained a better understanding of how to lobby. Considering the constant threats to our environment, it’s more important than ever to make sure that state legislators hear our concerns. At another event, we joined environmental advocates from all over Illinois to meet with state legislators and rally in front of the capitol to defeat a bill intended to weaken the Endangered Species Protection Board and remove state authority to oversee the conservation of federally endangered species. While the Trump administration continues its efforts to gut environmental protections, here in Illinois, the General Assembly’s 2018 session yielded support for expanding clean energy, new opportunities for industrial hemp and better protection for state waters.
Volunteers hack away at the invasive reed. RYAN STRUCK
New York City Nestled on the border of Bushwick, Brooklyn and Ridgewood, Queens lies the Ridgewood Reservoir, New York City’s freshwater supply during the latter part of the 19th century. No longer in use, two of Ridgewood Reservoir’s three basins have been drained and are now filled with vegetation, while the center basin provides a much needed freshwater habitat for wildlife. NYCH2O is one of the reservoir’s biggest stewards. A Patagonia Bowery environmental grant recipient, this nonprofit group works to inspire and educate New Yorkers of all ages to learn about, enjoy and protect NYC’s water ecology. Providing public and school programs at historic reservoirs, parklands, watersheds, bays, rivers and wetlands, NYCH2O encourages citizens to advocate for responsible public policy. When Matt Malina, executive director of NYCH2O, came to us at Patagonia Bowery in need of volunteers and strategic planning partners, we jumped at the opportunity. Matt informed us that Ridgewood Reservoir’s center water basin was in danger of losing its remaining water habitat if action was not taken soon. Phragmites, an invasive reed, was forming dense thickets that left unchecked would choke out the remaining water. Teaming up with NYC parks to get the proper permits and approvals,
we put together a small team to execute preliminary cutbacks of the phragmites to determine how much time and how many volunteers would be needed to remove it. This was no small task, as the phragmites had been growing for years. The first day, we cleared a path from the basin’s edge to the phragmites/waterline of the center basin. Hacking back the thick mat of 15-foot-tall reeds was slow going and tiresome, but we managed to reach the waterline to assess the environment. It was a rejoiceful moment mixed with the reality of a lot more hard work yet to be accomplished. The second day, a small team accessed the phragmites/waterline via the path we had cut on day one. We chopped feverishly for 30 minutes, which gave Matt the data he needed to determine how many people and how much time it would take to finish the job. Our small task force was a wonderful mixture of students, teachers, NYC parks employees, NYCH2O volunteers and three of us from Patagonia. It was a total team effort and the success was tangible, seeing the phragmites cut back and the waterline grow closer little by little was incredible. This spring, we will return with a full complement of Patagonia volunteers.
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Patagonia Vancouver Khatsahlano (a massive street festival held in July in Patagonia Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighborhood) provided a great opportunity to speak out against the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project and go public with our support for Georgia Strait Alliance’s efforts to stop it. The alliance is an important local voice for coastal communities and marine life in the Strait of Georgia between Vancouver Island and the mainland. Here in British Columbia, more than a dozen new and/ or expanded oil, coal or liquefied natural gas facilities are currently proposed or have recently been approved. The most controversial of these has been expansion of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline, which poses a threat to nearly every facet of the BC coast. The project would add 980 kilometers (609 miles) to an existing bitumen line, connecting tar sands in Alberta to the waters of BC. Along the way, the pipeline would pass through territories belonging to numerous First Nations groups, not all of which have given consent and whose Indigenous rights and titles were dismissed by the federal government during the flawed environmental assessment process. The pipeline would deliver a whopping 890,000 barrels of oil to the BC coast each day. It would be transported by an additional 400 ocean-going tankers each year releasing more than 100 million tons of carbon dioxide in shipping alone, along with the risk of increased noise pollution in the Strait of Georgia. The pipeline expansion would put salmon-bearing rivers, already endangered killer whales and the BC coast at much greater risk of catastrophic oil spills and jeopardize their health. It also would contribute to climate change at a rate that does not support BC’s Climate Action plan.
Despite public opposition to the pipeline from both BC’s government and its citizenry, the federal government chose to all but guarantee a path to its completion in May 2018, when it announced it would use public money to purchase pipeline expansion assets for CAD $4.5 billion. During Khatsahlano we dangled a banner above our Patagonia Vancouver store that read “An Environmental Disaster Is In The Pipeline.” Inside the store, in direct response to Justin Trudeau’s government buyout of the project, we provided educational materials and a message board that read “Climate Leaders Don’t Build Pipelines.” On it, folks could pen their opposition to the pipeline, which we later sent to Parliament in Ottawa. We also screen-printed shirts that read NO PIPELINE, which we sold to raise money for Georgia Strait Alliance and its efforts to stop the pipeline expansion. Patagonia Vancouver has supported Georgia Strait Alliance since 2014, when we first opened our doors in Kitsilano. On the day of the Khatsahlano festival, we raised an additional $3,000 for the group’s Trans Mountain efforts, which seek to stop the pipeline by advocating for a protected marine ecosystem and a healthy ocean free of oil spills and pipeline infrastructure. We used our store’s presence and banners to also bring attention to the ignored Indigenous rights, careless acts that have jeopardized orcas and salmon, and the federal government’s pipeline buyout. As a joint effort between Georgia Strait Alliance and Patagonia Vancouver, we were able to put public pressure on decisionmakers and inform the public of the dangers of the project.
Employees at our store in Vancouver, BC, used a multiday street festival to oppose expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline. JONATHON MCKECHNIE
An evening of surf films at our Ventura store helped us to connect more closely with the Spanish-speaking community. Here Kalle Caranza and Otto Flores prepare for a surf at La Ticla, Mexico. NIK WEST
Great Pacific Iron Works, Patagonia Ventura Para poder conectar directamente con la comunidad hispanoparlante de Ventura, el gerente general de la tienda de Patagonia en Ventura, Bruce Livingstone, organizó una noche especial de películas de Surf “En Español”. Dos de nuestros embajadores surfistas—Ramón Navarro de Chile y Otto Flores de Puerto Rico—presentaron las películas a más de 225 personas que se juntaron en el patio trasero de la tienda este 10 de octubre. Ramón introdujo Poco a Poco, un cortometraje que trata del manejo de una reserva internacional de surf en México, y Sub Sole, una película sobre una ola de clase mundial que él y Otto encontraron en algún lugar de Chile. Otto introdujo Chulada, una historia que cuenta un viaje de surf donde viejos amigos se reencuentran y comparten olas buenas en Mexico. Seguido por un cortometraje que destaca el trabajo sustentable de Amigos Marinos, organización medioambiental sin fines de lucro, ubicada en Baja y que fue beneficiada por un grant de Patagonia, para luego conversar de por qué los jóvenes de hoy en día no están votando, y finalizar esta conmemorable jornada con una sesión de preguntas y respuestas con Ramón y Otto.
Translation In order to connect more directly with Ventura’s Spanish-speaking community, Patagonia Ventura’s general manager, Bruce Livingstone, orchestrated a special night of surf films en Español. Two of our surf ambassadors—Chile’s Ramón Navarro and Puerto Rico’s Otto Flores—presented the films to over 225 folks gathered behind the store on October 10. Ramón introduced Poco a Poco, a short film focusing on his work (and shredding) at an international surfing reserve in Mexico, and Sub Sole, a video about a worldclass wave he and Otto found in Chile. Otto introduced Chulada, a surf trip story about old friends reconnecting over untapped Mexican barrels. A short film highlighting the sustainability work of Baja-based environmental nonprofit and Patagonia grantee, Amigos Marinos, another exploring why many young people don’t vote, and a Q&A session with Ramón and Otto rounded out the memorable evening.
