The Daily - January 31, 2020 - 30

Ideas
B I G

A C T I O N

The Work
Ahead

Alison Hill helps
launch the
LifeStraw Give
Back Program in
Western Kenya.

THE OUTDOOR INDUSTRY HAS

long been a progressive force in
driving conservation, acknowledging climate change, protecting wild
places, and ensuring our supply
chains reflect strong environmental values. In 2019, we continued to
see progress in these areas with the
development of initiatives like the
Plastic Impact Alliance and Climate Neutral. As business evolves,
these values should continue to
become a baseline expectation for
responsible companies. The outdoor industry should be proud of
our leadership in these areas. But
the industry has struggled when it
comes to people.
We've struggled with diversity and inclusion. We've struggled making the outdoors more
accessible. We've struggled with
developing products and assets
for women and people of different
body types. In short, we haven't
held the principles of our impact
on people as highly as we have
held the principles of our impact
on the environment.
There are, however, many wonderful forces in action seeking to
change many of these weaknesses:
There is a growing, diverse set
of activists in age, gender, background, ability, and ethnicity.
Many brands have changed, and
we salute those of you who have

opened the eyes of this industry
and have fought to make it more
inclusive. But we still need more
and louder voices because the work
is not yet done.
Over the past year, LifeStraw
collaborated with the team at
Snews to create a monthly column, "Her Voice," that highlights
issues around women in the industry. We covered topics ranging
from exploring biases and reactions to female founders to using
female storytellers, to supporting
better childcare policies and the
case for more sponsorship of female athletes. It opened our eyes
to some issues we didn't even realize existed, and we know this is
only a small sliver of the pie. We
need better action on so many of
these fronts to make our industry
reflect our dreams of who can
and should participate in the
outdoors. Yet we also need to tap
into our potential to impact those
outside of our industry who can
benefit from the amazing work of
our collective brands.
We were encouraged to see
several brands stepping forward
to support efforts for Hurricane
Dorian relief this year, and we
have been excited to see new
smaller B Corporations and other small brands making social
impact central to their missions.

/ OUTDOOR + SNOW SHOW 2020

It has also been encouraging to
see increased support for the
Outdoor Foundation in the last
few years. We are a small team at
LifeStraw, but we try to respond
where we can and where there is
significant need, even when our
technology is not appropriate
for a particular disaster (case in
point, we don't filter saltwater
but we still provided relief after
Hurricane Dorian).
This year, our teams volunteered
organizing supply logistics in the
Bahamas, migrant shelters in Mexico, in western Kenya, in northern
Bangladesh, in refugee camps in
Bangladesh, in India after cyclone
Fani, and in our own backyard.
LifeStraw has been able to improve
millions of lives with access to safe
water, but our collective impact
could be so much greater as an
industry. If we're going to get kids
from vulnerable communities outside, let's aim for millions instead
of thousands, and if we're going
to use our products for good, let's

all work together to be the most
recognized industry supporting disaster relief and the local communities around the places we most
treasure in the outdoors.
We can start by creating an Outdoor Industry Social Impact Working Group, alongside the existing
Sustainability Working Group, so
that we may better collaborate,
find synergies in the countries,
regions, and organizations that
we work with, and build off of one
another's collective strengths. If
you or your brand would like to
participate in this initiative, please
stop by our booth (51054-UL) or
contact us at tal@lifestraw.com.
Here's to a new decade that will
harness our industry's collective
growth as a force for good that
extends beyond protection of our
wild places and enables vulnerable
communities around the world to
thrive alongside us.
Alison Hill is the chief executive
officer of LifeStraw.

CO U R T E SY L I F E S T R AW

It's time for the outdoor industry to get
as serious about social responsibility as it is
about sustainability. An Outdoor Industry
Social Impact Working Group is the
perfect first step. By Alison Hill

The Daily - January 31, 2020

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