Tom Brokaw and Yvon Chouinard at Zeitgeist '07

grahamfitter

Expedition Leader
From The Cleanest Line: Tom Brokaw recently interviewed Patagonia owner Yvon Chouinard at Google's Zeitgeist 2007 conference. The theme:

Leading a Non-Virtual Life​

Tom Brokaw and Yvon Chouinard talk about being intentionally "un-networked" and leading a deliberately disconnected life. Both discuss why living off the grid is critical for a well-rounded existence.


My humble opinion: We should all be more like Chouinard.

The interview is on the Cleanest Line page but in case it vanishes, its also on Youtube: here.

Cheers,
Graham
 

Wanderlusty

Explorer
I wish I was brave enough to live like that sometimes. Off-the-grid (whether in regards to utilities, or technology) living really appeals to me...but it is a lot to give up....and a lot to ask your family to give up as well...
 

HiLift Jack

Adventurer
Wow

Yoda speaks, I love this guy. As a manufacturer I am trying to drink his koolade but the supply chain sucks in this country of cradle to grave logic.
 

DesertRose

Safari Chick & Supporting Sponsor
grahamfitter said:
From The Cleanest Line: Tom Brokaw recently interviewed Patagonia owner Yvon Chouinard at Google's Zeitgeist 2007 conference. The theme:

Leading a Non-Virtual Life​

Tom Brokaw and Yvon Chouinard talk about being intentionally "un-networked" and leading a deliberately disconnected life. Both discuss why living off the grid is critical for a well-rounded existence.


My humble opinion: We should all be more like Chouinard.

The interview is on the Cleanest Line page but in case it vanishes, its also on Youtube: here.

Cheers,
Graham

Terribly interesting. Chouinard has always lived a dual life - he can afford to be "disconnected" because he has a fabulous group of people working their tails off to make his life, um, easier, through the success of Patagonia . . . not trying to be cynical. But it's a good philosophy - you don't, however, have to be disconnected to live a simpler life. It's more about making choices appropriate to your own life and landscape and culture.
 

elcoyote

Supporting Sponsor, Overland Certified OC0004
DesertRose said:
Terribly interesting. Chouinard has always lived a dual life - he can afford to be "disconnected" because he has a fabulous group of people working their tails off to make his life, um, easier, through the success of Patagonia . . . not trying to be cynical. But it's a good philosophy - you don't, however, have to be disconnected to live a simpler life. It's more about making choices appropriate to your own life and landscape and culture.

How true. Those of us who have fewer resources at hand struggle a bit at this. As easy as it would be for me to turn my phone and isp off, they are my connection to our clients and hence the life blood of our company. that connectivity simplifes and complicates at the same time. I admire Yvon for his outspokeness on many subjects and we have considerd 1% as an option for our company. I hope that AT can acheive that level of social consciousness that Yvon has shown through his leadership.
 

articulate

Expedition Leader
By the way, a lot of the "disconnectedness" discussed in the interview is about cell phones and computers; modern gadgets and technology. He's not talking about being away from his company at length so he can go play. Chouinard emphasizes getting "your hands dirty" to get the job done, rather than relying on technology or delegation. I suspect that some of us feel the same way about cell phones as he does. While his company is "connected," (It's the way businesses are, he says) he chooses not to stay tied by a blackberry or cell phone.

I first read about Chouinard in a collection of historical accounts of early Yosemite big wall climbs. He forged his own pitons to make incredible first ascents when only a handful of people were climbing in Yosemite - he designed, engineered, built and used the equipment he'd need to ascend a new line on El Cap. Today's climbers waltz into REI and buy what they might need, sometimes on credit.

In my readings, I got the impression that he was a hard working individual with vision. I suspect that's how he's come to have a fabulous group of people working for him. He didn't just wake up one day and have thriving business under his palms. He's a hands-on kind of guy.

I'm not sure if we're about to crucify the guy for having on-the-fringe beliefs while also being highly successful (gee, how lucky for you...), but I thought this was worth saying.
 
Last edited:

grahamfitter

Expedition Leader
I'm most impressed with the way Chouinard uses the environment as a reason to effect change and the result is an improved product.

