Notes on The Buying & Selling of Nature

Setting the Scene: The Outdoor Retailer Show (OR)

  • Date and location: January 25, 2014, Salt Lake City; The Outdoor Retailer Show blooms twice a year in downtown Salt Lake City, an eruption of mostly petroleum-based products designed to get you outside and keep you from dying there: sleeping bags, avalanche pillows, solar-powered pens.
  • Scope and scale: The show features sellers of outdoor equipment and clothing and thousands of attendees. There are 1000 brands and 22{,}000 people in attendance. It is described as a jungle gym of slacklines and money, the conquering of the useless, and people are buying.
  • Atmosphere and paradox: Beyond unbridled capitalism, the show is actually about being outside—firestrikers and adventurers, even under hallucinogenic convention-hall lighting. The space is filled with stories of extreme outdoor feats, danger, and resilience.

Key people and anecdotes on Page 1

  • Janet Ross: Attends every convention seeking funding for her environmentally-directed Four Corners School in Monticello, Utah. She tracked her movement with a pedometer and walked 22 miles in three days across the convention center.
  • Anecdotes of outdoor courage and risk:
    • A young man launched his kayak down a 200-foot waterfall intentionally.
    • In an after-hours OR nightclub, a sponsored athlete described a climbing expedition to Nepal where she had to worm her way out from a local man who thought he’d purchased her.
  • Ace Kvale: Veteran mountaineer, lifelong dirtbag, and Telluride Mountain Film judge; serves as a guide through OR, helping attendees navigate the maze of booths. He avoids what he calls "Bro Row"—the cluster of people you know from past expeditions—because it makes it hard to move and meet new people.
  • Ace’s expertise: A keen sense of movement on any terrain; recently returned from 27 days walking off trail around the high-desert arms of the Escalante River in Utah with only his dog for company.
  • Personal encounter with the higher-end gear world: In the Black Diamond booth, the expectation is to obtain gear (e.g., collapsible, Kevlar-strung trekking poles) but the encounter shifts toward a conversation about epic journeys and the joy of “breathing out there.” The trekking poles obtained are light, carbon fiber and smell like a gun barrel—symbolizing both the precision and intensity of the outdoor pursuit.
  • Industry about wilderness: For the companies and CEOs moving hundreds of billions of dollars through the US economy, wilderness preservation is job security; without a place to go, the industry cannot exist.
  • Introduction to the conservation angle: The author first came to OR a couple of years earlier invited by the Conservation Alliance, a nonprofit that donates to protect wild places. Each year, the Alliance returns with a list of millions more acres preserved across North America. The industry is framed as a protector of wilderness, not merely a commercial enterprise.

Visuals and rhetoric of nature

  • Billboards depict muscular women climbing cliffs in remote, untouched places.
  • The convention is a platform to shake hands, hold meetings, and pitch for funding; collaboration with filmmakers to advance the imagined goal of a greater wilderness is common.
  • The chapter frames OR as both a marketplace and a stage for environmental advocacy and fundraising.

Synthesis: What OR represents on a macro scale

  • The show blends capitalism with wildness; commerce supports the fantasy and reality of being outside.
  • The industry’s financial power is positioned as a driver for environmental protection and political lobbying.
  • The tension between selling gear and loving wild places is a central tension: “Stories need to be told, and feet need to touch the ground. We keep the machine going.”
  • The author’s purpose is to illuminate the people, the stories, and the systems that sustain outdoor culture and conservation funding.

Narrative Thread and Key Characters (Pages 1–3)

  • Ace Kvale: A navigator who steers attendees through OR, avoids Bro Row, and embodies a blend of rugged practicality and storytelling prowess. His recent off-trail journey of 27 days with his dog illustrates a deep commitment to solitude and movement in harsh environments.
  • Roch (pronounced rock): An ultra-marathon trail-runner met at the Black Diamond booth. He embodies durable physicality and a reverence for the outdoors (quotes Wallace Stegner; extols the feeling of “breathing out there”). He helps redefine what constitutes a trek, turning trekking poles into symbols of epic journeys.
  • Janet Ross: An advocate for wilderness preservation through education, linking the OR environment to real-world conservation outcomes (Four Corners School).
  • John Grandt: A representative for Osprey, a pack-maker from Dolores, Colorado. He embodies the tension between monetization and environmental ethics: describing how America’s dumpsters are full signals the tension of consumer culture and responsibility. John is practical, lean, and aware of the financial pressures that fund expeditions and families.

