Climate Good Works: Healthy Seas Socks, Dick’s Sporting Goods Launches “Public Lands”, Mountainfilm Festival Now Online, Meet “The Forest Man” Of India

HEALTHY SEAS SOCKS

We learned from our Young Champions of the Earth profile of Lefteris Arapakis, co-founder of Enaleia that some of the plastics fishers in his organization recover from the Mediterranean goes to an environmental organization that turns the plastic into socks. The name of that sockmaker is Healthy Seas Socks, and it’s based upon a sense of urgency:

“If we don’t act now the Pacific Ocean will forever be lost,” says their website. “That is why each year the Healthy Seas founding partners set up an action plan with sustainable goals. The largest amount of the available budget goes to environmental projects. This way sea life is given a healthy boost and future generations can enjoy a cleaner ocean.”

Healthy Seas Socks are largely made of old fishing nets. These fishing nets are huge polluters in the ocean and a deadly trap for sea life.  By recovering them, corals get a chance to flourish again on the bottom of the ocean, sea animals won’t get stuck in it and we prevent further plastic pollution. The waste is transformed into a new product: regenerated nylon is a recycled high quality yarn. 

Healthy Seas Socks combines the regenerated nylon with 100% organic GOTS cotton.

Why the collaboration between Enaleia and other ocean plastic recovery organization with Healthy Sea Socks matters: this is clear evidence of how a seemingly simple sock changes into an easy opportunity to contribute to a better world.

DEEPER DIVE: Healthy Sea Socks, UNEP

DICK’S SPORTING GOODS LAUNCHES “PUBLIC LANDS”

Dick’s Sporting Goods, once a name associated with guns and the outdoors–and recently reviled by the NRA for the brand’s decision to pivot out of the firearms-related categories after the 2018 Parkland school shooting, is set to wade into controversy yet again. This time, it won’t be about social-political justice. This time, it’s about environmental justice. 

Outgoing CEO Ed Stack recently announced plans to re-brand two of Dick’s Field and Stream stores in Pittsburgh, and Columbus, OH into Public Lands.

According to a letter from last year, Chairman and CEO Ed Stack wants Public Lands to be a direct reflection of where the company places its value.

Quote, “We think it’s important to protect our public lands, to protect the environment. And this concept will really be focused on that. We think there’s a real opportunity from people getting outdoors, camp, hike, bike, kayaking, fishing.” 

Why does this matter to climate change? According to a phone call Stack had with the media, “Conservation will play a prominent role in our new Public Lands concept, and we will champion environmental issues as we speak up to protect the planet and our public lands. As a member of the outdoor industry, we have also joined forces with other retailers to advocate for conserving 30% of the U.S. lands and waters by 2030.”

Ed Stack and Dick’s Sporting Goods have the name recognition and clout to enlarge the circle of people committed to making this beautiful planet more protected! 

DEEPER DIVE: GearJunkie, SeekingAlpha, Outside Business News

MOUNTAINFILM FESTIVAL NOW ONLINE!

If you missed making it to the vaunted Mountain-Film Festival at Telluride over the Memorial Day weekend, not to worry. It’s still happening all this week online. And it’s worth it. The MountainFilm “celebrates indomitable spirit, educates and inspires audiences, and motivates individuals and communities to advance solutions for a livable world.”

Started in 1979, Mountainfilm is one of America’s longest-running film festivals. 

In fact, Festivals like this have been cited as some of the key reasons that the environmental documentary genre exists, with MountainFilm continuing that trend by offering a number of grants and fellowships to fund filmmaking focused on the natural environment.

This year’s titles include:

An Imperfect Advocate, a story about a glaciology scientist turned professional alpinist and how his adventures have shown him, first-hand, how climate change is affecting all the things he loves, even while he’s a jet-setter himself.

Also, Girls Gotta Eat Dirt, a story of some amazingly talented women riding the trails around Silverton, Colorado.

And, How to Count a Wolf, a documentary about human management of returning wolf populations and the challenges that come with being a wildlife biologist tracking nature’s hunters.

Unlike some online film festivals The Climate Daily profiled earlier this year, Mountainfilm is not free. Price of passes are as low as $15 for one or two films; $150 for an individual, all-access pass, or $250 for a “household” version of the same.  Once you unlock the pass, you will have seven days to enjoy MountainFilms slate of movies. 

You know, this isn’t a film festival about climate change, or even focused on environmental issues per say…but it does keep both of those things front of mind. Events like these help share knowledge and experiences from different communities, and we’re always stronger in our fight against climate change, when we’re together.

DEEPER DIVE: Lineup, About, Films

FOREST MAN OF INDIA

Jadav “Molai” Payeng, is known as “The Forest Man of India”–the man who grew a forest on a sandbar of Majuli Island along the Brahmaputra River. From 1979 to 1984, Payeng was part of a program by the social forestry division of Golaghat district to create a 490-acre tree plantation.

That program had a five-year lifespan. But when it ended in 1984, Payeng stayed and continued the work growing the original 490 acre tree plantation into the Molai forest (named after him).

The forest is an area in excess of nearly 1400 acres. To give you some perspective, Central Park in New York City is 840 acres. The tree planting program Payeng has been toiling at since 1979 began in order to save his island from disappearing into the Brahmaputra River. The erosion was a result of human deforestation. 

The Molai Forest now houses Bengal tigers, Indian rhinoceros, and over 100 deer and rabbits. Molai forest is also home to monkeys and several varieties of birds, including a large number of vultures. There are several thousand trees, and A herd of around 100 elephants regularly visits the forest every year for six month stays. They have given birth to 10 calves in the forest in recent years.

This is why this story matters to us: not only has His forest transformed what was once a barren wasteland into a lush oasis, its presence brought the return of wildlife. Because that’s what happens when we restore forests. We also restore Nature, and all that that entails. An entire ecosystem.

“Tree is at the root of human life. If you have trees, you can save the planet and then you can save animals. The future has to be green,” Payeng says.

In 2013, William McMaster released a short documentary called, Forest Man about Payeng’s quest. It’s beautiful to watch and free for viewing on YouTube. Check out the links to this story on our website, at TheClimate.org/episodes.

DEEPER DIVE: YouTube, ClimateReporter, Wikipedia