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There's No Hippy Like An Old Hippy!


Razors Edge

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...and this guy is a hoot!  I do hope he researched the Milton Hershey School, The Barnes Foundation, or even the Gardner Museum a bit and built in some sort of protections.

I get why @dinneR is a fan.

I never wanted to be a businessman. I started as a craftsman, making climbing gear for my friends and myself, then got into apparel. As we began to witness the extent of global warming and ecological destruction, and our own contribution to it, Patagonia committed to using our company to change the way business was done. If we could do the right thing while making enough to pay the bills, we could influence customers and other businesses, and maybe change the system along the way.

We started with our products, using materials that caused less harm to the environment. We gave away 1% of sales each year. We became a certified B Corp and a California benefit corporation, writing our values into our corporate charter so they would be preserved. More recently, in 2018, we changed the company’s purpose to: We’re in business to save our home planet.

While we’re doing our best to address the environmental crisis, it’s not enough. We needed to find a way to put more money into fighting the crisis while keeping the company’s values intact.

One option was to sell Patagonia and donate all the money. But we couldn’t be sure a new owner would maintain our values or keep our team of people around the world employed.

Another path was to take the company public. What a disaster that would have been. Even public companies with good intentions are under too much pressure to create short-term gain at the expense of long-term vitality and responsibility.

Truth be told, there were no good options available. So, we created our own.

Instead of “going public,” you could say we’re “going purpose.” Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth for investors, we’ll use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth.

Here’s how it works: 100% of the company’s voting stock transfers to the Patagonia Purpose Trust, created to protect the company’s values; and 100% of the nonvoting stock had been given to the Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting the environmental crisis and defending nature. The funding will come from Patagonia: Each year, the money we make after reinvesting in the business will be distributed as a dividend to help fight the crisis.

It’s been nearly 50 years since we began our experiment in responsible business, and we are just getting started. If we have any hope of a thriving planet—much less a thriving business—50 years from now, it is going to take all of us doing what we can with the resources we have. This is another way we’ve found to do our part.

Despite its immensity, the Earth’s resources are not infinite, and it’s clear we’ve exceeded its limits. But it’s also resilient. We can save our planet if we commit to it.

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When I was in my late teens, early 20's, it was prime hippie time and most of us wore long hair, flared or bell bottom jeans, etc. and were suspicious of government and older, "ignorant" people in our society.

But by the time we were in our mid to late 20's, we had cut our hair shorter and were working for "The Man" and trying to financially and emotionally succeed in life.  Many of us kept most of our all-are-equal ideals, but realized that those of us who worked our butts off to get well-educated or well-skilled in a trade deserved a solid share of the financial pie compared to those who did not bother to do so.

Those who I've known in my area for the last half-century who are still hippies never seemed to have a goal of financial well-being.  Many of them seldom wanted a regular job even in the face of being short or necessities and doing without health insurance and ended up on Disability Social Security or using other social aid programs.

That included those who, at parties, would say things like, "Do you know you do not have to pay into Social Security?"  Of course, now in their late-60's or 70's, they don't pay into party costs, etc.

I've always admired their sticking to some of their egalitarian goals, but also felt they were hypocrites for grabbing public assistance paid by those of us when joined general society and paid a lot of taxes without acknowledging the benefits of being in a structured society.

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3 minutes ago, Further said:

They have held true to their path, or trail...

Yeah, it is nice to see hippies actually meaning to do well.  I was just saying I am surprised some jerkface or other hasn't started crapping all over the idea of preserving the planet we live on rather than raping the living shit out of it for someone's monetary gain.

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