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GRANTED: GROUPS WE SUPPORT
In It Together BY F U N D I N G E N V I R O N M E N TA L W O R K I N T H E I R C O M M U N I T I E S , PATAG O N I A STORES GIVE BACK AND GET A LOT
Protecting trees, growing organic agriculture, taking down dams. Retail grants are one of several ways Patagonia stores support environmental work in their own communities. These three East Coast district stores, and the groups they partner with, exemplify the sort of efforts we’re involved in all over the United States.
Patagonia Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy (PPC) was the first organization to receive a grant from our new store in Pittsburgh. Staff got to know the organization when representatives spent time with us and our customers on a busy weekend day to talk about their work. Patagonia Pittsburgh then partnered with PPC on an event and lent volunteers for a workday. Our staff was proud to provide a retail grant to support the group’s efforts to inoculate ash trees in the community. Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy works to improve quality of life for the people of Pittsburgh by restoring the park system to excellence in partnership with government and the community. Projects and programs are conducted with respect for the environment, historic design and the needs of our diverse region. Activities First spotted in Pittsburgh in summer 2007, the emerald ash borer has killed approximately 68,000 ash trees in the city’s park system. This represents nearly 16 percent of the entire tree canopy. All that remain are 160 ash trees that Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy began inoculating in 2011. PPC’s goal is to reinoculate remaining ash trees and continue our work to educate how these survivors will be the future of the species in our region.
(above) A grant from our Pittsburgh store helped to save ash trees. LAURYN STALTER (center) Our Atlanta store gave $10,000 toward the 200 Organic Farms project. GEORGIA ORGANICS (right) Patagonia Freeport’s support of Maine Rivers helped take out this dam. MAINE RIVERS
Accomplishments Thanks to Patagonia’s support and a $10,000 grant for the Emerald Ash Borer Inoculation project, we have successfully inoculated 154 ash trees as of June 2018. All of the inoculated trees are doing very well and will continue to be protected for another two to three years. Also, we have begun sharing the location and inoculation records with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and the United States Forest Service for incorporation into their respective state and nationwide data system. These trees will continue to be tracked through this system and hopefully utilized to repopulate ash tree species in our region.
Patagonia Atlanta Patagonia Atlanta’s grant to Georgia Organics illustrates our staff’s commitment to support organizations that are working to rethink the food chain. Georgia Organics is a long-standing partner, receiving our ongoing support through internships, volunteer hours, store events and environmental grants. Georgia Organics seeks to connect organic food from Georgia farms to Georgia families. We believe the closer we get to food, the stronger our communities become. Activities Since 1997, Georgia Organics has served as a leader in Georgia’s organic food ecosystem, working with partners across the state to make good food more accessible to all. We seek to educate, support and excite people through three key areas: farmer services, farm to school and community engagement. By bringing people closer to the food they eat and by growing awareness for organic, we’re helping fuel a culture where good food comes first. Accomplishments Patagonia’s $10,000 grant for our 200 Organic Farms: Farming as Environmental Stewardship project will provide technical and business training to 100 farmers on food safety, the organic certification process, one-on-one support, accounting, recordkeeping, implementing food safety standards and wholefarm planning. In addition to much-needed business skills, these workshops will give growers peer-to-peer networking opportunities. Workshop participants will then receive tailored follow-up from Georgia Organics’ Farmer Services team to receive direct, hands-on technical training on subjects such as crop rotation, organic pest control methods and greenhouse management. Throughout the year, we anticipate seeing at least 15 new certified organic farms in Georgia. Patagonia funding will enable our staff to make periodic on-farm consulting visits, and to develop in-depth training sessions at the Georgia Organics’ Annual Conference to help more farmers along the path to organic certification. Longer-term, our goal is to have 200 certified organic farms in Georgia by 2020.
Patagonia Freeport The store has provided long-term support for Maine Rivers’ dam-removal and riverrestoration projects, which led to the removal of the Masse Dam in 2017, and the Lombard Dam in 2018. Maine Rivers works to protect, restore and enhance the ecological health of Maine’s river systems. We are leading the Alewife Restoration Initiative to remove dams and restore an annual run of nearly 1 million adult alewives. Activities The Alewife Restoration Initiative is working to restore fish passage from the Atlantic Ocean to China Lake, in Maine’s Kennebec County. In 2017, after several years of effort, fundraising, engineering, public meetings and permitting, we successfully removed the Masse Dam, and in 2018 we celebrated our second success with the removal of the Lombard Dam. Our work is not done, however. Four small nonhydro dams are still left on this stream, preventing 950,000 adult alewives from migrating to China Lake. Accomplishments We looked to Patagonia for funding to help remove the Masse Dam and the Lombard Dam from Vassalboro’s Outlet Stream. The Lombard Dam was built 100 years ago by local inventor, A.O. Lombard, at the site of a wooden shingle factory. While A.O. Lombard’s patents and inventions are not directly related to the dam we took out, the fact that he is a known figure in Maine’s history means we were required to complete a professional level of historical documentation of the dam before demolishing it. Patagonia’s $15,000 grant to the Alewife Restoration Initiative enabled us to hire professional historians and a photographer to document the dam before it was removed, and to relocate the property owner’s waterline.
Connect with these groups at patagonia.com/actionworks
Firefighters who helped save the community line up for warm clothing at our store in Ventura. TEE SMITH; (right) Southern California’s Thomas Fire was one of the biggest in recorded state history. DONNIE HEDDEN
Fundraisers, Fieldwork, Disasters P R O D U C T D O N AT I O N S S E R V E M A N Y N E E D S
Each year Patagonia donates new and used clothing and gear to small, environmentally directed nonprofits. Groups can raffle off the new stuff to raise money, or offer it as an inducement to gain members and build awareness. Used products—such as a pair of waders, a rain shell or a waterproof pack—can come in quite handy for an organization’s own fieldwork. Whether counting wild salmon, removing trash from a river or spending long hours out in the snow trying to protect wild buffalo, staff and volunteers always need and appreciate protective gear. In recent years, our product-donation program has also acquired a relatively new and rapidly growing group of customers in need of clothing—those affected by natural disasters. As of this report, 2017 was the costliest year for destructive events on record in the United States, with a price tag of at least $306 billion. Fires of unprecedented size and ferocity took lives and consumed property—one right here in Ventura, home to Patagonia. Harvey dumped four feet of rain on Houston, joined by Irma, Maria and other punishing storms that caused massive flooding and dislocation in the Southeast. Torrential rains caused rivers to crest, swamping five states in the Midwest. Cities all over the country experienced record high temperatures. Though initially conceived to assist nonprofits working on behalf of Mother Nature, these days our product donations aid more and more people suffering her wrath.
300,000 Dollar value of Patagonia clothing and gear donated in FY18
950+ Nonprofits that benefited this year from our productdonation program
Can’t Get Enough Since 2010, employees at our Reno service center have been volunteering with local environmental nonprofits, helping to restore wetlands and rivers, planting more than 10,000 native trees and plants, working on organic farms, pulling weeds, counting native fish, composting and more. This year service center employees took time away from their usual tasks to devote a total of 624 volunteer hours to The Nature Conservancy, Sugar Pine Foundation, CockadoodleMoo Farm Animal Sanctuary, Safe Haven Wildlife Sanctuary, Feather River Land Trust, Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship, Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful and the TNC/Paiute Tribe. Enviro days not only help connect us to our community, they also encourage like-minded employees from various departments to get to know each other and heighten morale. Employees return from a day in the field enthusiastic about the work they’ve done, talking about it with their coworkers and feeling more engaged, happier and healthier. Enviro days are a win for all of us, not just for the nonprofits we help to support, but for our community. Patagonia employees lock arms in protest during a nonviolent direct-action training at our Reno service center. LIZ O’DONNELL
Salmon Run C E L E B R AT E S 2 5 Y E A R S Every fall, Patagonia volunteers at our headquarters in Ventura, California, host a benefit 5K run along the Ventura River to raise money for environmental nonprofits working in our area. This year marked the 25th Salmon Run, which garnered more than $15,000 for a coalition of groups working to restore lands damaged by last year’s hugely destructive Thomas Fire. Some 500 participants turned out for a morning of fun and community at this zero-waste event.
