Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman by Yvon Chouinard
2005, Penguin Group, 260pp.

"There is no business to be done on a dead planet." - David Bower

Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman is a well-written, interesting and inspiring if somewhat repetitive business memoir by Patagonia founder and owner Yvon Chouinard. It is also entertaining, such as the story about their Pledge-a-Picket program. For every protester outside their stores for their support for Planned Parenthood, Patagonia pledged to give 10 USD to Planned Parenthood. The boycott quickly collapsed.

As an outdoorsy person, the one thing I have never been able to come to terms with is the environmental impact of my equipment. Even if my fleece is made from recycled PET bottles, it is far better not to make the bottles in the first place. But then, what do we make fleece out of - raw materials? And if not, how do I stay warm when wet without a fleece or a Gortex wind jacket? Organic wool or a down feather jacket still have huge environmental impacts even if the sheep and geese are free range and organic.

It seems I have always known about the Patagonia company, and that they had some environmental values, but 3 am on a cold Maine morning of a canoe trip or hike and in need of a last minute item, I always headed to L.L. Bean. If I had known more about Patagonia, or cared more at that time, I probably would have switched my loyalties. But I was still on the fence about my environmental values, mostly because I had massive student loans to consider and Patagonia's products were a bit more high-end than I could afford. However, as Chouinard has described, Patagonia has been far ahead of the field from its inception. Through its innovation and commitment, Patagonia has been able to make more environmentally-friendly outdoor products and clothing more accessible, and more importantly, more affordable for the general public. Even though Chouinard has said, "Sustainable manufacturing is an oxymoron," the company's search for sustainable manufacturing has led to some interesting data, and even more inspiring solutions.

Consider the following:

• The post-sale care and maintenance of clothing causes up to 4x the environmental harm as the manufacture. For example, machine drying does more to shorten the life of a piece of clothing than actual wear - just look in the lint filter! Buy used, don't iron or dry clean, wash in cold water and line dry (or the amazing "fregoli" in Hungary)
• Dr. Thomas Power of the University of Montana has found that "only 10-15% of what Americans spend on goods and services is necessary for survival." They spend the other 85-90% on upgrades in quality.
• The single greatest use of energy in product lifespan is transport. A Patagonia shirt consumes 110000 BTUs, while transport from Ventura to Boston is 50000 BTUs. As a result, Patagonia encourages transport by boat, and discourages next-day service by plane.

Patagonia's mission in part states that they aim to "make the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, and use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis... Our bottom line is the amount of good that the business has accomplished over the year...Using business to implement and inspire solutions to the environmental crisis." It idealistically claims to measure success by the number of trees not cut, kilograms of pesticides not used, wilderness areas created or preserved. As Chouinard says, "It's ok to be eccentric, as long as you are rich; otherwise you are just crazy." However, he has made it work by tying profits to the quality of the products and services, not to the environment. "Having useful products allows you to expand your mission."

Patagonia's Environmental Policy

• Lead an examined life (see Socrates', "An unexamined life is not worth
• living," in Plato's Dialogues)
• Clean up our own act
• Do your penance
• Support civil democracy
• Influence other companies

Patagonia has made a great number of innovations both in more sustainable manufacturing and corporate social responsibility. It was the first in the US to start on-site daycare for employees, and provide 60 days paid
paternity/maternity leave. Many of its products are reusable and multifunctional, such as their first major product innovation the reusable and less intrusive piton. During the 1980's it phased out plastic bags in waste baskets, saving 1200 USD/yr. Everyone became responsible for their own recycling, with some special baskets for wet waste around the office. They removed coffee cups at the company cafe, saving 800 USD/yr, and discontinued Styrofoam cups. Everyone brought their own reusable ceramic coffee cups. They reused cardboard boxes in the mailroom, saving 1000 USD/yr. Patagonia installed compact fluorescent light bulbs, painted the ceilings in reflective colors, added skylights and installed solar panels. In 1984, it was the first in the US to use a high percentage of recycled paper in its catalog, saving 3.5kwh electricity, 6 million gallons water, 52000 lbs air pollutants, 1560 m3 out of landfills, and 14500 trees. In 1986, it decided to donate 10% of their profits each year to small environmental and social NGOs; later 1% of sales or 10% of pre-tax profits. Since 1985, this has amounted to over 38 million USD to over 1000 organisations. In 1988, Patagonia launched its first of many national environmental campaigns, to de-urbanise Yosemite Valley. Since then, it has founded Friends of Ventura River to save salmon and the river; campaigned against GATT, against GMOs; and against heavy truck traffic through the Alps. In 1993, it was the first to begin producing fleece jackets from recycled PET bottles. It takes 25 PET bottles to make 1 fleece jacket, and between 1993-2003 this has resulted in the recycling of over 86 million PET bottles. In 1996, they did a life-cycle analysis for the 4 major fibers they use: cotton, wool, polyester and nylon. Cotton had the worst impact. Twenty-five percent of the insecticides and 10% of the pesticides used annually worldwide are used on cotton. Even though organic cotton was 50-100% more expensive, the company switched to 100% organic cotton between 1994-96. Even so, there are still impacts from formaldehyde; synthetic dyes, strong cotton thread, and water (see the Aral Sea!). The neon nylon dyes were found to be toxic, so they switched to less toxic alternatives; except there was no solution for orange, so they stopped the orange lines. In 2004, Patagonia built a new 3-story office building, but out of 95% recycled materials. Straw bale houses are fireproof, earthquake proof, mildew-proof, termite-proof, energy efficient, 25% cheaper. The amount of rice straw burned in the US each year could build 5 million 2000 m2 houses. They took thermal underwear out of the cardboard and Ziploc bags, and instead rolled them up in a simple rubber band. This simple change saved 12 tons of packaging, 150000 USD, and sales went up 25% because customers could better see and feel the product. They took all PVC out of their products with the exception of lifejackets. Comprehensive health care is provided for all, including part-time employees. Patagonia provides matching funds for employee donations to environmental/ social groups. Furthermore, employees can leave on 2 months paid leave to work on an environmental project. Let My People Go Surfing describes the company's job sharing and flexible working hours program. Patagonia employees lobbied for and got 2 million acres declared protected wilderness in Nevada. A retail outlet's parking lot in Utah became the first recycling station in the entire state.

The book has in fact made me think. As a small business owner whose profile is environmental, I have had to consider many of the same issues as Chouinard. Some issues have been environmental impact, such as do I
use locally produced organic Hungarian milk which is packaged in non-sustainable multi-layered cartons, or organic milk from Germany that is in refillable bottles? Or even more fundamentally, do I serve organic
Fair Trade coffee at all, considering its large environmental footprint from transport? Moreover, I have had to consider why in fact I am in business; and what defines quality, or a degree of excellence at Treehugger Dan's. Also, if my company has slow growth or no growth, how do I become more efficient each year? Since I am also a reluctant businessman, and environmentalist first, I, like Chouinard, have had a lot to learn about business and also and how to keep the balance.

"There is money to be made by endlessly working on symptoms." What Patagonia has shown is that there is also money to be made by working on the causes. I am not saying Patagonia is faultless. For example, while it
pays 2000 USD towards any employee's purchase of hybrid or electric car and reserves the best parking spaces for the most fuel-efficient cars, working on more long-term solutions would be encouraging the use and development of public transportation. But at least Patagonia are trying, and with verve and sincerity.