On June 5th, 2014 Patagonia Burlington hosted its first ever in-store event for the release of the Patagonia film DamNation. The film chronicles the harmful environmental issues that dams create for our climate, ecosystems and communities. This spring, Patagonia has continued its stand against dirty dams in the new Farm League film Blue Heart.

Set in the Balkans, Blue Heart focuses on the massive number of proposed and under construction hydrodams and diversions on some of the last wild rivers in Europe. Currently, there are more than 3,000 projects in conversation, including work on Europe's largest undammed river, the Vjosa River in Albania. Blue Heart dives into the irreversible harm these projects would have on the surrounding environment, and tells the story of the women of Kruščica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. They are taking action to protect the only source of fresh water in their community.

On Thursday, May 10th Patagonia stores across the country will be hosting in-store screenings of Blue Heart. Local environmental grantee, Lake Champlain International will be joining our event to shed light on the threats Vermont’s waterways are currently facing. Event details can be found here.

It’s springtime in Vermont, that beautiful time of year where the snow finally melts, buds on the trees explode, the green grass perks up, and my favorite lilacs bushes are in bloom. Everywhere you go, the moment the sun comes out and the thermometer reaches 50 degrees, you see people out in their shorts, sandals, and smiles even if the breeze is chilly. This is also the time when folks get to put away their winter boots and dust off their running shoes in preparation for one of my favorite races of the year, the Vermont City Marathon, hosted right here in Burlington, Vermont.

Mountain bikers love to talk about dirt. When someone asks me how the trails are, the first thing I usually respond with is the quality and the state of the soil.

“It’s pretty dusty right now.”
“The clay is gripping well.”
“Man, it’s all loam out there… it’s perfect.”

We even pay pretty close attention to the things living in the soil as they pass underneath our tires.

“The roots are really showing, and they’re pretty slick!”

Dirt is on the forefront of our minds because it is our primary connection to the earth, and the very thing which makes mountain biking different from road or track cycling, or even possible in the first place. And the majority of the time, a successful ride means you come back wearing or having consumed a bit of it.

On Thursday, August 23rd Patagonia Burlington’s partner store, Vermont Trailwear will be hosting an in-store screening of the Orianne Society film, The Great Northern Turtle. This short documentary is about Wood Turtle conservation in the working landscapes of Vermont.

Join us for Treeline, a film celebrating the forests on which our species has always depended, and around which some skiers and snowboarders have based their entire lives.

Follow a group of snow-seekers, scientists and healers as they explore the birch forests of Japan, the red cedars of British Columbia and the bristlecone pines of Nevada, delving deeper into the rich environments they call home.

As a locally owned and operated store, Patagonia Burlington is fortunate enough to collaborate with local action-oriented organizations. Through Patagonia’s environmental grant program, we partnered with Burlington’s Intervale Center and the Intervale Conservation Nursery to create a grant proposal. Over the last 2 years, the Intervale Conservation Nursery has been awarded $25,000 to raise awareness within our community about the importance of riparian buffers for the health of our waterways and to continue to grow the conservation nursery itself.

I’d like to start by saying I hate running. I’ve never been particularly good at it, my asthmatic lungs and I are a prime example of Darwinism, had modern technology medicine not been created. I do, however, love the Vermont City Marathon and the Patagonia Burlington 5 person relay team I’ve gotten to be a part of for the past three years.

In 2017, the first year I was asked to be on the relay team I said yes and instantly regretted it. I was hopelessly under prepared to run the whopping 3.4 miles of the first leg. I had about a month or so to train, and race day came and I would have said I was in no way ready to go. I ran my leg at a nice little pace averaging 10 minute miles, something that is unimpressive to some but the fact that I kept running for the entirety of the leg was good enough for me.

This April, Patagonia was excited to once again award the Intervale Center with another $20,000 grant for their Riparian Restoration & Land Stewardship Project to continue their work in raising awareness within our community about the importance of riparian buffers for the health of our waterways and to continue to grow the conservation nursery itself.

When I first arrived in Burlington four years ago, the Intervale was something that I couldn’t fully wrap my brain around. The concept that there could be a large piece of land in the middle of a city that provides local food to its residents, while also caring for the land, hosting community events, and providing a shared space for small farms to seemed completely foreign to me. Over my years here, I have seen evidence of the Intervale everywhere.

A couple years ago, my roommate andRead More

The scarcity of jewels ensures their worth,
so now we search the earth in earnest for
the items left unloved awhile ago
when great abundance led us to ignore
resources now more precious than before.

I was born and raised in Burlington. When I was a kid, the Intervale was a scary wasteland that people used as a junk yard. When the beltline went in around 1971, you could drive through it and still see parts of old cars around, some even hanging from the cliffs to the west of the wetlands. It was kind of creepy cool to see from a car, but not a place that made you want to get out and walk around.

This past Thursday, Patagonia Burlington hosted Patagonia Action Work's Snow Activism Tour with two film screenings and a discussion about fighting the climate crisis in your own backyard. Patagonia ambassador Nick Russell hosted the event and asked the audience "What Would you do Without Winter?".

This issue was top of mind as Vermont was coming off a weekend of 55 degrees and heavy rain, a huge loss of snow pack in the mountains. January thaws typically happen every year, but this was extreme.

Ironically, the following Thursday on the day of the Snow Activism event, Vermont got a few inches of heavy snow and then a significant drop in temperatures the next day. Then a snow storm hit over the weekend and the mountains gained another 6-10". Vermont dodged a bullet and we quickly got our winter back! Vermonters and tourists here for the holiday weekend rejoiced - but the elephant in the room remained.