A benefit fun run raised $15,000 this year to restore areas damaged by the Thomas Fire. PAUL HENDRICKS
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GRANTED: GROUPS WE SUPPORT
MERCURY, LEAD, CYANIDE: Relaves is working to educate Chileans about the hazards of mining waste and promote a more responsible and transparent industry. RELAVES
Relaves SA N TI AG O, C H IL E Mission Relaves means mining waste in Spanish. Our organization works to inform Chileans about the hazards of mining waste in our country, seeks enforcement of regulations to deal with an estimated 740 sites (101 active, 469 inactive and 170 abandoned), educates communities and promotes a more responsible and transparent mining industry. Activities Depending on the mineral mined, mining waste can contain mercury, arsenic, lead, cyanide and sulfuric acid, which contaminate soil, ground and surface waters, and even the sea. We conduct scientific research, sampling tailings to analyze contaminants. We publish our findings and other pertinent information in our social networks. We work with communities suffering the effects of mining activities to teach them about the dangers of tailings. We’ve also been working on a documentary
film that should be finished in late 2019, which shows how mining tailings impact the environment and health in local communities. The film tells the story of the collapse of an abandoned mine in 2010, which buried and killed a couple and their two young girls under millions of tons of toxic waste. Nobody knew the dangers of living in that area, besides the authorities and owners of the mine. Though the collapse was triggered by an earthquake, the event was greatly exacerbated by the lack of responsibility on the part of the mining industry and Chilean government, which for more than 100 years have dumped, or allowed the dumping of, toxic waste in valleys, basins, deserts and even the sea, in violation of international treaties and with absolutely no respect for or enforcement of basic laws. After the catastrophe, one of the survivors, Henry
Connect with this group at patagonia.com/actionworks
Jurgens, decided to try to do something. He started Relaves Foundation, of which he is president, hoping to prevent this kind of catastrophe from ever happening again, and working for the respect and dignity of people, territories and ecosystems. Accomplishments It’s a long process, but we’ve been steadily informing people about the preponderance and dangers of tailings in Chile, and their impact on public health and the environment. We’ve built the number of Relaves followers in our social networks, pushed for a research commission in the Chilean congress and senate to review the issue of abandoned tailings, and continued to sample soil and water in communities affected by mining waste.
Written by Relaves
P R O J E C T U P DAT E : P U N TA D E LO B O S
Sharpening the Point
The Point is forever. The fight to protect Chile’s iconic lefthand surf break, Punta de Lobos, began over a decade ago when Patagonia surf ambassador and activist, Ramón Navarro, fought off development projects that would have polluted its waters and destroyed local surf and fishing cultures forever. Several years of coordinated efforts organized by Ramón and his activist friends held off developers. But a few years ago, when Ramón came to us at Patagonia with news that the point at Lobos was at risk of being privatized and paved over for large-scale condo and resort projects, we wanted to step up and help.
Nonprofit Save The Waves led a successful crowdfunding campaign, gathering lots of small donations from surfers all over the world. Patagonia matched $100,000, helping to establish nonprofit Fundación Punta de Lobos (FPL). In the summer of 2017 we donated another $150,000 earned from licensing our big-wave inflation vest. But a substantial funding gap still remained before the Mirador property at the tip of the point could be purchased. Believing in the importance of taking practical action to save the spots we love, we donated another substantial sum to close the gap. Last year, after over a decade of work, the headland at Punta de Lobos was purchased and preserved forever. Known as the Mirador, ownership of the threatened property at the tip of the point was transferred to FPL.
After taking over ownership and management of the point in 2017, the foundation immediately began work. It installed dry eco-toilets to serve the more than 3,000 tourists, surfers and fishermen who visit the area every summer, built a roundabout to manage car traffic that limits human impact on the bluffs and ecologically sensitive areas, put up marine rope fencing to guide foot traffic away from the edge of the cliff to mitigate erosion, and restored a historical house, which now serves as FPL’s science, research and educational hub. The foundation’s work is far from done. It’s now working to acquire other properties at Punta de Lobos to protect even more of this remarkable area’s beauty and biodiversity for generations to come.
Safe from overdevelopment, Punta de Lobos is now getting the infrastructure it needs to accommodate 3,000 visitors a year. (top) RODRIGO FARIAS MORENO; (bottom) SCOTT SOENS
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Off to Do Some Good E N V I R O N M E N TA L I N T E R N S H I P P R O G R A M
Patagonia employees are given the opportunity to work for up to two months each year with an environmental NGO of their choosing, while still receiving full pay and benefits. Some go for the whole two months, others for a couple of weeks and some volunteer for a day or two as part of a larger work group. Since we started the program back in 1994, more than 2,589 employees have participated. This year alone, 76 individuals and 27 groups of employees embarked on internships all over the globe. All told, 547 employees took part, providing environmental nonprofits with 17,316 hours of their time.
Christie Fong Alaska Marine Conservation Council Anchorage, Alaska
Anne-Laure Lambert Clean Ocean Project Canary Islands
Christie Fong made deep connections with the watersheds and people of Anchorage, Alaska, through her work with the Alaska Marine Conservation Council. When she wasn’t collecting signatures for the Young Fisherman’s Development Act, or raising awareness for Wild Salmon Day, she found time to climb around Hatcher Pass and land a few wild salmon with her fly rod. “I helped deliver Bristol Bay sockeye through AMCC’s Catch of the Season Program, which allows locals to purchase seafood from local fishermen who use sustainable fishing practices,” Christie said. Her work also took her to a remote fishing town where she helped to install an educational kiosk on ocean acidification.
“A new beach to clean every day,” Anne-Laure Lambert said about her internship with the Clean Ocean Project on the Canary Islands. “At 7 every morning, we went to the beach to collect plastics and other garbage.” Lambert also visited shop owners in Lajales and Corralejo to discuss and promote a campaign to ban plastic bags on Fuerteventura Island. Armed with postcards explaining the ban, and stickers for those in agreement, she helped to increase local awareness of a global problem, one bag at a time.
Christie Fong found time to forage for wild blueberries during her internship with the Alaska Marine Conservation Council. COLEMAN BECKER
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27
547
2,589
17,316
Individual employees who volunteered this year
Groups of employees that volunteered this year
Total number of employees who volunteered this year
Employees who’ve volunteered since program’s inception in 1994
Hours of service provided this year to environmental nonprofits
Hanano Shiida Kako’o O’iwi Organization He’eia, Ko’olaupoko, O’ahu
Vanessa Butler Irish Seed Savers Association Scarriff, Ireland
From mauka to makai (mountain to ocean), Hanano Shiida joined the Kako’o O’iwi Organization on its mission to restore agricultural and ecological productivity to the alluvial wetlands of He’eia, Ko’olaupoko, O’ahu. “I spent lots of time working in lo’I (wetland and taro fields), dry-land farms and making poi,” Shiida said. In the 1800s, new land uses in He’eia—including sugarcane, pineapple, rice and cattle—caused devastating erosion to the watershed, choking the river systems and reducing wetland habitat for native species. Shiida was proud to reintroduce native huli and kalo to this beautiful place, and to help restore the cultural connection between land and community.
