Innovation and Ethics

Yvon Chouinard

Tuesday, 23 Feb 2010 at 8:00 pm – Great Hall, Memorial Union

Yvon Chouinard is founder and owner of Patagonia, a maker of environmentally conscious, high-performance outdoor apparel. A leader in corporate social responsibility, Chouinard capitalized on his company's success in the late 1980s to tackle the looming environmental crisis. He instituted the Patagonia Earth Tax, which pledges 1 percent of company sales to the preservation and restoration of the natural environment. And in 2001 he helped start One Percent For The Planet, an alliance of businesses that contribute at least 1 percent of their net annual sales to approved environmental organizations. Chouinard, who began in business by designing, manufacturing, and distributing rock climbing equipment, is also the author of Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman. Part of the National Affairs Series and the Iowa State University Symposium on Sustainability.

A reception and poster session will precede the lecture at 7:00 p.m. in the Oak Room. Also featured will be sculptures created from trash removed from Iowa's rivers. The Rivers exhibit is an annual collaboration between Ogden artist David Williamson and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Project AWARE, a weeklong volunteer river cleanup.

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Yvon Chouinard began in business by designing, manufacturing, and distributing rock climbing equipment in the late 1950s. His improved ice axe is the basis for modern ice axe design. In 1964 he produced his first mail-order catalog, a one-page, mimeographed sheet with advice not to expect fast delivery during climbing season. For a full company history, go to Patagonia: Our History.

Riverse
Project AWARE (A Watershed Awareness River Expedition) is the Iowa Department of Natural Resources' annual weeklong volunteer river cleanup event that has achieved nationally recognized results: 1,500 participants, 497 sponsors, over 500 river miles, and 1,700 cubic yards of trash (with a recycling average of 72 percent). In 2004 an artistic element known as "Riverse" was added to help draw the public's attention to the condition and status of Iowa's waterways. Each year during Project AWARE, various trash pieces are taken aside by volunteers and transformed into interpretive sculptures guided by collaborating artist David Williamson, an artist and poet from Ogden, Iowa. Every sculpture represents a different river, group of volunteers, and theme of water quality and watershed awareness. Bicycles, farm equipment, industrial supplies, and children's toys are among the items that make up the finished art pieces. Iowa State University is a seven-year supporter of Project AWARE through Outdoor Recreation Services' equipment sponsorship and volunteerism of faculty, staff, and students.

Cosponsored By:

• Council on Sustainability
• National Affairs
• Recreation Services
• Committee on Lectures (funded by Student Government)