Patagonia’s new digital platform connects environmental activism community

The Patagonia Action Works programme allows customers to get involved with events, petitions, fundraising and volunteering in their local area.

It unites people with environmental profits based on issue and location, and provides links for grassroots groups who are new to Patagonia to apply for funding.

“The biggest question I get from our community and customers is, ‘What can I do to save the planet?’” said Patagonia president and chief executive Rose Marcario.

“This platform makes it easy to connect with organizations in your neighborhood who are working every day on local issues. We have decades of experience with these groups, and our collective grassroots actions can add up to the change we need to make a better world. With the threats we face, we need everyone in this fight.”

Patagonia Action Works kicks-off with a US tour across cities such as Washington, D.C., Chicago and New York.

Finding the cure

Patagonia recently made the headlines for its efforts to combat the action of President Trump’s administration, which has vowed to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement and cut funding to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The Patagonia Action Works platform was launched alongside a video featuring Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, who stressed the importance of taking climate action during a period of political uncertainty.

“If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that things aren’t going very well for the planet,” Chouinard said. “It’s pretty easy to get depressed about it. I’ve always known that the cure for depression is action.”

This is Patagonia’s latest effort in a list of actions aimed at delivering support for the environment. Patagonia and its business programme ‘1% for the Planet’ has raised nearly $90m for environmental organisations worldwide.

In 2016, the firm raised $10m for environmental grassroots nonprofits, after donating 100% of the global sales that it generated from Black Friday.

Patagonia has also dabbled in sustainable beer making, investing in Hopworks Urban Brewery, which claims to have developed an ale that not only reduces water use, but also captures carbon in the process.

George Ogleby