I feel inspired and hopeful because of Yvon Chouinard’s recent selfless act of giving his company away to an environmental trust and nonprofit to help combat climate change.

Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia, an outdoor gear company, transferred all of his company’s voting shares into a trust, titled the Patagonia Purpose Trust. All of the company’s nonvoting stock will be owned by a nonprofit called the Holdfast Collective which will oversee Patagonia’s environmental work. According to Chouinard, the nonprofit will be “dedicated to fighting the environmental crisis and defending nature.”

This incredible gesture is what we need more of in this world. Chouinard has set an example of putting the collective good of the planet over his own wealth. This is so refreshing to see in this dog eat dog world where greed and getting ahead at the expense of everyone and everything else seems to be the norm.

Chouinard states, ”Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth for investors, we’ll use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth.  We’re making Earth our only shareholder. I am dead serious about saving this planet.”

Bravo Yvon Chouinard!

You are my new hero.You have set the bar high in fighting climate change and hopefully other companies will follow suit.

You can read Yvon Chouinard’s letter here:

https://www.patagonia.com/ownership/