1% For The Planet is an alliance of businesses that understand the necessity of protecting the natural environment. They understand that profit and loss are directly linked to the health of our environment. In addition, these businesses are concerned with the social and environmental impacts of industry. By 1985, we formalized our support of environmental activism by committing 10% of our pre-tax profits to grassroots environmental groups. Later, we changed our pledge to at least 1% of sales or 10% of pre-tax profits – whichever is more. We give at the grassroots level to innovative groups overlooked or rejected by other corporate donors. We fund activists who take radical and strategic steps to protect habitat, wilderness and biodiversity. We have given over $31 million in grants and in-kind donations to more than 1,000 organizations since the program began. http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/patagonia.go?assetid=1960
Common Threads Garment Recycling Program, launched in 2005, through which customers could return their worn out Capilene® Performance Baselayers to us for recycling. We've since been able to expand the list of recyclable garments to include worn out Patagonia® fleece, Polartec® fleece clothing (from any maker), Patagonia cotton T-shirts, and now some additional polyester and nylon 6 products that come with a Common Threads tag.
Through Common Threads we can transform your unusable garments into new clothing, which gets us closer to a long-standing company goal of taking full responsibility for every product we make.
The Conservation Alliance was co-founded by Patagonia in 1989 to encourage other companies in the outdoor industry to give money to environmental organizations and to become more involved in environmental work. The Alliance now boasts 155 member companies, each of which contributes annual dues to a central fund. Patagonia gives to the alliance each year, and maintains a permanent seat on the board of directors. Twice yearly, the Alliance donates 100 percent of its membership dues to grassroots environmental groups working to protect threatened wildlands and biodiversity. In 2007, it granted $800,000 to 29 organizations. Grants since 1989 total over $6.5 million. http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/patagonia.go?assetid=1961
Patagonia Employee Internship Program, started in 1993, offers employees the option to take a leave from work for up to two months to work full-time for the environmental group of their choice. Patagonia continues to pay employees’ salaries and benefits while they’re gone, and the environmental group gets them for free. More than 350 employees have interned for groups worldwide since the program began. http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/patagonia.go?assetid=1963
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)- Our catalogs are printed on paper made with 40% post-consumer recycled content and 60% virgin wood fiber. (The cover is printed on 50% post-consumer recycled content and made wHooze: Search Resultsith wind power; the insert is 100% post-consumer recycled.) All catalog papers are certified by the FSC, an international network dedicated to promoting environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world’s forests. To reduce the environmental downsides of shipping, we buy our paper from mills located close to our printer.
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)- When Patagonia expanded its facilities in Reno in 1996 it aimed to achieve an LEED standard which is certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). USGBC is a coalition of leaders from all segments of the building industry that organized in the late 1990s to develop a "green building" rating system. LEED provides a complete framework for assessing building performance and meeting environmental sustainability goals. We achieved a Gold rating for this facility and our efforts to meet this standard will help mitigate the building's effect on the environment, which is part and parcel of the Patagonia philosophy. While LEED emphasizes many areas, we chose to focus on the following: managing storm-water runoff, intelligent landscape and exterior design, water efficient landscaping, minimizing water use, optimizing energy use, monitoring program, reducing construction waste, use of recycled building materials, using regional building materials, building with certified wood, using no or low-VOC materials, substituting natural light for electric lights, and carbon dioxide offsets. http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/patagonia.go?assetid=12080
The Organic Exchange is a non-profit organization committed to expanding organic agriculture, with a specific focus on increasing the production and use of organically grown fibers such as cotton. Patagonia has been involved with the Organic Exchange since its inception in the fall of 2002, with the first meeting hosted by Nike. I have sat on the board since the beginning of the organization and have recently become the Chair of the Board of Directors. http://www.patagonia.com/web/us/patagonia.go?assetid=15431
