For those of you who have listened to a range of our first 40 something episodes, you know that I think deeply and widely about our human relationship with nature and the more than human world. I love talking to artists and curators about the big, thorny questions they are asking us to think about in their work. I also love talking to adventurers in business and athletics who are pushing the boundaries of their categories. But at some point, we need to buckle down and do the hard work of making sure that we still have the wild spaces that inspire these artists and energize these adventurers.

Today’s guest is Nick Mucha, Director of Environmental Issues and Strategy at Patagonia. He’s also a contributor and one of the editors of the new book from Patagonia “Tools to Save Our Home Planet”.

After more than a decade in the non-profit space, Nick was reenergized by attending Patagonia’s Tools for Grassroots Activists conference back in 2013. That renewed sense of purpose eventually led him to a desk in Patagonia itself where he works on the conference, with Patagonia’s environmental non-profit grantees and on Patagonia’s overall approach to environmental issues.

In this episode we talk about his path to Patagonia, the recently released book, and the role of environmental activism in the current political environment where many of the gains in the US that environmental activists have achieved are under threat. Coming on the heels of the success of grassroots organizations in getting Utah Senator Mike Lee to remove his provision in President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill to sell off thousands of acres of public lands, this episode is a call to action to keep pushing with budget cuts to departments like the National Parks and Forest Service likely to make it harder and harder to protect these lands.

On that point, if you did email or call your Senator or House representative to tell them to fight Senator Lee’s provision - thank you, thank you, thank you. This proves that the big tent approach to environmental activist that Nick outlines in the episode works, even though we recorded this episode almost a month ago before Senator Lee's antics.

We also talk a lot in the episode about Patagonia Action Works. It is a platform that helps connect Patagonia’s grassroots environmental grantees with skilled volunteers who can help them with everything from copywriting to legal advice. It is a platform I am personally passionate about having completed nearly 20 projects through the platform. In recent weeks through Action Works, I had a call with Friends of the Boundary Waters about advertising strategy and with Save the Yellowstone Grizzly about strategy needs and their new documentary “Return of the Grizzly” narrated by actor Jeff Bridges, which is garnering rave reviews by those who have seen it at festivals.

I hope you enjoy this episode with Nick and afterward, making sure to pick up a copy of “Tools to Save Our Home Planet” and sign up for a project on Patagonia Action Works.

Links

• Tools to Save Our Home Planet
• Patagonia Action Works