FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
James Enochs
Patagonia Pasadena
47 N. Fair Oaks Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91103
Phone: 626.795.0319
Enviro_pas@patagonia.com <mailto:Enviro_pas@patagonia.com>

Sockeyes, Cyanide and Pirates: A View of What Lives In The Sea

PASADENA, Calif. (Aug.8, 2007) - As the finale in a year long effort of drawing attention to the problems facing our oceans, Patagonia will be hosting an event on Tues. Aug. 28 at 7pm called "Sockeyes, Cyanide, and Pirates: A View of What Lives In The Sea". The event will feature Gregor Hodgson, the founder of Reef Check, a group dedicated to the conservation of reef ecosystems and Captain Charles Moore, representing the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, a group dedicated to the preservation of the marine environment. The event will center around two specific topics, one being the preponderance of minute plastic particles pervading the oceans, the other concerning the degradation of reef ecosystems.

The goal of Patagonia's Oceans As Wilderness is to help people to redefine their notion of "wilderness" to include our world's largest and most influential wild place, our oceans. As we teach ourselves how close the connection is between the vitality of human life and the marine environment, we can all become better stewards of the ocean in our daily lives.

"The goal of our Campaign is to extend a vision of wilderness to the ocean environment," stated Patagonia founder and owner Yvon Chouinard. "It's easy to say that we care about the oceans because so many of us here love to surf, but it's more than that. Around the world people are damaging the oceans, and in many cases we don't even know what we are losing. We hope that using the familiar metaphor of wilderness will give us a better grasp on the dangers facing the oceans and what we can do about it."

Gregor Hodgson will be giving a talk, entitled "Who knows, maybe one day a coral will save your life?" about the status of our world's reefs, which suffer from a wide array of afflictions, including industrial pollution, coral mining, diadema, and disease. "Tropical coral reefs have declined more in the last 25 years than any other ecosystem in the world due to human impacts. California rocky reef ecosystems have been severely depleted. If we work together, we can fix these damaged reefs and bring back the abundant life that used to flourish there." Gregor Hodgson.

About Patagonia

Patagonia is noted internationally for its commitment to product quality and environmental activism. Its Environmental Grants Program has contributed over $26M to grassroots environmental activists since the program began in 1985, and its Environmental Internship Program allows employees to work for environmental groups while receiving their full paycheck. Since 1996, Patagonia has used only organically grown cotton in its clothing line, and is noted worldwide for using recycled soda bottles in many of its polyester fleece garments beginning in 1993.