Vanessa Butler rolled up her sleeves to help the Irish Seed Savers Association with its mission to conserve “Ireland’s very special and threatened plant genetic resources.” She worked with two gardeners to sow seed, maintain beds and harvest vegetables and grains across 20 acres. “The land included five poly tunnels, over 30 outdoor beds, apple orchards and woodlands,” Vanessa said. “After harvesting a crop, we would take it into the solarium to dry out for a few days. Once dry, we would process the seeds, which included separating the seed from the plant.” This preservation of heirloom and heritage food crop varieties gave her a glimpse into both Ireland’s rich agricultural past and its high hopes for the future. 93 93
(left to right, top to bottom) Saving seeds in Ireland. BARRY FOLEY; Documenting penguin peregrinations in New Zealand. NIKO GEORGE; Removing barbed wire fencing in California. SCOTT GOODIN; Cleaning beaches in the Canary Islands. CLEAN OCEAN PROJECT; Restoring agricultural and ecological productivity on O’ahu. NICK REPPUN
Niko George & Micaela O’Leary West Coast Penguin Trust Hokitika, New Zealand
Gary Ghiggeri Feather River Land Trust Quincy, California
Penguins like long walks on the beach at night, which is why Niko George and Micaela O’Leary found themselves on the shore every morning at first light to count and document penguin footprints. “These footprint counts provided information on critical nesting habitat for breeding penguins to be used in the face of a developing coastline,” said Niko. The duo worked with the WCPT manager to update community outreach approaches and to overhaul the group’s website. In the field, they monitored penguin colonies with “Penguin Rangers,” and attended predator-trapping workshops. “These days taught us a great deal about the overall plight of the penguin,” Niko said.
Three-row barbed wire is an iconic part of the American West, and countless miles of it now stand obsolete across thousands of acres of rehabilitated grasslands, no longer keeping in cattle, but disrupting the migratory patterns of native fauna. Gary Ghiggeri, and 30 other employees from our Reno service center, joined the Feather River Land Trust to remove field fencing, old cedar posts and several hundred yards of barbed wire over eight days in the field. “When we laid down our tired and worn fence pliers at the end of our stint, acres of previously closed-in grasslands were reopened to their natural state, and wildlife was once again allowed to roam free in the shadow of Mount Lassen,” Gary said.
Aaron Sever / The Nature Conservancy-River Fork Ranch / NV • Allison Hendricks / Futaleufú Riverkeeper / Chile • Andrew Koehler / Wild Bird Fund / NY • Ann Palmer / Los Padres Forest Watch / CA • Annika Washburn / Return to Freedom / CA • Anthony Shough / Belize Audubon Society / Belize • Art Lemus / Mojave Desert Land Trust / CA • Benjamin Dobson / Grupo Asociativo de Cafe Especial la Barniza / Colombia • Breann Sliker / Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture / NY • Carrie Baldwin / Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden / CA • Chelsea Saul / Urban Roots Garden Classrooms / NV • Cheney Caldwell / Fundación Agro Ecological Iguazú / Argentina • Chris Hare / Ojai Raptor Center / CA • Christie Fong / Alaska Marine Conservation Council / AK • Customer Service Department / Feather River Land Trust / NV • Danielle Poirier / Surfrider Foundation Rincon / Puerto Rico • Dealer Service Department / Friends of Nevada Wilderness / NV • Denise Neil / The Nicoya Peninsula / Costa Rica • Dennis Ryan / Conservación Patagónica / Chile • Enviro Department / California Institute of Environmental Studies / CA • Dillon Brook / American River Conservancy / CA • Elena Egorova / Fundación Fungi / Chile • Elizabeth Chenoweth / Ojai Raptor Center / CA • Emily Geeza / City Kids DC / WY • Emma Lore / Kako’o Oiwi / HI • Erik Krahn / CEIBA Foundation for Tropical Conservation / Ecuador • Geoff Holstad / For Love of Water / CA, MI • Hanano Shiida / Kako’o Oiwi / HI • Hector Castro / Amigos Marinos / Mexico • Helena Barbour / Nest / India • Jane Sievert / Redwood Community Action Agency / CA • Jasin Nazim / Friends of Cedar Mesa / UT • Jennifer Garcia / Shark Stewards / CA • Jim Little / Ojai Valley Land Conservancy / CA • Jonathan Carter / Recreation Northwest
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/ WA • Judson Heard / The Nature Conservancy / ID • Jules Isaac / Bronx River Alliance / NY • Julie Hale / Tilth Alliance / WA • Kevin Landeros / Fundación Agroecológica Iguazú / Argentina • Lars Linden / Gaining Ground / MA • Leigh Bost / Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy / NC • Lex Kridler / Conservación Patagónica / Chile • Linda Glave / Environmental Entrepreneurs / CA • Manuelle Chanoine / Kupu / HI •
Marcela Riojas / Fundación Fungi / Chile • Mary
Elliott / Oregon Natural Desert Association / OR • Meghan Wolf / Friends of Nevada Wilderness / NV • Micaela O’Leary / West Coast Penguin Trust / New Zealand • Michelle Edmonson / Tahoe Rim Trail Association / NV • Monica Warsaw / Salviamo L’Orso / Italy • Nanette Stowell / Nest / India • Nate Ptacek / Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness / MN | CA • Niko George / West Coast Penguin Trust / New Zealand • Pamela Pedley / The Nature Conservancy / VI • Paul Hendricks / Futaleufú Riverkeeper / Chile • Atlanta Store / Georgia Organics / GA • Boston Store / Urban Farming Institute / MA •
Employees volunteered this year
Cardiff Store / San Diego River Park Foundation / CA • Freeport Store / Hurricane Island Foundation / ME • Ventura Store / Surfrider / CA • Hale’iwa Store / Hi’ipaka Waimea Valley / HI • Honolulu Store / Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi | Huli the Movement / HI • Palo Alto Store / Yosemite Climbing Association / CA • Portland Store / Forest Park Conservancy / OR • Salt Lake City Store / Green Urban Lunchbox / UT • San Francisco Store / Bull Valley Agricultural Center / CA • Santa Monica Store / The Bay Foundation / CA • SoHo Store / City Growers / NY • Toronto Store / Park People / Canada • Washington DC Store / Dreaming Out Loud / DC • Ryan Blum / Mahwah Environmental Volunteers Organization / NJ • Sara Strader / Oregon Natural Desert Association / OR • Sarah Darnell / Conservación Patagónica / Chile • Sarah Huckins / EcoPeace Middle East / Jordan • Scott Carrington / Costas Verdes / Costa Rica • Sebastian Cancino / Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation / MT • Shipping Department / Trout Unlimited | Be The Change Project / CA | NV • Sonny Bentz / The R.O.L.E. Foundation / Indonesia • Tara Conway / Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Yukon / Canada • Todd Copeland / The Nature Conservancy / CA • Vanessa Butler / Irish Seed Savers Association / Ireland • Yarden Orly / Garden City Harvest / MT • Anne-Laure Lambert / Clean Ocean Project / Canary Islands • Bernard Kocher / STOPP / Switzerland • Vanessa Ruebe / STOPP / Switzerland • Caroline van Heule / Surfers Against Sewage / UK • Cem Tanyeri / The Pollinators / Netherlands • Steven Barrow / Moy Hill Farm / Ireland • Emma Backlund / South West Marine Debris Clean Up / Tasmania • Belinda Baggs / The Wilderness Society / Victoria • Swann Laurent / The Bob Brown Foundation / Victoria •
Hiro Sato / Ryuiki
No Shizen Wo Kangaeru Network / Hokkaido • Kazuya Yoshitani / Kaminoseki no Shizen wo mamoru kai / Yamaguchi • Tomoe Michiue / Kaminoseki no Shizen wo mamoru kai / Yamaguchi • Nozomi Toida / Satoyama Guruguru Smail Farm / Saitama • Junichi Sekikawa / Kamigo Segami No Shizen Wo Mamoru Kai / Kanagawa • Go moritake / Kamigo Segami No Shizen Wo Mamoru Kai / Kanagawa • Yasuhiro Yagi / Minamisanriku Nature-center Tomo no kai / Miyagi • Yoriko Ohnuma / Minamisanriku Nature-center Tomo no kai / Miyagi • Etsuko Kuroda / Minamisanriku Nature-center Tomo no kai / Miyagi • Yasuaki Hori / Minamisanriku Nature-center Tomo no kai / Miyagi • Kauhito Miyagawa / Minamisanriku Nature-center Tomo no kai / Miyagi • Moriko Nishida / Minamisanriku Nature-center Tomo no kai / Miyagi • Takehiro Yoshimoto / Kaminoseki no Shizen wo mamoru kai / Yamaguchi • Kouhei Syouda / Kaminoseki no Shizen wo mamoru kai / Yamaguchi • Saori Oyamada / Kaminoseki no Shizen wo mamoru kai / Yamaguchi • Sappro kita Store / Sanrugawa wo mamoru Kai / Hokkaido • Fukuoka Store / Ishikigawa Mamori Tai / Ngasaki • Baysaide Outlet / Tokuteihieirikatudouhoujin Hotaru No Furusato Segamizawa Kikin / Kanagawa • Kamakura Store / Tokuteihieirikatudouhoujin Hotaru No Furusato Segamizawa Kikin / Kanagawa • Yokohama Store / Kamigo Segami No Shizen Wo Mamoru Kai / Kanagawa 95
GRANTED: GROUPS WE SUPPORT
FROM THE FOOTHILLS TO THE BAY: GRE’s Valerie Lee in a patch of wild parsnip that’s flourishing thanks to the group’s restoration efforts at Redwood Grove Nature Preserve in Los Altos, California. GRASSROOTS ECOLOGY
Grassroots Ecology PA L O A LTO, C A L IFORN I A
