Today’s Earth Day post is dedicated to one of the true Enviro-Friendly People and Businesses in the world.
I remember the early days of my childhood at the beach in Ventura, California. It was the 80′s and I was running around the State Beaches near the city of San Buenaventura throwing sand at my sister and digging big holes to China. Though oblivious at the time, I was playing on the beaches right next to the man that was trying to save the world before global warming was even a phrase.
Yvon Chouinard is considered by Fortune magazine to be on of the most successful outdoor businessman in the world. He has seen and conquered some of the greatest landscapes in the world. He started the worldly famous Patagonia clothing and climbing company. All of this and he still maintains that humans impact must be reduced to zero or this world will end sooner than we think. Chouinard is the new enviro-friendly CEO, except he has been doing it for decades. He makes the minimalist in me look like the average American consumer. If there is one person people worldwide should start emulating, it should be this man.
As I played on the beaches in Ventura, my uncle (Ray Byrom) surfed and conversed with Chouinard. I remember the red Patagonia swimming trunks that I was given annually from my aunt and uncle as well as the preaching they did about this clothing company. This was well before I was a minimalist, but my aunt and uncle were very much so. They told me of the great things this man was doing at Patagonia and I shrugged it off. It wasn’t until 20 years later that I started to read and learn more about Yvon and his efforts.
Through Patagonia, Yvon has developed a mindset that we can have environment friendly businesses that are successful. He has created such in Patagonia by focusing on quality in the products Patagonia puts out as well as the attitude that they have at the environment/employee centered business. Chouinard had FREE daycare for his employees children before everyone. He gave 6 month sabbaticals to those that wanted to fulfill a life long dream of climbing some mountain you and I both would never dare visit. He started using enviro-friendly cotton before it became as abundant as it is today. He sacrificed time and money to make sure the most important things were taken well care of: employees and the environment.
I would love to go on and on about what he has accomplished and his background, but I want to focus a bit more on the success of being a minimalist and living a simplified life he has had.
Chouinard always knew that experiencing life was far greater than letting others live it. He enjoyed the outdoors so much that he invented environment friendly climbing equipment that did minimal damage to the mountainsides and valleys that he visited. He knew that stuff wasn’t the important factor, but rather having a few items that were well made, useful, and minimal. Through this life path, he has been able to focus on life and not stuff. Please re-read that last line. Living a minimalist life isn’t necessarily about having nothing, but rather having the necessary items that you will use. If you love reading online than buying a Kindle isn’t the end of the world.
So why did Yvon succeed in life? It all has to do with his focus. He picked a goal, did everything necessary to achieve that, and then lived it up. Every time he has learned a new way to do less damage to the planet, he has done that. Every time a product is unsatisfactory to his customers, he has improved it. He has found that solving worldly issues can be done through, what once was, a small company and big dreams.
If we all lived a little more like Yvon each day, I have a feeling the world would not just be a cleaner place, but a much happier one as well.
Here is a special look at Yvon and his company:
Yvon Chouinard is featured in a movie entitled 180 (degrees) South. Instead of me trying to explain something I haven’t seen I will let the trailer do the trick…
I am trying to find a place to see it and I strongly suggest anyone near a screening check it out.
Below are a few books on Yvon Chouinard that I suggest reading:
Click here to get a copy of PROJECT M-31: Simply Your Life in 31 Days
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