Patagonia, Inc., a founding member of The Conservation Alliance and Pinnacle Member, staged a peaceful 500-employee-strong cacerolazo – a Chilean-style protest developed in the Pinochet era where citizens bang pots and pans in loud opposition – to protest the Chilean government's approval of a multi-national energy company to construct five huge dams in the area of southern Chile that inspired Yvon Chouinard to name the company Patagonia.
“This is like building Hoover Dam at the entrance to Yosemite Valley,” said Rick Ridgeway, Patagonia vice president of environmental affairs, who knows the region well, recently spending time there with the making of the movie, 180 South. “This is not about a North American corporation trying to tell Chile what to do – it’s about asking Chile’s democratically elected government to listen to the majority of its own people when they say there has to be a better way.”
Read the entire article here and visit Patagonia's blog, The Cleanest Line for more information.