Confused this election season? You’re not alone. U.S. citizens will head to the polls on November 8th and elect one of the two most polarizing and controversial candidates to represent both major political parties in American history. According to reports, both candidates break records in terms of unfavorability.
The result? Voters may find themselves between a rock and a hard place come November. But Patagonia hopes to make things simple. Instead of perpetuating rhetoric about walls, e-mails, ‘baskets of deplorables’, etc. the company encourages voters to instead vote our planet.
No names. No faces. No super PACs. No quid pro quo. Just an effort to consider the broader implications of how a vote might impact our planet, our daily lives, and the generations that follow.
Vote Our Planet encourages those eligible to go to the ballot boxes this election cycle to consider three integral resources our planet provides that are necessary for the wellbeing of not just ourselves but life in general: air, water, and soil.
The short film above highlights what it means to “vote our air”. “Nearly 138.5 million [U.S. citizens] live in places where pollution levels are often too dangerous to breathe,” the film begins, a statistic from the American Lung Association. It goes on to challenge voters to get to the polls in order to hold corporations that pollute our air accountable.
And with similar issues that plague our water (consider the Flint water crisis) and our soil, it’s no secret that there are serious environmental issues at stake nationwide.
In a press release, Patagonia founder, Yvon Chouinard explained the justification for this new initiative. “In the United States, only 60 percent of eligible citizens voted in the 2012 presidential election and of those, many voted only for president and left the rest of the ballot blank,” he said. “Many young voters feel disenfranchised and disillusioned by politics. But if they voted in full force, and voiced the urgency of the environmental crisis, politicians would have to take their issues seriously.”
The video above also highlights the need to focus on local issues, as they tend to have the largest impact on the daily lives of U.S. citizens.
Lisa Pike Sheehy, Patagonia’s VP of Environmental Activism, explained would-be voters shouldn’t be dismayed or disheartened by what they see on TV. “We can’t let the ugliness of our politics turn people away from voting when the future of our planet is at stake,” she said in a press release. “We’re giving voters resources that will inspire and empower them to take action and voice their support for a healthy planet – whether we’re fighting to protect our own backyards or electing leaders who will fight for the future of our planet at the international level.”
Patagonia has devoted approximately $1 million to galvanize voters, get new voters registered, and educate people about the environmental issues at stake to ensure a sizable turnout this election.
In addition to in-store events at Patagonia’s 29 retail locations across the U.S., the company will also take over the New York Times mobile website and Tumblr on September 12th, and November 7th and 8th with images, videos, and information about threats facing our air, water, and soil.
Check out the Vote Our Planet website for more information.
