The Conservation Alliance covers a lot of ground at the Outdoor Retailer trade show. We hold a board meeting, host The Conservation Alliance Breakfast, recruit new members, organize product-related fundraisers with existing members, and attempt to talk to our industry about important conservation issues. The winter show came and went earlier this month, with all of the above on our menu.
Public lands and climate change were the main topics at The Conservation Alliance Breakfast. Featured speaker Auden Schendler, Sustainability VP at Aspen Skiing Company, gave a rousing talk about why outdoor companies need to step into the fray to combat climate change. Using examples from his own experience, Schendler talked about why outdoor industry companies should help to create a social movement around climate change. “We need to act proportionately to the challenge,” Schendler said. “There is a huge business risk in not acting, and no risk in acting.”
Prior to Schendler’s talk, The Conservation Alliance responded to member concerns about how the November elections would impact our work. Board Chair Linda Balfour (Superfeet), and Executive Director John Sterling both shared thoughts on new threats to our public lands system. For years, a vocal minority in Congress has sought to transfer federal lands to the states – the first step toward privatization – and is now urging President Trump to rescind some of President Obama’s national monument designations.
We used the breakfast as an opportunity
to “recruit” individuals who are motivated to stand up and speak out for our public lands by asking them to text their contact information to us. Moving forward, we will work with our colleagues at Outdoor Industry Association and Outdoor Alliance to give that list of public lands advocates meaningful actions to defend and preserve the integrity of our public lands system.
We are grateful to the many member companies – listed below – who hosted fundraisers and other events for The Conservation Alliance during the trade show. These promotions directly support our efforts to protect North America’s wild places.
If you missed The Conservation Alliance Breakfast, you can watch the entire event on Facebook. The program begins at the 20-minute mark.
