Patagonia Is Firing Right At The President For Reducing National Monuments

Yesterday, President Trump made the unprecedented announcement that he plans to significantly shrink two of America’s national monuments in Utah, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante. The move will strip nearly two million collective acres from the monuments, making it the largest reduction of public lands protection in U.S. history. (The fact that the monuments were created by a man named Clinton and another named Obama seems worth noting.)

This massive land grab is a devastating blow to environmentalists and, as such, has prompted swift public outcry. Perhaps none have been so strong as from adventure outfitter Patagonia who quickly changed their homepage to a stark black and white message that says, ‘The President Stole Your Land’.

The new page prompts visitors to take action with Patagonia as they “stand alongside over 350 businesses, conservation groups and Native American tribes that have come together on this issue to protect public lands.” And in a statement from CEO and president, Rose Marcario, they reveal that they plan on taking their own legal action.

Americans have overwhelmingly spoken out against the Trump Administration’s unprecedented attempt to shut down our national monuments. The Administration’s unlawful actions betray our shared responsibility to protect iconic places for future generations and represent the largest elimination of protected land in American history. We’ve fought to protect these places since we were founded and now we’ll continue that fight in the courts.

There are huge stakes here. With more monuments potentially on the chopping block, what happens now with Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante will set the tone for the future of protecting land in the United States, and the power that a president can yield in privatizing them. Patagonia isn’t taking those stakes lightly. They’re standing up to the President today. And they urge the rest of us to do the same.