Patagonia Protests Utah Republicans

[monarch64]

Whoa. This is HUGE. Patagonia just withdrew from Outdoor Retailer, which is the biggest trade show in the outdoor industry. There is no way Utah can ignore this--both the winter and summer markets are a big deal to SLC. And for Patagonia of all companies to publicly decry Utah lawmakers makes the state look ...not good. Seriously, the winter market alone is gigantic--EVERYONE is there.

Now tell me how you're going to boycott awful awful liberal Patagonia and I'll tell you how Yvon Chouinard DGAF.

https://gearjunkie.com/patagonia-withdraws-outdoor-retailer-trade-show-utah

https://gearjunkie.com/bears-ears-designated-national-monument?sce=post-related-link

 

[Dee*Jay]

That IS huge!

And it sends the messages that people and *companies* are PAYING ATTENTION and they ACT.

Good for Patagonia for taking a stand.

Just like the CB made a point of forgoing his regular beer and buying Bud last week (and plans to keep doing so), I am going to make a point of buying more Patagonia stuff. (Although if I add one more fleece to my collection I may have to build another closet, LOL).

ETA: I just looked at AB's list again and I see Rolling Rock on there. I had forgotten that that is an AB beer. The CB and I drink a lot of Rolling Rock we will make a point to keep doing so.

 

[BeekeeperBetty]

I love their pants and shorts.

Good for them! The only way to combat this type of legislature is to vote with our wallets and to bombard our representatives with calls and letters. I have been appalled by much of what the GOP has been doing lately, but one thing that is the most important to me personally are public lands and the national parks. We have enjoyed the heck out of these places and once you ruin them you can't ever go back to what they were. Just look at the Berkley Pit in Butte Montana. It is a huge ecological disaster created by mining in a gorgeous landscape. It is such a mess that it will never be cleaned up, and it kills hundreds to thousands of migrating birds a year. If the GOP has its way they will ruin every inch of our spectacular landscape for immediate profits.

There is a house bill out there now to open the National Parks to mining and oil/gas. They want to mine the rim of the Grand Canyon for uranium. Can you believe it?

 

[Dee*Jay]

I love their pants and shorts.

Good for them! The only way to combat this type of legislature is to vote with our wallets and to bombard our representatives with calls and letters. I have been appalled by much of what the GOP has been doing lately, but one thing that is the most important to me personally are public lands and the national parks. We have enjoyed the heck out of these places and once you ruin them you can't ever go back to what they were. Just look at the Berkley Pit in Butte Montana. It is a huge ecological disaster created by mining in a gorgeous landscape. It is such a mess that it will never be cleaned up, and it kills hundreds to thousands of migrating birds a year. If the GOP has its way they will ruin every inch of our spectacular landscape for immediate profits.

There is a house bill out there now to open the National Parks to mining and oil/gas. They want to mine the rim of the Grand Canyon for uranium. Can you believe it?

WHAT?!? Please tell me this isn't true...

 

[redwood66]

I don't know much about this subject but here is an interesting comment posted on the first article.

If Yvon Chouinard, Peter Metcalf, and other members of the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) truly want to change the paradigm of how our public lands are managed they would champion an excise tax on outdoor gear. Sometimes referred to as a “Backpack Tax,” Peter Metcalf and the OIA have historically opposed this.

Tax revenue from extraction industries is at the root of why state, and often federal, governments give extractive industries preference over non-extractive human-powered activities. Similarly, the Recreation Trails Program, funded by a federal excise tax on gas, creates a bias towards motorized recreation over non-motorized.

To their credit, the hunting and fishing community annually contributes over $300 million through self-imposed excise taxes on firearms and fishing equipment. This tax revenue provides the primary source of funding for most state wildlife conservation efforts. This has been incredibly empowering to the “Hook and Bullet” community and why their conservation efforts are often more successful than ours.

Donations to the Conservation Alliance and 1% For the Planet are great for funding important advocacy efforts. Yet, these donations do little to change the bottom line for federal and state governments and their respective land management agencies. If the outdoor recreation community truly wants to change the how public lands are managed, it’s time to step-up and tax ourselves. If we did, we’d become an unstoppable force in the conservation of our public lands.

 

[BeekeeperBetty]

I love their pants and shorts.

Good for them! The only way to combat this type of legislature is to vote with our wallets and to bombard our representatives with calls and letters. I have been appalled by much of what the GOP has been doing lately, but one thing that is the most important to me personally are public lands and the national parks. We have enjoyed the heck out of these places and once you ruin them you can't ever go back to what they were. Just look at the Berkley Pit in Butte Montana. It is a huge ecological disaster created by mining in a gorgeous landscape. It is such a mess that it will never be cleaned up, and it kills hundreds to thousands of migrating birds a year. If the GOP has its way they will ruin every inch of our spectacular landscape for immediate profits.

There is a house bill out there now to open the National Parks to mining and oil/gas. They want to mine the rim of the Grand Canyon for uranium. Can you believe it?

WHAT?!? Please tell me this isn't true...