As for being disconnected, I'm not. The internet allows me to meet people who have the same interests I do that I'd otherwise never come into contact with. I think its this personal communication that allows small wineries - and trailer makers - to grow and prosper and keep their character in a homogenized world. Somewhat serendipitously, the internet is also where I met my girlfriend back in 1996!

Cheers,
Graham
 

elcoyote

Supporting Sponsor, Overland Certified OC0004
grahamfitter said:
I'm most impressed with the way Chouinard uses the environment as a reason to effect change and the result is an improved product.

As for being disconnected, I'm not. The internet allows me to meet people who have the same interests I do that I'd otherwise never come into contact with. I think its this personal communication that allows small wineries - and trailer makers - to grow and prosper and keep their character in a homogenized world. Somewhat serendipitously, the internet is also where I met my girlfriend back in 1996!

Cheers,
Graham
Agreed! If it were not for the internet, Martyn & I would have never met and Adventure Trailers would never have been conceived.
 

shahram

Adventurer
I'm a huge fan of Chouinard's. He's been an inspiration since I saw him pull up to Tar Pits in his beat up Tercel and go surfing. He was a multi-millionaire then, and has engendered a lot of revolutionary stuff since.

So no disrespect to Chouinard, but for the vast majority of us who are expected to be imminently available at all times by family and business are kinda out of luck on the whole "disconnected" thing.

'Cause I guaran-goddamn-tee ya that Yvon expects his employees to be electronically connected to each other...or maybe he's too busy bonefishing in the South Pacific, but his managers expect his employees to be electronically connected to each other.

Disconnectivity is a luxury for the Chouinards of the world.
 

HMR

Rendezvous Conspiracy
I grew up in Ventura and have been a Great Pacific Ironworks/Patagucci/ Cheap Sports fan for years. Chouinard is a living legend. But I agree, it's gotta be a lot easier to disconnect when you've got millions of dollars rolling in and a 100-acre parcel at Hollister Ranch to escape to.

I wonder if his royalty checks are electronically deposited?:sombrero:
 

Schattenjager

Expedition Leader
The less I have, the more I gain.


Except for truck mods, of course.
and music
travel,
health,
oh crap...
...nevermind
 

windy

Observer
Let us put things into perspective here, friends. Disconnectivity on the level of the mainstream media is a critical separation from functioning on the level of daily living where our communication with our "community" happens due to technological advances, thus evolution.
In Sustainability, we frequently discuss that the Homo sapien as it is, is socially dependent for intellectual, spiritual, emotional, and mechanical survival upon interaction with "community". Which means that as we strive to move toward "living off the grid" in order to reconnect with our natural environment, we will either need to adapt to less socially involved lives, or depend more upon our electronic connections.
You all know that we currently stand at 300 million plus in the States alone. Let us imagine for a moment what would happen if say, 200 million of us chose to live "off the grid". What would that mean for the environment, for community, sustainability?
I am not advocating either way. I am merely suggesting that on a mass scale , our voices should not represent what we ourselves, as individuals, would prefer for our own lives, but what we could accomplish or destroy in mass numbers. Overpopulation is, after all, our #1 combatant. We have *****#ed like mice, my friends.
There is a critical point where the "self" becomes irrelevant. And thus, in this realization, the "self" is rewarded.
 

articulate

Expedition Leader
windy said:
In Sustainability, we frequently discuss that the Homo sapien as it is, is socially dependent for intellectual, spiritual, emotional, and mechanical survival upon interaction with "community". Which means that as we strive to move toward "living off the grid" in order to reconnect with our natural environment, we will either need to adapt to less socially involved lives, or depend more upon our electronic connections.
How do the Amish fit into that postulation? Arguably a more socially involved culture with one another than the rest of us suburbanites, and one that lives off the grid.

In Chouinard's case, he's just living they way we all did in, oh say, 1980 - without a personal computer and without a cell phone. That's the disconnection they discuss in the interview. Sheezuz, if anyone wants to claim that it must be easy for him because he's so damn rich, it's best to consider the hard work he put into business to begin with. In addition to the simple fact the dude is 69 years old and still working . . .

Just because many of us can't stand the pressure of not being attached via wireless gadget to work, doesn't make Chouinard some kind of a rich corporate bastard who has it easy.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,527
Messages
2,875,540
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top