Mission Grassroots Ecology works to engage and educate the public in Silicon Valley to restore local ecosystems. We envision vibrant, healthy lands and human communities that support and sustain one another and are resilient and adaptable to a changing world. Activities From its coastal wetlands to its mountains, Silicon Valley has a rich natural legacy. Located within a globally recognized hot spot for biodiversity, it provides habitat for thousands of plant and animal species—some of which exist nowhere else on the planet. At the same time, Silicon Valley is home to over 3 million people and some of the largest tech companies in the world. While the close intersection of urban and wild makes our region a wonderful place to live, it also creates some challenges: increased flood and fire risk, degraded and fragmented habitat, contaminants in our soil and waterways, and the proliferation of invasive species at the expense of biodiversity. These issues—all exacerbated by global climate change—chip away at our environmental health and community health. Grassroots Ecology leverages the power of volunteers to create healthy lands across Silicon Valley. We restore native plants to open spaces and neighborhoods, steward creeks and watersheds, and provide hands-on nature education. We are grassroots in name and grassroots in practice. By working across sectors and generations, we multiply our power to sustain and regenerate our local part of the planet. Accomplishments Grassroots Ecology works collaboratively with local governments, public agencies, schools, corporations, individuals and other nonprofits to care for the lands and waters of Silicon Valley. Our team engages 12,000 people of all ages annually in environmental restoration, community science and educational programs offered at outdoor spaces from the foothills to the bay. Written by Grassroots Ecology
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GRANTED: GROUPS WE SUPPORT
MAKING CONNECTIONS: Outdoor Afro is working to reconnect thousands of people from the African American community to the outdoors. OUTDOOR AFRO
Outdoor Afro OA K L A N D, C A L IFORN I A Mission Outdoor Afro celebrates and inspires African American connections and leadership in nature. We help people take better care of themselves, our communities and our planet. We are working to connect thousands of people to help lead the way for inclusion in outdoor recreation, nature and conservation for all. Activities Outdoor Afro is at the forefront of helping African Americans equitably reconnect with the natural world through engaging with the outdoors in community with one another. We activate networks in nearly 30 states, led by trained volunteer leaders who facilitate activities such as hiking, biking, camping, environmental education, conservation stewardship and more. Through planned activities, we reach 30,000 people annually and amplify those experiences through coordinated social and traditional media efforts that reach millions. We are changing the visual narrative and inspiring access to the most pristine nature, as well as urban nature, including local parks, trails and open spaces. These activities promote not only a healthy lifestyle, they also help communities find healing, connect to black history found in many natural areas and inspire an increased desire to protect vulnerable public lands for all to enjoy. Outdoor Afro is also committed to helping African Americans exert their influence on public lands by encouraging them to use their spending power
to support outdoor companies that share our vision for equity in access and enjoyment of our park and open-space heritage. Accomplishments In April 2018 we held our annual national leadership training for nearly 80 new and returning volunteer Outdoor Afro leaders. Since then, volunteers have hosted 332 events around the country, connecting their communities with nature. New emerging Outdoor Afro networks launched in Scottsdale, Arizona; Nashville, Tennesse; Portland, Maine; and Salt Lake City, Utah. On the advocacy front, we were an important voice in passing California Proposition 68, which authorized funding for state and local parks, environmental protection projects, water infrastructure projects and food protection projects. We are now focusing on supporting the reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is our country’s most important conservation and recreation program. Notably, a group of Outdoor Afro leaders embarked on a Kilimanjaro expedition in June 2018. It was the first ever all-African American team, which included climbers and support staff, to climb Kilimanjaro. Written by Outdoor Afro
Connect with this group at patagonia.com/actionworks
P R O J E C T U P DAT E : PATAG O N I A J A PA N F I G H T S C OA L
Struggle for Power The meltdown and release of radioactive materials at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of 2011, shook Japanese faith in the reliability and wisdom of nuclear energy. To make up for the closure of most nuclear power plants in Japan, the Japanese government has turned to coal.
prefecture. It will pollute both air and water within its region, and exacerbate climate change globally. Another plant, this one powered by a combination of coal and biomass, is also planned. But bowing to public pressure, the business
for the use of renewables, it developed a campaign called Don’t Go Back to Coal. Patagonia Japan also collaborates with several snow-related businesses and snow communities to lobby local governments in support of renewable
operator renounced coal in favor of 100 percent biomass. Sendai City has now enforced strict regulations regarding coal-fired power plants—a victory for citizens’ movements.
energy. And here at Patagonia Japan, we’ve installed photovoltaic arrays on our Surf Chiba and Surf Osaka stores to generate some of our own electricity. We also invest in solar sharing, through which the costs and benefits of a solar energy power plant are shared by the group that benefits, while also promoting sustainable agriculture.
Since 2012, some 50 new coal-fired power plants have been proposed. Seven were subsequently canceled, mostly for business reasons, but eight others have been built and are now operational. The possibility of another 35 plants looms large. If they are constructed, Japan will have more than 135 coal-fired electricitygenerating sites. Coal-fired power plants are one of the biggest causes of greenhouse gas emissions in Japan. While other countries have declared they will phase out coal as a source of energy, the only developed country that continues to add more coal-generated electricity to its portfolio is Japan. People all over the country have turned out to oppose construction of these new facilities. Public pressure had at least something to do with the cancellation of the seven proposed plants, but the Japanese government continues to opt for the convenient short-term answer instead of investing in renewable energy. A new coal-fired plant opened at Sendai Port in October 2017 despite stout opposition, which included a court challenge by Patagonia grant recipient, Association for the Coal-Fired Power Plant Construction Problem at Sendai Port. The plant was constructed to provide electricity outside of the
Kiko Network—an environmental NGO Patagonia supports with funding, strategies and volunteers—works to spread awareness about the many downsides of generating electricity by burning coal. Lobbying against the proliferation of coal-fired electricity, and
Japan is looking to coal-fired power plants to compensate for the closure of its nuclear generators. KISHUJI RAPID
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We Take It Back W O R N W E A R ® P R O G R A M C E L E B R AT E S F I V E Y E A R S O F R E PA I R I N G , R E U S I N G A N D R E C YC L I N G PATAG O N I A C LO T H I N G
While 2018 marks Worn Wear’s five-year anniversary, repairing, reusing and recycling gear at Patagonia has much deeper roots. We’ve been repairing our customers’ gear since the 1970s, began taking our clothing back for recycling in 2005, and in 2011, we started encouraging customers to sell the Patagonia gear they no longer were wearing on eBay, and helped them to do so. But it was five years ago that a blog called Worn Wear: The Stories We Wear, by Lauren and Keith Malloy, challenged us to reimagine how we could inspire more people to take ownership of the things they purchase by keeping items in play, fixing them as needed and/or passing them along to someone who will use them—with the purpose of reducing our overall consumption. The blog, and subsequent film by the same name, share stories about the relationship people have with their Patagonia gear. It celebrates clothing that has been passed down to the next generation, through the highs and lows of life, or has become part of someone’s identity. The words of our community bring to life the beauty and happiness of being satisfied with a few good things. They embody quality over quantity and inspire us to be responsible citizens, consuming only what we truly need. Through the blog, it was our customers who said in their own words what we had been trying to communicate through statistics and services: Let’s keep this gear going! And so it was that 2013 became the year Worn Wear took on more than stories and became the moniker for our program to keep gear in use. This included repair services that also teach folks how to fix stuff themselves (nope, that doesn’t void the warranty!), a trade-in service where we buy back Patagonia gear that isn’t serving the current owner and we put it up for sale online so that someone else can purchase it, and our recycling program that collects truly hammered gear and keeps it out of the landfill.
