TRAIL magazine: One Percent For The Planet member (2013-2020)

Deon Braun, the founder of TRAIL magazine, did a 5,000km road trip through South Africa in January 2013 which included visiting the remote Cederberg region in Western Cape province. “If you haven’t been yet, I recommend you do, and do it soon before they tar the roads,” he says. It’s a ruggedly beautiful semi-desert, mountainous area, a holy grail for trail running, hiking and mountain biking.

His four days there – running, hiking and dreaming – were coloured and framed by Yvon Chouinard’s compelling book ‘Let My People Go Surfing‘.

Although the title is tongue-in-cheek, the subject matter is anything but flippant.

In 1968, Chouinard, the founder of apparel brand Patagonia, did a road trip in a beat-up VW Kombi through Central and South America to the Argentinian wilderness that drew inspiration for that name. He and best friend Doug Tompkins climbed peaks, skied and surfed as they went. They witnessed incredible beauty, but also saw the beginning of the pillaging of Central and South America’s natural resources. That trip’s lost film footage was re-found and then a 2005 trip to climb an unnamed peak in Patagonia was done. Both journeys of discovery are shown in the film 180 Degrees South.

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Later trips to Africa, Russia, China and India drove the point home ever deeper. Each year he went there, more of their natural heritage had been desecrated. Mankind was making rapid inroads into vast areas that were once pristine.

To Yvon, wilderness implies being more than one day of hiking from human habitation, in any direction. Needless to say, there is very little of this remaining and it is only getting smaller every day.

In 1986 his company voted to donate 10% of Patagonia’s profits to environmental NGOs. Later they increased their commitment to 1% of total revenue, whether they’d made a profit or not. And that is the founding principle of One Percent For the Planet – to plough back 1% of the total harvest for the future.

As media creatives with an endurance sport obsession, we love the outdoors. The adventures we and our readers have in the unspoiled areas of the world will not be possible without their protection.

“To Yvon Chouinard and the One Percent FTP and Patagonia families, thank you for the inspiration. We’re going to fly the banner to encourage other memberships here and be the change in South Africa,” he says.

Like this? Read more…

– 1% For the Planet website onepercentfortheplanet.org

– Yvon Chouinard philosophy. Read about his motivations in this synopsis of the rewrite of Let My People Go Surfing. Then read his company’s core values.

– 180 Degrees South synopsis and trailer.

About TRAIL magazine

Since its founding in 2011, TRAIL has enlightened its growing readership with the best places to run, the most suitable gear and the most popular trail running events from every angle; visiting the Himalayas, Sahara Desert, Amazon and many local trails, including the famed Otter African Trail Run, Fish River Canyon Ultra and the arduous Skyrun.

TRAIL was available in print format in South Africa until issue 35. It is sold digitally through Amazon, App Store, Google Play, and on the Magzter and Zinio platforms.