Patagonia and "Our Common Waters"

Patagonia has been an environmentally minded company since it was founded in the early 70’s. It is now one of the largest suppliers of outdoor equipment in the world – and probably one of the most eco-friendly, too. Since 1985, Patagonia has pledged 1% of sales to the preservation and restoration of the natural environment. This initiative inspired the creation of a non-profit organization to encourage other businesses to do the same. In 2002, twenty-one businesses signed up to form 1% For the Planet. It has since grown to more than 1,200 companies who strive to fulfill their mission: creating a healthy planet.

For Patagonia, however, donating 1% of their sales is just the beginning of their quest to save the environment. The company has several programs in place to go above and beyond. As part of their newest campaign, Our Common Waters, Patagonia is analyzing every aspect of their operations to see just how much water they use, or better yet, how much water they take away from the Earth’s ecosystem. The goal is to balance human water use with the needs of animals and plants.

The amount of water each of us use is more than what we drink, do the dishes with, or how much time we spend in the shower. It includes our share of water used in industrial production and consumption. So the environmentally conscience customer should understand what businesses do to increase or decrease their water consumption and pollution. Patagonia is just beginning to learn how big their “water footprint” is and what they can do to reduce it.

Patagonia found that 2,304 liters of water is consumed in the manufacturing of their Pima Cotton T-shirt. This is enough to provide drinking water for 768 people for one day. In the following years, Patagonia plans to become fully aware of how much water goes into the making of every product and begin to reduce it. They already have begun to use improved drip irrigation, which decreases the amount of water used by 20-30%.

The Our Common Waters initiative is one part of Patagonia’s extensive project, The Footprint Chronicles, which allows you to track the impact of a specific product from design to delivery. To learn more about this program and others, visit Patagonia’s Environmentalism website. You can also use National Geographic’s Water Footprint Calculator to find out how much water you use, and learn what you can do to save the world’s water.