Yep.

http://fox6now.com/2017/02/03/the-rep-who-introduced-national-parks-drilling-bill-got-250k-from-big-energy-tmwsp/

http://www.grandcanyontrust.org/uranium

 

[monarch64]

I don't know much about this subject but here is an interesting comment posted on the first article.

If Yvon Chouinard, Peter Metcalf, and other members of the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) truly want to change the paradigm of how our public lands are managed they would champion an excise tax on outdoor gear. Sometimes referred to as a “Backpack Tax,” Peter Metcalf and the OIA have historically opposed this.

Tax revenue from extraction industries is at the root of why state, and often federal, governments give extractive industries preference over non-extractive human-powered activities. Similarly, the Recreation Trails Program, funded by a federal excise tax on gas, creates a bias towards motorized recreation over non-motorized.

To their credit, the hunting and fishing community annually contributes over $300 million through self-imposed excise taxes on firearms and fishing equipment. This tax revenue provides the primary source of funding for most state wildlife conservation efforts. This has been incredibly empowering to the “Hook and Bullet” community and why their conservation efforts are often more successful than ours.

Donations to the Conservation Alliance and 1% For the Planet are great for funding important advocacy efforts. Yet, these donations do little to change the bottom line for federal and state governments and their respective land management agencies. If the outdoor recreation community truly wants to change the how public lands are managed, it’s time to step-up and tax ourselves. If we did, we’d become an unstoppable force in the conservation of our public lands.

I don't see why they can't do both?

This particular protest is far more wide-reaching as far as publicity nationwide than the backpack tax. Not only will every single retailer/buyer who typically attends this market (so, all of them who sell anything outdoor-related, and we are talking North Face, New Balance, etc not just brands sold only in specialty/technical/gear shops), they'll tell their customers. Not everyone who wears these brands is actually out backpacking, which is sometimes mocked, but in the same vein you see a lot of yoga pants on non-yoga-practicing asses. This is a very important statement. While the comment you posted is interesting and part of the equation, let's not diminish the gravity of Patagonia's withdrawal from OR.

 

[Tekate]

I don't know much about this subject but here is an interesting comment posted on the first article.

If Yvon Chouinard, Peter Metcalf, and other members of the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) truly want to change the paradigm of how our public lands are managed they would champion an excise tax on outdoor gear. Sometimes referred to as a “Backpack Tax,” Peter Metcalf and the OIA have historically opposed this.

Tax revenue from extraction industries is at the root of why state, and often federal, governments give extractive industries preference over non-extractive human-powered activities. Similarly, the Recreation Trails Program, funded by a federal excise tax on gas, creates a bias towards motorized recreation over non-motorized.

To their credit, the hunting and fishing community annually contributes over $300 million through self-imposed excise taxes on firearms and fishing equipment. This tax revenue provides the primary source of funding for most state wildlife conservation efforts. This has been incredibly empowering to the “Hook and Bullet” community and why their conservation efforts are often more successful than ours.

Donations to the Conservation Alliance and 1% For the Planet are great for funding important advocacy efforts. Yet, these donations do little to change the bottom line for federal and state governments and land management agencies. If the outdoor recreation community truly wants to change the how public lands are managed, it’s time to step-up and tax ourselves. If we did, we’d become an unstoppable force in the conservation of our public lands.

No reason why they can't do both. I don't like excise taxes because they are regressive, but I would guess that people who can afford Patagonia can afford to pay a bit more.

These are sacred lands to our aboriginal people. I think Obama felt strongly that these types of historic places should be left for future Americans, one has to admit, you drive into say Brice Canyon in Texas and it is truly awe inspiring, but also we have the need for uranium and growth. I don't know if the federal government or state charges to get into the park, but they should. I thought this part was also interesting Red:

The press release noted that the state of Utah also does not “value the economic benefits — $12 billion in consumer spending and 122,000 jobs — that the outdoor recreation industry brings” to the state.


They should be able to work something out.

 

[redwood66]

Yes compromise needs to be the order of the day. I love our parks and historical areas but the cost to maintain millions of acres and need for growth has to be balanced.

 

[ame]

That IS huge!

And it sends the messages that people and *companies* are PAYING ATTENTION and they ACT.

Good for Patagonia for taking a stand.

Just like the CB made a point of forgoing his regular beer and buying Bud last week (and plans to keep doing so), I am going to make a point of buying more Patagonia stuff. (Although if I add one more fleece to my collection I may have to build another closet, LOL).

ETA: I just looked at AB's list again and I see Rolling Rock on there. I had forgotten that that is an AB beer. The CB and I drink a lot of Rolling Rock we will make a point to keep doing so.

Just as an FYI...AB isn't a US-company anymore. So if morons want to boycott the brand because the guy who founded it here in STL was an immigrant, let them. I mean, how dare he be! But just as anyone not Native American/First Nations is an immigrant, after all, a point which is repeatedly lost on these idiots. If they had half a brain cell to share among themselves, which clearly they do not, they'd be boycotting them because the family sold out to a foreign company and it's not US-based/family-owned anymore (US-made, locally-made, yes, but no longer locally-owned.) But...facts.