Moving Forward: Giving 1% For The Planet

Declaring a Climate Emergency: check. Living Wage Accreditation: check. Excellent. Well done, us. Hashtag proud.

But if you thought we were done ‘moving forward’ here at The Inside Trek with just those two things (as proud of them as we are), then you’re not quite reading us right. Because when we say we’re committed to better, we really do mean it. And to further underscore that for you, we’re now delighted to announce that on 1 July 2020 we formally became members of the “1% For The Planet” initiative.

1% For The Planet

“1% For The Planet” was created in 2002 by Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, and Craig Mathews, founder of Blue Ribbon Flies when they realised their responsibility to protect our planet. Since then, it has brought together more than 3,000 members to collectively create a new environmental legacy & protect the future of our planet. As 1% puts it on their website, “we bring dollars & doers together to accelerate smart environmental giving”. And since being set up, 1% for the Planet members have given back more than $250 million to the environment.

The idea is simple and compelling: because companies profit from the resources they take from the earth, they should protect those resources, come what may. And we completely agree with that.

So, along with all 1% For The Planet members, we have committed to giving 1% of our sales back to the environment – whether or not we’re profitable. Because we consider that commitment to be the quid pro quo of being lucky enough to enjoy the support of the only planet we have.

To start with, we’re going to do that by supporting the following two environmental non-profits:

Client Earth

ClientEarth is an environmental law charity halting the destruction of the natural world. The science couldn’t be clearer: we are facing a climate crisis that threatens the future of life on our planet. But, through Client Earth, we all have the power to fix it by taking swift & systemic action that tackles climate change and protects the natural ecosystems that sustain our world. ClientEarth uses the law to make these fundamental changes, because the law is one of the most powerful tools we have and because law is a language governments & business understand. They don’t focus on the symptoms. They change the system, by making sure laws are effective and enforcing them rigorously. Now THAT’s powerful!

WeGotNext

WeGotNext’s vision is for a world where everyone is inspired to fall in love with nature because they see reflections of themselves in outdoor spaces. So they amplify individual stories of adventure and activism from communities that have been underrepresented in outdoor, conservation and environmental spaces. Something that’s hugely needed.

Why these two

Why these two out of the thousands of environmental non-profits 1% For The Planet have approved? Well, selecting these two was definitely tough (although also fun). But ultimately we felt the following particular connections with each of Client Earth and WeGotNext.

The Inside Trek is all about the local – but that’s something we can take direct responsibility for ourselves by buying local, supporting local and cleaning up local. Yet, the environmental challenge we face is global. So we wanted to use our 1% For The Planet membership to try to play our own wee part (such as it is) at a global level. That’s where Client Earth comes in. The fact that Client Earth uses the law to make that global impact also resonated with our Founder Andrew’s previous legal career.

Like a lot of people, we’ve also been deeply affected by the murder of George Floyd. In particular, we’ve been thinking a lot about what we specifically can do, as a white-owned hiking business, to help bring about real change. We’ve been focussing this far on educating ourselves to better understand the problems that have been baked into our current systems & structures (and, to that end, we highly recommend the book “White Fragility” by Robin DiAngelo). Supporting WeGotNext is the first step of trying to take what we’ve learned and start to turn it into some form of concrete, long-term change, in an area that we love & that is at the core of our business – namely, the outdoors. After all, we’re all on this planet together, and so the outdoors absolutely should be for absolutely everyone.

If anyone has any questions about 1% For The Planet, or either of Client Earth or WeGotNext, please don’t hesitate to email us on andrew@theinsidetrek.com.

An ask from you

We’d like to encourage everyone to think about signing up to 1% For The Planet. Especially our compatriots in Northern Ireland because once again, we’re under-represented in a global initiative.

1% For The Planet has both individual and business memberships, and anyone can make a difference. Because everyone benefits from the environment. And everyone has a 1%. Plus how often do you get the chance to follow in the footsteps of the legend that is Yvon Chouinard!

Right, now for the most important bit: going and getting some sales so the amount of our 1% donation gets bigger. Because the planet is depending on it

A