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The Mac Weekly - February 11, 2005 Patagonia Will Make Valuable Contributions to Community By Sally Weivoda, Contributing Writer
Moreover, Patagonia is nothing like J. Crew. The vast environmental commitment shown by Patagonia (some examples: thousands of dollars in grants to environmental non-profits, the use of recycled materials and solely organic cotton in its clothing, the founding of the Conservation Alliance, the green building housing its service center, the protection of the actual land area of Patagonia) is only one way in which Patagonia is not the typical corporation. Patagonia employees are not treated like those at many other corporations. Women are present in high percentages at senior management levels. The Patagonia Employee Internship Program allows for two months of paid leave for an employee to spend time volunteering with an environmental organization, providing free service to the organization. High quality on-site childcare is provided for pre-school kids, and school-aged kids are picked up at the end of their classes and brought to after-school educational activities at their parents’ place of work. Patagonia provides training in non-violent civil disobedience, and will post bail for employees who take the class and are arrested for supporting environmental causes. Patagonia has publicly challenged its own actions and exposed its own ethical weaknesses. Constantly found throughout its catalogs and websites is the acknowledgement that “Every product [it] makes pollutes. Period.” Patagonia is the first to say that it is not a perfect corporation, that it has made mistakes in the past and that it will likely make mistakes in the future. Needless to say, such honesty is pretty rare in the corporate world. Though it does focus on the natural world instead of environmental justice or racism, Patagonia is not ’eco-centric,’ and has supported numerous social issues over the years, ranging from Planned Parenthood to the Fair Labor Association. Some students feel that Patagonia does not fill a need for the community, especially for the college. But I disagree. Already successfully established, Patagonia has the ability to offer us great support with environmental and social issues. It has already been in contact with the Environmental Studies Department to see how it could assist in any environmental work on campus, and will doubtless be quite involved with the student community once it has set up shop. No, I can’t afford to shop at Patagonia, nor do I think I realistically have a need for the majority of its goods. This could be true for much of the student body. But I believe that through its involvement with the student community, Patagonia will be a valuable addition to our area. |
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