YVON CHOUINARD SPEAKS AT CHAPTER GENERAL INTEREST MEETING

Santa Barbara Chapter Surfrider Foundation General Meeting
Featuring Guest Speaker Yvon Chouinard
Thursday, April 5, 2007

Surfrider Foundation Santa Barbara Chapter hosted guest speaker, Yvon Chouinard, environmentalist, entrepreneur and philanthropist, at the Santa Barbara Chapter general interest meeting Thursday, April 5, 2007 at 7:00 PM at the Santa Barbara Public Library Faulkner Gallery.

Superb rock climber and alpinist, innovative ice climber, surfer, world class fisherman, tennis partner of Harrison Ford, business leader recognized by President Bill Clinton, Yvon Chouinard has led a storied and passionate life. He has skied Andean volcanoes, made first descents on Montana rivers, bone-fished Christmas Island, pioneered Baja surf breaks, and put up new climbs everywhere from Patagonia’s Fitzroy to Yosemite’s El Capitan.

His passion for the outdoors carried over into business success and environmental commitment. After reinventing mountaineering hardware in the 1960s, Chouinard started outdoor-clothing manufacturer Patagonia in Ventura, California, and now donates 1 percent of sales—or 10 percent of net profits, whichever is more—to grassroots environmental organizations. In little over a decade, this has amounted to more than $15 million. In 2001, along with Craig Mathews, owner of Blue Ribbon Flies, Chouinard founded 1% for the Planet, a nonprofit encouraging other companies to follow in Patagonia’s philanthropic footsteps.