The President Stole Your Land; Patagonia Takes A Stand, Will You?

Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images

The outdoor clothing and equipment company, Patagonia takes a HUGE stand against the Trump administration. On Monday, around 4p ET, their site went dark and they replaced their homepage with these words “The President Stole Your Land.” Then, they announced their impending lawsuit against the administration.

Why the grand gesture?

On Monday, President Trump rolled back protections on Bear Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah. More than two million acres of land will be up for grabs for the mining logging and oil extraction industries.

“We feel that we have to pull out all the stops at this point,” Hans Cole, Patagonia’s director of environmental activism told GQ. “This is not a time to sit back and let any tool available to us go unused.”

The brand’s founder Yvon Chouinard made it real plain, letting CNN know: “I’m going to sue him.”

On their site, Patagonia published the following rally cry:

The fate of our national monuments is in the hands of the Trump administration. Public lands—from Maine to Hawai’i—provide enormous cultural, ecological and recreational value, and they are at risk. Removing protections for these wild places to open them up for development will not make us energy independent, and history shows that when states control these lands, they are sold to the highest bidder. This is not a chance we are willing to take.

If you’re not familiar with the outdoor enthusiast brand Patagonia, here’s the deal. Patagonia is no shrinking violet. When it comes to environmental activism, they’re ready to fight. Previously, they challenged Trump for pulling out of the Paris climate agreement. And they regularly give back – donating 1 percent of sales or almost $10 million in 2017.

And of course, the Twitter world stepped up to cheer Patagonia on. Check out our favorite posts:

Frat boys beware….all those fleeces bite back!

frat boys when they see patagonia and north face are taking a stand against trump pic.twitter.com/r2aQEODnkQ

— judgmental gay (@jdgmntlgay) December 5, 2017