Patagonia Founder Yvon Chouinard on ‘Wild Life’ and Donating His Company to Save the Earth: ‘It’s Not a Burden’
At Tuesday’s New York City premiere of Nat Geo’s documentary “Wild Life,” Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, shed light on his 2022 decision to donate the entire apparel brand, worth $3 billion, to a trust dedicated to fighting the climate crisis.
“I’m kind of pessimistic about the fate of this planet,” Chouinard said. “We’ve been giving one percent of our sales for a long time. We’ve given away $200 or $300 million over the years, but I’m always thinking, ‘What more can I do?”
Directed by Oscar winners Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, “Wild Life” chronicles the decades-long efforts by conservationist Kris Tompkins and her late husband and the North Face founder, Doug Tompkins, to create national parks throughout Chile and Argentina. The couple helped Chouinard, who appears in the doc, create and run Patagonia.
Chouinard, who joined Vasarhelyi, Chin and Tompkins onstage after the MoMA screening, added that his decision to give the planet $3 billion also had to do with his two children, who have “simple lives” and no desire to inherit Patagonia.
“When we found a way to basically make earth our stockholder, it seemed real logical,” he continued. “It’s a way for Patagonia as a company to give a lot more money. We’ve given away $33 million since November. We’re going to give away another $40 or $50 [million] within the next couple months. It’s a pretty good system. I can tell you this: it’s not a burden. It’s really a lot of fun.”
As with their previous films “Free Solo” and “Meru,” Chin and Vasarhelyi’s “Wild Life” explores the world of elite climbers – in which Chin is a leading figure – mixing adventure footage that was shot in Chile’s Patagonia National Park, a former private reserve that Tompkins Conservation donated in 2018, with interviews and archival footage.
Chin, who climbed with both Doug Tompkins and Chouinard, was keen on making “Wild Life.” Tompkins on the other hand was wary.
“Jimmy just started showing up,” she explained. “I’d say what are you doing? And he would say, ‘I’m just going to film this stuff and we will see if something happens to it.’ Finally, it began to take shape and they asked me if I would be interested in something like this. I was reticent at first but then I thought if there was ever going to be a film about our story it would be with Jimmy and Chai. So I just put my life in their hands.
Vasarhelyi was also initially hesitant about the project, which will have a limited theatrical release beginning April 14 and stream on Disney+ May 25.
“He was like, we really should make a film about my mentors, the icons of the outdoor industry,” she recalled of her husband’s passion for the project. “But I don’t climb. I don’t ski. I don’t really go outside. So I was like, no way. Oh, no,” Vasarhelyi said.
Eventually the filmmaker came around and found herself captivated by Kris Tompkins’ life story and how she handled life after the death of her husband.
“It just became so compelling, this idea of Kris finding (her way),” Vasarhelyi said. “We made this film for our kids. Climate change is the existential question of our children’s generation. And this is a story that says very clearly, put one foot in front of the other and just try because trying matters.”
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