Sierra Club Chief of Staff Jesse Simons.
For me, it's the adrenaline rush of flying down world-class single track like Moab’s new Captain Ahab trail while (most of the time) keeping the rubber side down. For someone else, it might be a family picnic in a great city park, a magical morning of sea-kayaking, or the thrill of summiting a mountain or scaling a boulder. There's no limit to the myriad ways we can experience the joy and awe of getting outdoors on our amazing planet -- provided we take care of it.
That's why I'm so excited about the Outdoor Industry Association's recent statement on climate change, which calls upon our nation's leaders to promote comprehensive climate policies that will safeguard the places we love, the air we breathe, and the water we drink. As the chief of staff for the Sierra Club, I love that the trade association that represents the companies that make and market the gear and services that Americans use to get outside (to the tune of $646 billion a year) is now fully onboard as a partner in our generation's most important work.
The Sierra Club and the outdoor industry share many important values. The Sierra Club's motto is "Explore, Enjoy, and Protect the Planet" and the companies represented by the Outdoor Industry Association, from small local manufacturers and guide shops to major brands and retailers like The North Face, REI, and Patagonia, are all about making exploration and enjoyment of the outdoors possible. Our 2.4 million members and supporters, as well as our 250,000 outdoor participants each year, believe deeply in the importance of getting outdoors. Many of them, in fact, are employed by the outdoor industry.
And although today's Sierra Club is strongly committed to working to prevent climate change and replace dirty fuels with clean energy, we see this as a continuation of our organization's founding belief that access to the outdoors is a fundamental human right and necessity, and that protecting the outdoors is each generation's sacred responsibility to those that follow. We don't want to protect unique ecosystems only to see them ravaged by climate change.
More than a century ago, our founder, John Muir took President Theodore Roosevelt camping for three days in Yosemite National Park and convinced him to protect that unique treasure. Were Muir here today, I'm certain that he would work to get our current political leaders out to enjoy the beautiful places most affected by climate change -- and that those politicians would return to work, as Teddy Roosevelt did, with a renewed desire to create permanent protections for our planet's climate.
We look forward to partnering with the Outdoor Industry Association on our shared goals for both government policy and responsible corporate citizenship. May the exploring, the enjoying, and the protecting reach new heights!