Standing at the “Leave No Trace” booth at the 2015 Outdoor Retailer Winter Market this past Wednesday, I pondered the recurring thought I have every time I attend the event, “ Does any of this look like it’s leaving no trace?”
It is a curious dichotomy that the impetus for most marketing strategies in the outdoor industry today appeals to a sense of abiding an environmental ethic while at the same time nurturing a business model that thrives on people consuming new and improved products every season.
Oh the irony.
Tens of thousands of square feet of the Salt Lake Convention Center was packed to the hilt with more merchandise than a Super Walmart at Christmas and with the frenzied people to boot who, were we to be honest, do not much differ from the mindless consumers they disparage.
I am convinced that the infamous “puffy” jacket is the single largest scam on outdoor consumers in the history of the industry but may very well be the one item that carried the industry through the last recession. It’s basically some rip stop tissue paper stuffed with feathers, and while warm, holds up only slightly to a scraping against a knock down coat of drywall mud. It is all but a $300 disposable napkin practically speaking for any serious outdoor endeavor. Or in other words, it’s outdoor fashion.
Then there are the industry professionals themselves. I actually have a first hand account of a major outdoor brand kicking another even more major brands rep out of their booth for “trade secret” concerns.
(coughing the word “bullshit”)
But what really put the whole thing in perspective, was when I attended an event put on by The Conservation Alliance where former Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt spoke to a moderate crowd of about three hundred people.
I was all too pleased to hear him systematically slam Utah and inadvertently Governor Gary Herbert and his slicker than Slick Willy minion, Ken Ivory for their frivolously conceived attempt to gain control of federal lands in the state. Under the guise of liberty and some ill conceived notion of federal and state laws, a well funded campaign, partly funded by money being taken from School Trust Funds in Utah, they will wage a lawsuit against the federal government. And despite being advised by their very own Office of Research and Legislative Council of the unconstitutionality of their suit, these “jacks” are going to rack up tax payers money to wage a political lawsuit in the hopes of gaining political expediency in this predominately red state.
If they were to succeed however, take heart in knowing that the extractive industries would be having a field day turning Utah into a cuckold for oil companies.
Some call him “Grab it Babbitt” for his role in designating Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument but the man was spot on then and is spot on now in his grave warnings to the people of Utah to pay attention closely to what their leaders are up to here.But the irony became painful when Babbitt both admonished and chastised the audience who was representative of the outdoor industry. (Mind you, only a small percentage of the industry actually came to listen that day. I guess the rest of them were standing a vigilant guard at their respective booths to make sure no one came in who was not vying to try to figure out what color zippers they were putting on their piece of shit puffy jackets next season.)
Babbitt told the audience the outdoor industry was hardly seizing their collective economic power to shape and influence the situation in Utah and in the country as well.
The outdoor retail industry in Utah alone has annual revenues that currently rivals all of the extractive industries in the state combined. It is a formidable force to be reckoned with and hardly recognizes its potential as such.
According to an article in The Salt Lake Tribune, “In Utah alone, outdoor recreation supports 65,000 jobs, produces nearly $4 billion annually in retail sales and services and generates nearly $300 million in annual state tax revenues. In addition, Outdoor Retailer, the world’s largest outdoor products trade show, brings $40 million to the state each year.”
Yet it is those very land-raping, polluting, troglodytes who have their well-oiled fists up our legislators keisters steering them to engage in things like this rapaciously asinine lawsuit.
Simply put, there is immense power in numbers and those who hold true to that leave no trace principle ought to do a little more than attend an overrated garage sale to show their support for the outdoors they love so much. Next year I’m going to Sundance instead.
See you out there.
Dallas Hyland is a freelance writer, award-winning photographer, and documentary filmmaker with three films currently under his belt. The opinion editor of The Independent, Hyland’s investigative journalism and opinion columns have ranged in topics from local political and environmental issues, to drug trafficking in Utah, as well as the international front, covering issues such as human trafficking in Colombia. On his rare off-days, he can be found with his family and friends exploring the pristine outdoors. Listen to him live as a regular guest co-host on the Perspectives talk show on Fox News 1450 AM 93.1 FM in southern Utah.
