Show and Tell

Time to put my Chinglish to test.

On Tuesday morning, Fedor accompanied me to the Himalayan Foundation's office for the first presentation. The group that was gathered in the large conference room included representatives from the Himalayan Foundation, csrCommunity International, Business Council for Sustainable Development, and Ya-Ren Publishing. It was a good mix of nonprofits and businesses.

As I ran through the slides, some good questions came up about Patagonia's stance on corporate social responsibility and sustainability. I talked about our compliance with the Fair Labor Association's policies; the internal, as well as third party social audits at the factories. I took advantage of the internet connection in the conference room and showed the group the Footprint Chronicles and Timmy O'Neill's video on the Common Threads Recycling Program. Everyone was amazed by the steps Patagonia took to disclose its impact and loved the humorous approach we took to encourage recycling.

The editor from Ya-Ren Publishing was especially excited about my description of the corporate culture since it reaffirmed with what she read in Let My People Go Surfing. Her company had just translated and published YC's book earlier this month.

I was encouraged by this first outing, and looked forward to the event at Green Formosa Front the next evening. But by that afternoon, I was losing my voice. As soon as I got home, my aunt and uncle started feeding me the traditional cure, honey loquat. While I felt fine, I was still without a voice the next day.

Fortunately, Charles Lin, a Wild at Heart staff member, is trained in Chinese medicine so I was treated to Gua Sha and accupuncture first thing in the morning. He also prescribed three herbal medicines. By late afternoon, I regained a scratchy but audible voice.

What a relief! I am glad I did not have to cancel since more than 20 people showed up. This time the audience consisted mostly of representatives from other NGO's. They too did not disappoint and had lots of questions from the work environment, our approach to the Cradle to Cradle concept, e-fibers, etc. Mostly, they were amazed by the amount of money and effort that Patagonia has dedicated to the environment.