Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard thought other companies would follow his green example – but so far only “tiny” companies have embraced green ideology the way he has.
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard: ‘Denying climate change is evil’
The octogenarian entrepreneur, who prefers gardening to meetings, says capitalism is destroying earthOliver Balch
Fri 10 May 2019 21.26 AEST
Last modified on Sat 11 May 2019 03.15 AEST…
“I’d like to see an end to public corporations because we’re not going to revolutionise them, we’re not going to change them,” the self-confessed reluctant businessman told the Guardian.
It is easy to dismiss such comments as sour grapes or market envy. As a private company (Chouinard remains sole owner), Patagonia lacks the investment clout of Nike or The North Face.
Not that that has necessarily restricted the plucky Californian brand, which posted sales revenues of more than $1bn last year.
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Patagonia is far from perfect, however. By his own admission, the idea of a fully sustainable business or product is impossible: “There is no such thing as sustainability. The best we can do is cause the least amount of harm.”
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Chouinard may have his acolytes among eco-conscious consumers, but he doubts mainstream companies are listening to his reforming message. “I used to think that if we could show that being a responsible business is good business, then others would follow. And some do, but they’re tiny little companies. But the public companies, they’re all green-washing. I have no hope that they’re going to change.”
Nor does he hold out much hope for government to force big business to act more responsibly. Politicians are “pawns of corporations” says the man who, together with a coalition of indigenous North American tribes and grassroots groups, is currently suing the Trump administration for attempts to reduce the size of ancestral lands in Utah.…
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/10/yvon-chouinard-patagonia-founder-denying-climate-change-is-evil
Yvon Chouinard’s rant provides an interesting insight into what has gone wrong with the green movement.
When did greens start demanding the government coerce people into behaving “more responsibly”. When did they start ranting against companies owned by members of the public, as opposed companies owned by people like him?
Can anyone imagine the gentle hippies of the 70s demanding more government coercion and suppression of alternative life choices? Would Yvon Chouinard himself had said such things when he was younger?
Patagonia maintains a blog which details green efforts around the world, such as the long drive to a coal site greens had to endure in their quest against jobs and investment in Northern Queensland.
Another brand to cross off my list.
So another guy with skads of geld in the bank, soon to be, or already on the exit ramp, who realises the last shirt dont have pockets ?
It may even be that folk like this guy, and Attenborough, have figured that the only thing that reaches beyond the grave is influence ? Although thats a dangerous play as history shows that the ridicule piled upon failed prophets outlasts the reverence that those who got their predictions right attract by years 🙂
The octogenarian entrepreneur, who prefers gardening to meetings, says capitalism is destroying earth.
The wealthier you are the easier it is to say this.
I was amazed to see Yvon Choinard’s name mentioned and thought it surely must be a son or other descendant. I met Choinard, in passing, in Yosemite Valley back in the 1970’s. He was well past the forge in the trunk stage at that point with his rock climbing equipment being sold in outdoor stores at that time. I had a hundred dollars or so of his stuff. Mainly Pitons. He was one of the Uber Climbers at the time alone with Royal Robbins, Tom Frost who took that photo above was another. His pitons currently take the blame for the sad condition of Yosemite climbing routes these days. The rock looks like it’s been jack-hammered. So maybe guilt is driving him.
They were a hippy-ish group, my climbing buddy and I was just outsiders passing thru. Some of them carried LSD and other dope on climbs with them. The park rangers at one point had to break up the camp, most of them stayed at, with mounted rangers en-mass. So that hasn’t changed….heh.
I remember Chouinard in my high school 10th grade history class 1953-1954. I presume his family moved before graduation in 1956, as there is nothing about him in that yearbook. The next thing I remember about him he was in Life magazine for he and his group climbing El Capitan in Yosemite around 1965. I doubt anyone in our high school would have put him on a list of “most likely to succeed”.
“gentle hippies of the 70s”. You mean stoned. Anti-establishment at the time, but now they are the establishment.
“We were stealing hemp ropes from the telephone company,” he recalled with a laugh
source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/a-short-talk-with-a-legend-of-rock-170558140/
“Would Yvon Chouinard himself had said such things when he was younger?” Yes, not the “demanding more government coercion” from the government of the time, but the “everybody should think/act like this” part was there. He was part of the climbing purity, climbing ethics movement.
Long ago, Chouinard and his contemporaries committed themselves to an unofficial set of climbing ethics, which foremost mandate that a cliff be left as nature made it; for the next climber, so went the idea, there should be no evidence of a prior climber’s passage. “If you’re going up a route that’s been climbed without gear a thousand times and you’re putting bolts into the rock, you’re ruining the whole experience for the next person,” Chouinard explained. He cites what he calls the “manifest destiny idea, especially in Europe,” about “conquering the mountain and making it easier for the next person.” By such a process, Chouinard says, the magic is all but lost as cabins and cable cars are built on its slopes.
source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/a-short-talk-with-a-legend-of-rock-170558140/
“capitalism is destroying earth” Hypocrisy? Irony? Ignorance? He is super rich because he is a capitalist. He had ideas for a ‘better mousetrap’ and went ahead by himself and made them. He didn’t ask the government to form a committee to talk about it. He bought the tools and did the work himself and got rich. It’s the American dream. Up to a point: “In 1989, Chouinard Equipment, Ltd. filed for bankruptcy protection in order to protect it from liability lawsuits.”
