Outdoor Research to plant 234 trees to sequester 2012 carbon footprint

SEATTLE, Wash. – This year, through an innovative Pacific Northwest program, the outdoor product manufacturer Outdoor Research will plant 234 native conifer trees south of its headquarters in Seattle, an amount that – over their lifetime – will sequester the company’s 2012 carbon emissions.

As a company fully committed to outdoor adventure and wild places, Outdoor Research is also committed to identifying its impacts on the natural world – including global warming – and taking voluntary steps toward addressing those impacts. The company’s tree-planting effort will be enacted through the conservation organization Forterra’s Carbon Capturing Companies (C3) Program.

“Global warming is a difficult issue, and no one thing is going to solve it. One key step forward is to take a measurable, direct and voluntary action,” said Outdoor Research CEO Dan Nordstrom, who is also a board member of Forterra. “The C3 Program allows us, along with other steps we are taking internally, to take direct action by assessing our carbon footprint and work to sequester those carbon emissions. Tree-planting initiatives, unlike more indirect credit-based programs, are looking like one of the more effective weapons in the fight against global warming.”

Outdoor Research measures its carbon emissions by taking into account factors such as energy use, domestic manufacturing, global shipping, business travel and employee commuting.

A primary tenet of the C3 Program is the chemical process of sequestration, whereby oxygen-emitting trees are planted in public spaces such as parks, protected lands and other natural areas to sequester carbon emissions.

For the 2012 program-year, the 13 Seattle-area C3 program participants set a collective carbon sequestration goal of over 20,000 tons of CO2 equivalent, the standard measure of greenhouse-gas pollution. Other Seattle-area businesses participating in the program include the band Pearl Jam, the Sounders FC, the Seahawks, the Seattle Mariners and the Seattle Aquarium.

In addition to helping companies reduce their impact, the C3 program helps improve urban parks and natural spaces that beautify and strengthen communities. These green spaces help watersheds by reducing soil erosion, water pollution and stormwater runoff; cool cities by reducing heat sinks; provide sound buffers for large urban areas; improve air quality and salmon habitat and much more.

The Outdoor Research-associated trees will be planted at Puget Creek, an urban watershed area in Tacoma. Outdoor Research will continue to work with the Forterra C3 Program to sequester its annual carbon emissions for 2013.

About Outdoor Research
Outdoor Research® is Designed by Adventure®. We provide Innovation and Inspiration for the Relentless Adventurer. Based in Seattle – with in-house manufacturing and prototyping capabilities at our company headquarters – Outdoor Research was founded in 1981 after a failed piece of gear on an Alaskan climbing expedition inspired ideas for a better design. Ever since that first product, the X-Gaiter, put Outdoor Research on the map, we have been dedicated to building better outdoor apparel, gloves, hats and an array of other outdoor accessories informed by real-world testing. We develop innovative, functional, bomb-proof products that are beautiful in their simplicity. Design abides by the maxim ‘make it better, not just new or different,’ and our gear is backed by our Infinite Guarantee®. We listen, value and empower each other and our fellow adventurers – we invite input from our customers, athlete ambassadors and the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations Test Team. We’re independent, letting us strive to provide the best value to our customers, not shareholders. We are committed to our core sports: alpinism, rock and ice climbing, hiking, backpacking, paddling, trail running, and backcountry and sidecountry skiing. We’re growing, as a company and as individuals. And we’re having fun along the way.