ON THE ROAD: A Worn Wear rig in Kaunertal, Austria, heads to the next repair event during last year’s snow tour. AARON SCHWARTZ
4.93
6.6
6
Kilograms of CO2 equivalent on average saved by trading in and reselling a piece of Worn Wear rather than making a new one
Gallons on average of water saved
Languages spoken by Worn Wear crews
40
200
84,000
85,000
100,000
Years of inventory we can draw from to repair our clothing
Days spent on the road last year by some of our Worn Wear repair techs
People who came to Worn Wear repair events last year
Pieces of Patagonia clothing and gear customers traded in, or were returned through our Ironclad Guarantee program, and put up for resale
Pieces of clothing fixed by our Worn Wear repairs centers last year
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Since 2013, Worn Wear has repaired not only Patagonia gear, but also gear from other brands, with traveling repair services across the United States, Europe and now Latin America and Japan, meeting over 84,000 people just last year. Six languages are spoken among our global Worn Wear tour crews, and several employees spent more than 200 days on the road traveling in uniquely constructed vehicles, several created by artist/surfer Jay Nelson. And for folks who couldn’t meet up with our Worn Wear crews on tours last year, our repair centers all over the world fixed over 100,000 Patagonia items. The reuse of gear experienced a full revolution with the launch of WornWear.com last year. Today, you can browse some 10,000 pieces of perfectly functioning, good-condition, used Patagonia gear for sale. This was a huge milestone to hit in a short amount of time considering that our resale program in 2013 consisted of a handful of Patagonia stores stocked with small selections of used Patagonia gear. Last year our customers traded in more than 85,000 garments, along with items that have been returned through our Ironclad Guarantee program, that stock the Worn Wear sections of our stores. For every item traded in
and resold on WornWear.com, an average of 4.93 kilograms of CO2 equivalent and 6.6 gallons of water were saved. For a brand to resell its products, it has to start with long-lasting goods that can dependably serve multiple owners. Worn Wear couldn’t exist without the quality and repairability our product teams build into Patagonia clothing. We’re lucky to have over 40 years of inventory to draw from. By creating a secondhand marketplace for Patagonia products, we give customers the chance to buy an affordable item with a long life ahead of it, rather than a new one of lesser quality that might need to be replaced multiple times. Patagonia clothing purchased from Worn Wear is covered by the same Ironclad Guarantee we offer with new products, ensuring that when needed, we’ll fix it the same as we would a new piece. At Worn Wear, we’re on a mission to transform constant consumers into curators of quality. We want to help everyone into a piece of Patagonia gear that lasts long enough to provide a lifetime of stories. And we hope to hear yours soon!
For a brand to resell its products, it has to start with long-lasting goods that can dependably serve multiple owners. Worn Wear couldn’t exist without the quality and repairability our product teams build into Patagonia clothing.
THE FIX IS IN: Our Worn Wear tour crews spent more than 200 days on the road last year fixing broken clothing in the United States, Europe, Japan and Latin America. (far left) JULIAN ROHN; (above) KERN DUCOTE
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GRANTED: GROUPS WE SUPPORT
SEA CHANGE: Korean soft coral communities threatened by development, pollution and expanding tourism may receive better protection thanks to the work of Green Korea United. GREEN KOREA UNITED
Green Korea United SE OU L , SOUTH KORE A
Mission Green Korea United works to improve coexistence between humans and the natural world. It promotes respect for life, a social order more in tune with nature and nonviolence. Activities Based on field surveys, we confirmed that soft coral communities in the Jeju Sea were threatened by coastal reclamation, badly planned development, expanding tourism and marine pollution. We identified a large number of soft corals that are endangered in Korea, and therefore legally protected. After the publication of our report, we held a press conference requesting that these corals be protected, with the help of local environmental organizations and residents of Jeju. We sent our report, as well as a written opinion, to the Ministry of Environment and Cultural Heritage Administration demanding protection. We also launched a website to promote public awareness of soft coral communities using photographs and videos taken during the field surveys. This website will be used for other campaigns as well. Accomplishments Based on the evidence we obtained through our field surveys, we were able to persuasively demand that the government establish a comprehensive protection plan to preserve soft coral communities. In the case of Munseom Islet, the Cultural Heritage Administration began investigating the threats to soft corals caused by recreational submarine tours. Depending on the findings, these tours may be shut down to introduce a resting phase. Written by Green Korea United
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Including the Carbon Sink PATAG O N I A C A S E C O M P E T I T I O N C H A L L E N G E S S T U D E N T S TO HELP US BECOME CARBON-NEUTR AL BY 2025
“In addition to setting carbon emission targets, Patagonia should cap production.” Bard College, Patagonia Case Competition, Second-Place Team
Cap production? Bold, innovative ideas … These are what we look to discover through the Patagonia Case Competition, an annual contest now in its third year that leverages the collective brainpower of graduate students to find solutions to the environmental crisis. And Bard College’s recommendation that Patagonia limit the amount of products we make—and our customers seem to want— to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025 was indeed quite bold. We are in the business of selling things, after all. The Bard team, riffing off Patagonia’s “Don’t Buy This Jacket” advertisement from a few years back, posited a “Don’t Make This Jacket” campaign, which would cap new production in addition
to setting carbon-emission targets. Rather than making and selling even more products, they recommended Patagonia look for growth through innovative leasing, modular design and other business models outside our current way of doing business. Bard’s was one of more than 100 proposals submitted this year by interdisciplinary graduate student teams to help us reduce, offset and capture the CO2 emissions responsible for climate change in order to achieve carbon neutrality. Others from the competition, which we hold in collaboration with UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, included renewable energy projects, creating garment-recycling hubs and using blockchain technology to increase supply chain transparency. Yale University’s “Everything but the Carbon Sink” team took third, recommending different ways to use regenerative organic agriculture to retain carbon in farmland soil—an idea put forth by several teams. In addition, Yale proposed that we implement a gradually increasing carbon tax on ourselves, using the proceeds to invest in renewable energy and land management projects that can store carbon—the “carbon sink.”
