Participants of Camping to Connect
It’s easy to get caught up in shopping for deals this time of year, but the spirit of the holidays (in our humble opinion) is about giving back and doing good. On this Giving Tuesday, our team is pausing to celebrate some of the organizations we’ve been proud to support this year. We hope you’ll support them too—whether it’s hitting the “follow” button on their social accounts or making a donation to help advance their programs.
Camping to Connect
Experiences in nature can be powerful, eye-opening, inspiring—the list goes on. But the reality is that not everyone has equal access to the outdoors. Camping to Connect is an organization that’s working to change that. Their programs help young men from underserved communities in the New York City area, providing them with access to nature and helping them build valuable life skills along the way.
As explained on the Camping to Connect website, “Immersed in nature, we help connect young men more deeply to their friends, their lives, and themselves. Through breakout sessions with peers and adult mentors, we offer them a space to be transparent, honest, and vulnerable, as well as a new perspective on what it means to be a man.”
Though currently operating only in NYC, Camping to Connect aims to expand their work to other cities in the future.
The Envira Amazonia Project
As a Climate Neutral-certified company, we’re constantly working to reduce our carbon footprint. Whatever we can’t reduce, we offset by purchasing carbon credits.
We know that carbon credits can be confusing, but essentially, they’re a way of investing in programs that help fight climate change. We offset our entire 2019 footprint by supporting the Envira Amazonia project with credits purchased through Carbonfund.org.
Why this project? At its heart, it protects 500,000 acres of tropical rainforest that otherwise would have become a cattle ranch. This helps preserve the world’s biodiversity and it offsets emissions since trees and soil absorb CO2. But Envira Amazonia’s work doesn’t end there. The project also supports the local community with training and alternative sources of income, so that protecting the rainforest is good for them and good for the planet.
In Solidarity Project
The outdoor industry can be a force for positive change, and when it comes to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in the outdoors, there’s work to be done. We want to tip our hat to the team at In Solidarity for leading the way and holding the industry accountable. As our company takes steps to promote inclusion in the outdoors, we are inspired and guided by In Solidarity and the many other brands that have joined the Outdoor CEO Diversity Pledge. Together, we can and will create meaningful change.