The Intersection of Commerce, Conservation, and Ethics

  • The OR show positions wilderness as both inspiration and market.
  • Preservation is framed as job security for the outdoor industry, suggesting a symbiotic relationship between economic interests and conservation.
  • The Conservation Alliance highlights a track record of preserving millions of acres, making the case that philanthropy and corporate sponsorship can align with public land protection.
  • The notion of influencing policy is explicit: products, athletes, and projects are funded to promote environmental change; one strategy is to move a proposed Greater Canyonlands National Monument into the political spotlight (Obama administration).
  • The tension between selling merchandise (e.g., sunglasses, shells, jackets, packs, trekking poles) and preserving wild spaces is central to the narrative, highlighting ethical questions about consumerism, representation, and the true meaning of outdoor freedom.

Concrete Details and Quantitative References (LaTeX)

  • The scale of the event:
    • 1000 brands
    • 22{,}000 attendees
  • Notable feats and durations:
    • 22 miles walked by Janet Ross in 3 days
    • A 200-foot waterfall descent
    • 27 days off-trail walking by Ace Kvale
  • Objects and purchases observed:
    • Three pairs of sunglasses: 3 pairs
    • One new shell jacket: 1 jacket
    • A couple (two) new packs: 2 packs
    • Trekking poles: previously mentioned in the Black Diamond booth
  • Economic scope: The outdoor industry moves “several hundred billion dollars” per year through the US economy. In LaTeX-friendly terms: ext{several hundred billion dollars per year}.
  • Preservation and policy goals: The Conservation Alliance tracks millions of acres preserved; the Greater Canyonlands National Monument is discussed as a potential focus for political action and presidential attention.

Concepts and Their Significance

  • Bro Row: A social dynamic at OR where long-standing personal networks form a barrier to meeting new people and moving through the convention efficiently. Ace uses a deliberate path to navigate the crowd and avoid this clump, enabling fresh conversations and opportunities.
  • Wilderness as Economic Driver: The industry sustains itself by selling the fantasy and reality of remote spaces, creating a feedback loop where conservation supports access to wilderness, which in turn sustains market demand for gear.
  • Corporate Social Responsibility and Advocacy: Osprey’s approach shows how a gear company can influence policy and funding in support of environmental change while remaining a profit-driven enterprise.
  • Ethics of Storytelling and Representation: The narrative emphasizes the importance of storytelling in bringing attention to wild places, but also critiques the commercialization that accompanies those stories—raising questions about authenticity, impact, and the ultimate purpose of exploration.
  • Conservation as Public Good: The Conservation Alliance and government-designated protections (e.g., National Monuments) illustrate a link between private philanthropy, corporate sponsorship, and public land stewardship.

Connections to Foundational Principles and Real-World Relevance

  • The material connects to broader themes in environmental ethics, including the intrinsic vs. instrumental value of nature and the politics of conservation funding.
  • It highlights how experiential cultures (adventure, mountaineering, long-distance hiking) intersect with modern economies, technology (carbon fiber gear, Kevlar components), and marketing.
  • The piece offers a snapshot of how outdoor culture negotiates authority, risk, and responsibility in a consumer-driven context.
  • Real-world relevance includes:
    • The ongoing debate over public land protection versus commercial use and development.
    • The role of philanthropy and corporate funding in conservation outcomes.
    • How media, storytelling, and film festivals participate in shaping public perception of wilderness.

Key Quotations and Takeaways

  • “This is America, man, our dumpsters are full.” – John Grandt, reflecting the tension between abundance, waste, and basic love for wild places.
  • “If there is no place to go, the industry cannot exist.” – A concise articulation of the dependency of the outdoor economy on access to nature.
  • “Stories need to be told, and feet need to touch the ground. We keep the machine going.” – A closing sentiment about the role of narrative and ongoing exploration in sustaining both personal passion and industry.

Thematic Summary and Implications

  • The OR show serves as a microcosm of the broader relationship between capitalism and conservation. It reveals how a thriving outdoor economy can support environmental advocacy while simultaneously reinforcing consumer-driven culture.
  • The alignment (and potential tension) between private funding, corporate responsibility, and public land protection raises questions about governance, equity, and the ultimate aims of outdoor culture.
  • The narrative emphasizes human connection to wild places through stories, companionship (dogs, mentors like Ace), and shared risk, while also acknowledging the logistics, packaging, and revenue streams that make such culture possible.

Endnote

  • Craig Childs–Writings used with author’s permission.
  • The material presents a narrative lens on the Outdoor Retailer Show, blending description, memoir, critique, and policy-oriented implications for wilderness preservation and the outdoor industry.