Oceana receives support from Patagonia company to help preserve the world oceans
The grant donated by Patagonia will support Oceana´s efforts to protect the oceans through campaigns to fight pollution and destructive fishing practices.
Press Release Date: August 22, 2013
Location: Madrid
Contact:
Marta Madina | email: mmadina@oceana.org | tel.: Marta Madina
Patagonia, the outdoor apparel company, recently showed its dedication to the environment’s conservation by bestowing a grant to the ocean conservation group Oceana. The monies were raised through Patagonia’s t-shirt sales in its Oceans as Wilderness Campaign. The grant will support Oceana’s efforts to protect the world’s oceans through campaigns to fight pollution and destructive fishing practices.
“We’re proud to support Oceana’s international work to protect our oceans as part of our Oceans as Wilderness Campaign this year.” said Isabelle Susini, Environmental grants manager for Patagonia in Europe.
With this grant, Oceana will directly fund its current campaigns. Moneys will be spent on working with governments and policy makers to gain protections and to spread awareness about the critical situation the oceans are facing today.
“Every precious treasure the ocean has to offer is in danger of being lost forever. To sit back and watch them disappear is a crime of humanity,” stated Andy Sharpless, CEO of Oceana. “We understand the magnitude of this situation, as does Patagonia.”
Patagonia is well known for being a clothing manufacturer with a commitment to environmental activist groups. Patagonia only uses organic cotton in its cotton products as hemp, chlorine-free wool, recycled polyester and recently launched the recycling of its clothing products. Moreover, Patagonia pledges at least 1% of sales, $29 million in grants and in-kind donations to date, to the preservation and restoration of the natural environment.
The Oceana T-shirts sold by Patagonia www.patagonia.com/oceans are in 100% organic cotton (meaning cultivated without harmful pesticides nor chemical fertilizers) and the design evokes some marine species suffering from marine pollution and over-fishing: whales, dolphins, sea-lions and turtles. Five dollars from the sale of these T-shirts will go to Oceana.
“We want to train ourselves to see beneath the surface of the waves,” says Casey Sheahan, president and CEO of Patagonia. “It’s a challenge to see what is hidden. Like the wild areas we have treasured on land, the oceans are a wilderness with complex and fragile ecosystems that need to be protected.”
Oceans cover 71 percent of the globe, and they are as important to us as they are vast. Nearly 1 billion people around the world rely on fish as their primary source of protein and oceans are responsible for driving many economies. Without a strategic plan to protect our oceans, countless people’s lives will change for the worse.
Oceana is solely dedicated to protecting the world’s oceans because they truly understand the importance of protecting such a treasure. They are leading campaigns against threats to our oceans, threats that continuously test our ocean’s resilience.