(left) Interdisciplinary teams of graduate students shared their innovative proposals for a carbon-neutral Patagonia. MANALI SIBTHORPE; And they went surfing. ALEX KREMER
“Question the status quo—that’s a principle we hold dearly here at Berkeley. Patagonia also questions the status quo, and challenges the status quo, and arguably decimates the status quo—probably doesn’t even care about the status quo, perhaps.” Robert Strand, executive director of the Center for Responsible Business at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
Investing in large land funds to stimulate small-scale farming and environmental ecosystems is an emerging method to offset corporate emissions, while improving the health of our planet. But it’s a huge proposition. According to University of Virginia PhD candidate, Stephanie Roe, “Using solely land sinks to capture the carbon necessary to stay within the global Paris Agreement temperature limitations would require regenerative land the size of China.”
mitigate pollution from microplastics and reduce the consumption of fossil fuels to put Patagonia on the path to net positive. Dean Carter, head of Patagonia human resources, announced UVA the winner, describing its team’s proposal as “truly
students as consultants, digging deeper into one team’s proposal to explore a biobased durable water repellent in place of today’s more environmentally unpalatable chemistry, and working with a student pursuing a PhD in soil science to develop a protocol for measuring
This year’s winner? A team from University of Virginia, whose students from business, material and environmental science disciplines wowed Patagonia judges with their policy, investing and material-science ideas. Their suggestion that Patagonia work not just to achieve carbon neutrality, but to exceed it, was also bold. They proposed science-based targets, the use of novel materials, land sinks and distributing electricity using microgrids to help us not only reduce CO2 emissions, but capture even more than we produce. One particularly intriguing solution was to invest in and partner with Mango Materials, a start-up company that uses methane, a potent greenhouse gas, to make a biodegradable alternative to polyester. This would be a real game changer, not only for Patagonia, but for the entire apparel industry, as it has the potential to capture methane emissions,
inspiring, blowing us away with offthe-shelf ready solutions to make a difference.” The Case Competition is not just for show. Since its inception, our innovation team has collaborated with several of the winning teams to try to bring their ideas to fruition. Over the last three years, we’ve hired a few of the
soil that is managed using regenerative organic practices. Already this year, we’ve been working with the team from UVA to explore the use of biodegradable fibers to make clothing, and have been in contact with Bard’s team about some of their ideas—capping production among them.
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GRANTED: GROUPS WE SUPPORT
Kumano I Ke Ala WA I M E A , K AU A‘ I , H AWA I ‘ I
Mission Kumano I Ke Ala (KIKA) seeks to empower a sustainable west Kaua�i and restore its cultural resources by building a foundation of Aloha �Āina (love of the land) through native Hawaiian cultural education to grow self-directed, critical thinkers. Activities The Waimea River is one of the most important landmarks on the west side of Kaua�i. Every day the community crosses it to get to schools, jobs, medical facilities and family recreation. Low water levels, caused by years of neglect and diversions, have resulted in loss of habitat for native fish, as well as reduced water resources for the community. The river’s water level is dangerously low, causing silt to accumulate in mounds. The river mouth remains nearly closed for much of the year, and the hinana’s (Hawaiian stream goby) ability to move upstream is impeded by silt-covered rocks. West Kaua�i’s economic stability was once reliant upon the sugar industry, which diverted millions of gallons of water per day to irrigate fields. The water continues to flow to those ditches. Decreasing water levels demand our immediate attention. Accomplishments Our students and community have come to understand the need to change the way we use, protect and manage our water for future generations. A community call-to-action plan was created by KIKA and Waimea High School. Together we organized a workday to remove one of seven silt islands in the Waimea River. The goal was, and continues to be, its removal by hand—one bucket at a time. The use of machinery is not cost-effective and would require special permitting to enter the river. This challenge became an opportunity to bring keiki-to-kupuna (child to elder) side by side to laulima (work cooperatively together) not only for the future of our river, but for the reconnectedness of the community to its cultural history. Written by Kumano I Ke Ala
ALOHA �ĀINA: Working for a more sustainable west Kaua�i, volunteers clear a silt island in the Waimea River blocking the Hawaiian stream goby. KUMANO I KE ALA
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The Power of Bears Ears BY TERRY TEMPEST WILLIAMS
“What this country needs is a businessman for president,” says Gatewood, the banker in John Ford’s classic western, Stagecoach set in Monument Valley. He briskly leaves town with a satchel full of money stolen from his clients. Ford’s film was made in 1939. Nearly 80 years later, we indeed have a businessman for a president, and he, too, is stealing from his constituents, only it’s more than money. Donald J. Trump and his chief henchman, former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, are robbing the American people of incomparable protected landscapes like Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments in Utah. This is a true crime story happening in real time right before our eyes. Conservation groups have denounced President Trump’s use of the Antiquities Act of 1906 to strip protections from these lands as not only unprecedented, but illegal. The Bears Intertribal Coalition has called it “an assault on Indian Sovereignty.” For almost a decade, the Hopi, Navajo, Ute Mountain Ute, Ute Indian Tribe, and the Pueblo of Zuni had been calling for the protection of the Bears Ears area—1.9 million acres of red rock canyons and mesas in the southeast corner of Utah—as a national monument. Maps were drawn from traditional knowledge, honoring the sacred nature of Bears Ears, two pinyon-juniperfringed mesas revered by Native People. These hallowed lands are where the bones of their ancestors are buried, where their medicine is found and collected from native plants, where their
(far left) The trailhead to Zebra Slot is no longer part of Grand StaircaseEscalante National Monument. KENNAN HARVEY; Protesters take to the streets of Salt Lake City in defense of Bears Ears. ANDREW BURR
ceremonies are held. Local and national environmental groups became allies, as a majority of Utahns and American citizens supported this campaign to create a new national monument in the remote red rock desert of southern Utah. Their efforts paid off. On December 28, 2016, President Barack Obama signed a proclamation establishing the 1.35-million-acre Bears Ears National Monument. It was the first time in American history that western science agreed to join traditional knowledge in a cooperative management agreement between federal agencies and Native Peoples. The agreement was short-lived. Four months later, President Trump signed an executive order charging Interior Secretary Zinke to review all national monuments over 100,000 acres that had been established between 1996 and 2016. Out of the 27 monuments that met those criteria, six were seen as “too big” and recommended for dramatic reductions. Two of the six monuments were located in my home state of Utah. Two million acres of now-unprotected wild lands, where it is estimated that some 100,000 archaeological sites belonging to pre-Puebloan people exist, are now open for business. Oil and
gas leases within the released lands of the former monument can now be auctioned off in online sales; coal and uranium mining claims can be activated; and industrial tourism without the proper checks and balances can begin its assault on this fragile desert landscape. As Natalie Landreth, staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund, points out, President Trump’s order opens these lands to “entry, location, selection, sale” and “disposition under all laws relating to mineral and geothermal leasing” and “location, entry and patent under mining laws.” What had been an honoring of Native People’s claims as sovereign nations has been turned into an open market for corporate claims for fossil fuel development. The long view of protection has been swapped for the short view of extraction. Open lands for the many are now open markets for the few. “This is taking public lands that belong to the American people and selling to the highest bidder,” Landreth said. “There is just no other way to understand it.” The five tribes have filed a lawsuit against President Trump and federal agencies, as have national and local environmental groups and Patagonia, the outdoor clothing company.
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On December 4, 2017, in the rotunda of the Utah State capitol, flanked by Utah’s top Republican politicians, President Trump signed a new proclamation to gut Bears Ears National Monument by 85 percent, leaving two disconnected parcels and changing the monument’s name to “Shash Jaa,” privileging the Navajo language over the other tribes, and to slice Grand StaircaseEscalante National Monument in half. The president said he was returning these lands to the American people. That was a lie—these lands were already under our stewardship. Our public lands are our public commons. Utah congressman John Curtis, a Republican, has introduced a bill that would provide protections for archaeological sites in the areas President Trump stripped from Bears Ears. It also promises no new leasing for mineral development in those areas. But tribal leaders who oppose Trump’s action say the Curtis legislation is largely smoke and mirrors, providing little real protection; and because Congress indisputably retains authority to create national monuments, the bill, if passed, would nullify the tribes’ right to sue the federal government and render moot the other lawsuits defending Bears Ears. Yet the rights of Indian sovereignty must be defended. The integrity of the Antiquities Act of 1906 must be upheld. No US president has ever undertaken this kind of review of our national monuments. No US president has ever reduced a national monument by this size, let alone two in the same state; four other national monuments are still at risk of reduction. A dangerous legal precedent could be set. If the courts rule that a president can shrink already designated monuments by proclamation, no national monument—from Katahdin Woods and Waters in Maine to Muir Woods in California—is safe. The story of Bears Ears National Monument is a story of power. The power of the land, the power of the federal government, the power of the Mormon Church (which dominates Utah politics), the power of the fossil fuel industry, and the power of Native People who have inhabited these lands for millennia. When Senator Orrin Hatch held a news conference about Bears Ears shortly after Trump’s executive order last spring, he said, “The Indians they don’t fully understand that a lot of the things that they currently take for granted on those lands, they won’t be able to do if it’s made clearly into a monument or a wilderness.” Pressed by a journalist for an example, he replied, “Just take my word for it.“ In that moment, the patriarchy of the Mormon Church was in full view. I remember when the Native American author Vine Deloria Jr. came to the University of Utah to speak in 1974. His topic, “Cultural Genocide.” He called out the Mormon Church’s Indian Placement Program as racist. This was a common practice among Mormon families whereby they would raise a Navajo or Ute child in their homes and “educate” the child in the ways of “The Spirit.” The program was encouraged and supported by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to “benefit their salvation.”
