The Daily - January 31, 2020 - 72

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momentum has worked, agreed
the panelists. Once residents
buy in, participation grows and
spreads. Things can be reversed,
they stressed, and there is hope
that these disappointing numbers
will start to trend upward.
-Jenn Fields

OIA Industry
Lunch

Local Love Needed
TARIFFS ARE NOT THE WORST

headwind the industry is facing
these days, attendees were told at
Wednesday's OIA Industry Lunch,
"Is America Becoming an Indoor
Nation?" According to the 2019
Outdoor Participation Report from
the Outdoor Foundation, the philanthropic arm of OIA, Americans
went on one billion less outdoor
outings in 2018 than they did just
one decade earlier. That number
is highlighted by the fact that less
than half of the country's population did not participate in even one
outdoor recreation event in 2018,
the latest year for data.
The most disturbing number
from the report was that kids went
on 15% fewer annual outings in
2018 than they did in 2012. That
does not bode well for the future of
this industry. But not all is doom
and gloom; the report did show

female and Hispanic participation
increased in the last year.
According to Lise Aangeenbrug
of the Outdoor Foundation, the key
to reversing these trends and enticing more folks to head outdoors
lies in creating opportunities for
them to experience nature closer
to where they live. This idea is
attributed to the fact that 63% of
the study's respondents said that
they recreate within 10 miles of
their home.
As more people than ever live in
urban centers, this number is not
going to change. "A lot of people
in inner cities don't like to go into
the outdoors-it's strange to them.
We have to demystify it for them,"
said Jeff Bellows of Blue Cross Blue
Shield. That means engaging in
campaigns that introduce the outdoors on a local level, in the hopes
that once people visit, they will be

/ OUTDOOR + SNOW SHOW 2020

emboldened to venture farther out.
One of the key components to
this strategy involves partnering
with communities and listening,
not delivering a message of what
they should be doing. "We have
to be careful as an industry not
to tell people that they're doing
things wrong, that their idea of
outside is wrong because it does
not conform to our ideas," said
Ben Steele of REI. Carrying products that cater to an area's needs
and helping through programs
are ideal ways to start.
"Refurbishing run-down parks,
putting in playground equipment,
building basketball courts, installing climbing walls-anything
that helps to get people out of
their homes pays dividends," said
Shanelle Smith of the Trust for
Public Lands.
Starting small and building on

The carbon cost of the trip
to Denver might be front of
mind for brands as they pack
up their booths. Protect Our
Winters and The North Face
partnered on a simple solution
to offset this trip and future
adventures.
The Cost of Carbon (protect
ourwinters.org/cost-of-carbon)
is an expedition footprint calculator that lets you input the
basics-where you're going,
how you're getting there-and
quickly determines an offset
amount. Then, users choose an
offset project to support, from
landfill gas capture to forest
management, and click to pay.
The program launched at
a panel at The North Face
booth on Day 1. "I've been on
the team for 12 years now,
and we always, as athletes,
have been talking about our
carbon footprint," said TNF
athlete Emily Harrington.
"We're so passionate about
these places, but we also
realize we have a huge impact. It's hard to speak up
and have a voice about
this, because we do feel
hypocritical."
The calculator is what POW
calls "imperfect advocacy."
POW executive director Mario
Molina explains: "I'm going to
start by saying something that
might be a little odd on a panel about carbon offsets: Carbon offsets aren't the solution.
We have to think about carbon
offsets as a gateway drug into
climate advocacy." -J.F.

B I L LY J E B E R G

CLIMATE CALCULATOR

http://www.protectourwinters.org/cost-of-carbon http://www.protectourwinters.org/cost-of-carbon

The Daily - January 31, 2020

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