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yvon_Chouinard#Chouinard_Equipment,_Ltd.
Leverage.
Not much to add except when I started rock climbing back in the early 70’s Chouinard was a living climbing legend, had done some hard climbs in far flung places and was still doing some hard stuff. He, along with some other Yosemite giants like Royal Robbins, brought the “clean climbing” ethic into being. That was a good thing. Chouinard equipment (earlier Peninsula Equipment was John Salathe trademark, way collectable now) was considered pricy and worth it. Later I think because of a lawsuit the equipment segment was spun off to be Black Diamond, a pretty hardcore company that makes good gear, I have lots of BD stuff. Clothing and whatnot became Patagonia, and I lost interest in them because of the incessant heavy handed corporate preaching. My impression is Patagonia clothing is the go to choice for the not quite in the climbing scene. Good quality, blously and comfortable (sized for the Lycra Sausage), in certain crowds it is de rigor. I’m partial to Montbell myself.
I think it’s rather funny. If you look back at the old photos, before Yosemite Camp 4, the people climbing mountains wore their everyday clothes: tweed suits, ties, and long dresses for the ladies. Now the people, the ones who are not climbers, their everyday clothing is Patagonia, North Face, and other name brands. And every day, REI (still a co-op, but obviously capitalist) sends me e-mail encouraging me (and everybody else) to by the latest fashions in gear and clothing. The big money is in the urban crowd who fancies the outdoors, but who might never go there.
BTW, Yvon Chouinard, Emma Thompson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bill Gates, and all those other super rich people who like to tell us what to think — I think they feel guilty that they are so rich, and probably they think to themselves that they are undeservedly rich. They won’t admit that of course.
The Patagonia catalog ranks up there with Restoration Hardware as a huge waste of resources. The catalog doesn’t seem to actually be trying to selling product, but is more a photography magazine, all misty hills and rocky streams. You really have to search through it to find a jacket to buy. There really is no reason to have those things printed and delivered.
Buy clothing from Goodwill — anywhere else and you don’t really believe in a climate crisis — oh, and if you drive faster than the posted speed you are putting unnecessary stress on the environment and are a bad person.
Saw this on an off road site:
Paved roads, another example of wasteful government spending.
Doesn’t want much does he? People buying clothes from another chain and that is evil? What’s the betting that, if he could, he would ban all other chains.
Y’all old Yosemite rockclimbers need to know about a burgeoning film genre, seminally Alex Honnold’s Free Solo and Tommy Caldwell’s Dawn Wall. Valley Vandals was eye opening, I was so innocent. Also Steve Roper’s book Camp 4: Recollections of a Yosemite Rockclimber (Mountaineer, 1994, 4th 2010).
Last year I visited for my 70th birthday and 50th anniversary of my previous visit. We can never go home again. Camp 4 now requires lottery reservations. Your memories are better than the new reality.
YC and Patagonia went green AFTER they became raging commercial successes. ‘Gear’ of all sorts became de rigueur at about the same time. Eddy Bauer is chichi apparel. It’s kool to carry a carabiner.
God bless y’all.
There are plenty of good options for outdoors enthusiasts. Plenty that don’t involve self loathing sanctimonious customer hating twits like Patagonia.
Chouinard is suffering in the illumination of the differences between Preservation (no impact) versus Conservation (limited impact). It reminds me of an old Gary Larson Farside cartoon – an auditorium is filled with dinosaurs looking to the stage, and the dinosaur at the podium has summed it up – the temperature is rising and we have brain’s the size of walnuts. Old frontiers fade as new frontiers and the challenges they present become apparent.
Once again, the Progressives vindicate every argument made by the right, in this case that socialism always turns coercive: The “peaceful hippies” all turned to totalitarianism after attaining affluence, influence, and power.
If people don’t make the choices you want them to make on their own, well, they have to be forced.
Seems to be a pattern here…get really rich as a capitalist of the highest degree, no it doesn’t matter how or what CO2 creating platform made you rich, then change your beliefs so everyone else has to do what you say and must live like serfs in feudal England. Never mind the obvious and horrible hypocrisy of these statements. The bleakness of a “green” future is not for me. If you wish to live like that go ahead with my blessings, but you will be all alone in your self-important world.
Ask Ol’ Yvon how he gets around the world for all his fishing and climbing and trekking trips. It ain’t by sailboat, surfski, paddleboard, rowboat, or solar-powered anything (all of which use power and raw materials to produce). As for his company: I bought one jacket decades ago, still have it, but haven’t bought or will buy anything else from Patagonia. Not when the company is as hypocritical and sanctimonious as it is.