Deloria’s message was a knife slicing into my conscience: Shame on all of you within the LDS Church who think our people are better off in your homes than in their own homes with their own families. He said something about not needing our charity, but respect; not needing our culture, but their own. I heard him. His ire entered my bloodstream and traveled straight to my heart. I felt the pain of the oppressor, as one who had been taught to believe we were “a chosen people” and that I was right, and then, suddenly, came into an abrupt understanding that I was wrong. It was only a matter of time until I left my home religion. But I have never left my home ground, or stopped loving the place and the people I come from. Recently, I visited with Jonah Yellowman, a spiritual adviser among the Diné (Navajo), a powerful leader in the conversation surrounding Bears Ears. He has become a friend I greatly admire and trust. In the bloodred shadows of Monument Valley that stretch across the sage and sand where buttes and buttresses rise as stone monuments that need no designation, what endures is what is standing—the iconic right and left mittens of Monument Valley, physical manifestations of geologic time that have been shaped and sculpted by wind and water. Allowing one’s eyes to scan the serrated horizon, one cannot help but be struck by our
segregated into a world of black or brown or white. We have all been diminished by this ongoing fight over wildlands in Utah. And in the case of Bears Ears, the people I know and love on both sides of this issue, those in favor of the monument and those who are not, those within my own family and those in my own community in alliance with the tribes—when we sit down and break bread together, what we all can agree on is that we love these lands and share a desire for a future that includes wild and reverent spaces where the wingbeats of ravens register as prayers and the sweet smell of sage brings us back home. We need to find a common language, alongside what binds us together, not what tears us apart. We need to have the hard conversations between neighbors and family and really listen to one another. Perhaps Jonah’s call to go deeper is a call to acknowledge the power that resides in the earth itself, the organic intelligence inherent in deserts and forests, rivers and oceans, and all manner of species beyond our own. We cannot create wild nature, we can only destroy it—and in the end, in breathtaking acts of repentance, try to restore what we have thoughtlessly removed at our own expense, be it wolves or willows or cutthroat trout or these precious desert lands. Bears Ears is a place of power. Anyone who has walked this erosional landscape of buttes and mesas and experienced the embrace of red rock canyons animated by the handprints of the ancient ones carefully placed on sandstone walls rising upward to a starlit sky cannot stand by and be witness to its demise by those who care only for what the land can produce, the real estate that can be sold, or the commodity it can become.
own insignificance in the face of this vast expanse of layered time. Humbled by a panoramic beauty indifferent and unsettling, I find myself on the edge of an unknowable spiritual power emanating from the land itself. “Bears Ears is a sacred place for us,” Jonah reiterated. “Now, it is threatened. We have to go deeper.”
Utah’s red rock desert, as vulnerable as it now is, will survive us with or without presidential proclamations. But we may not survive without it. Essay excerpted from EROSION: Essays of Undoing to be published in October 2019, by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. A version of it first appeared in Yale Environment 360.
I keep thinking about what he might mean to go deeper and how this might set us on a very different course as a people rooted in a place called Utah, and for that matter all of us who live in America. Jonah has consistently said, “We are not just protecting Bears Ears for our people, but all people.” I am tired of being told I am on the far side of left-leaning politics, that I am an environmental extremist, an ecoterrorist, an activist. I am tired of my own anger that is easily triggered and accessed by a Trump tweet or another act of aggression laid out by the Department of the Interior, such as opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling just because they can, even as fossil fuels are headed the way of the dinosaurs. I don’t want to live in a binary world of either/or, rural or urban, politically correct or incorrect, or most damaging of all,
(left) Utahns took the fight to protect Bears Ears to the steps of Utah’s state house in Salt Lake City. ANDREW BURR; (above) Author Terry Tempest Williams. DEBRA ANDERSON
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Rewilding Chile “I am proud of my husband Doug and his vision, which continues to guide us, in addition to our entire team ... for completing these two national parks, a major milestone of our first 25 years of work.” —KRIS TOMPKINS, TOMPKINS CONSERVATION
Kris Tompkins, Patagonia National Park, Chile. JIMMY CHIN
By the Numbers Q UA N T I F Y I N G S O M E O F O U R E N V I R O N M E N TA L & S O C I A L R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y W O R K F O R F I S C A L Y E A R 2018 ( M AY 1, 2 0 17- A P R I L 3 0 , 2 0 18 )
104 Million
103
951,482
100,288
Dollars (including monetary
Environmental internships
Single-driver car-trip miles
Pieces of clothing fixed
value of other forms of
(individual and group)
averted this year through our
by our Worn Wear® repair
assistance) given to support
completed this year
Drive-Less program
centers this year
547
200 Million
72
Total number of employees
Dollars certified by 1% for
Number of repair centers,
who participated in this year’s
the Planet® that its members
located in Patagonia stores
internship program
have donated to nonprofit
all over the world, that mend
Dollars given to fund frontline,
environmental groups since
clothing for free or for a
indigenous and marginalized
its establishment in 2002 by
nominal charge
environmental and social work since we started our giving program in 1985
7 Million communities in their environmental struggles since our giving program began
17,316
Craig Mathews and Patagonia
Volunteer hours worked this year through our environmental
1,082 Environmental groups that received a grant from us this year
internship program
2,589
improved benefits from Patagonia’s participation in the Fair Trade USA™ program
438,000 new and used clothing given this year through our clothingdonation program
in the shipping of products
products we take back
from the U.S. to Europe
internship program since its inception in 1994
Pounds of clothing we
for regenerative organic
recycled this year
agriculture, renewable energy,
179,000
+
Actions initiated this year
4.93
on behalf of our grantees
Kilograms of CO2 equivalent
through Patagonia
saved by trading in and
Action Works
reselling a piece of Worn
10,000
+
Patagonia Action Works
Dollars given by employees to nonprofits this year through our charity match program, which Patagonia matches dollar for dollar
82
of Patagonia’s Tin Shed Ventures® investment fund
8.4 Million
a new one; 6.6 gallons of
Square feet of derelict
water saved
fishing nets repurposed into skateboard decks, sunglasses,
84,235 Wear® repair events this year
at our Tools for Grassroots
85,627
Activists conferences in
Pieces of Patagonia clothing
Europe and Japan
and gear customers traded
Activists trained this year
8
backed since the inception
Wear rather than making
Hours of skill-based volunteering donated through
Start-up companies that work
1
water efficiency and more,
People who came to Worn
126,000
12
0
in this year
discs and other products by Bureo since Tin Shed Ventures®’ investment in September 2014
environmental + social initiatives
Dollar value (at our cost) of
Percentage of Patagonia
Percentage reduction of CO2
2018 environmental + social initiatives
their labor and/or received
achieved by changing logistics
6,797
Apparel workers who’ve earned a premium for
100
Employees who have taken
2
94
for recycling
part in our environmental
49,200
founder Yvon Chouinard