Some weeks ago I came across a bumper sticker that caught my eye. It read “EDDIE WOULD GO”. Pretty suggestive. Who’s Eddie? Where would he go? I asked about it.

Eddie is the Hawaiian legend Eddie Aikau. A surfer and lifeguard, he rode the biggest waves and saved hundreds of lives. Curious about where he’d go? The answer was staggering. Anywhere he was needed. No matter the danger, EDDIE WOULD GO. To the point that he sacrificed his life at sea in an attempt to save his crew during a 2,500-mile canoe journey.

The thought lingered.

Eddie would go.
Eddie would go.
Eddie would go.

A second one followed. Who are the Eddies of today? And where are they going?

Our partnership with 1% for the Planet has allowed us to meet a great number of Eddies pushing the boundaries to be a force for good. Here are some of the inspiring stories we encountered while attending the community Global Summit in Portland:

Fashion is the second most polluting industry in the world. With Boyish Jeans, Jordan Nodarse is setting a new standard for production practices, while also introducing younger demographics to the sustainability movement through education and making it cool to care. His passion and relentlessness are leaving the kind of impact we all want to see more of. Nothing else.

An estimated 10% of the plastic in the ocean comes from discarded fishing nets. With Bureo, David Stover is building a platform to reduce plastic waste by recycling discarded nets into all sorts of quality products. Besides protecting the ocean, Bureo is also providing a new revenue stream to fisheries in South America, supporting local communities and partnering with leading companies to drive the use of responsible materials. Win. Win. Win.

Following the success of his camera accessories label Peak Design, Peter Dering was determined to make carbon neutrality the new baseline for sustainable brands. With the Climate Neutral badge, he’s offering companies a cheap, easy and transparent way to do it. All they need to do is reduce their carbon emissions where possible and offset the rest. The success of a new industry standard requires major adoption, so let’s all get positive about being neutral.

A packaging-free grocery store might seem utopian, but Brianne Miller and her team have set out to make it a reality. It’s an ambitious mission (suppliers having to rethink their logistics and consumers changing a habit imprinted in their system, not to mention the challenges that come along with scaling the business), but once it clicks there’s no going back. Remember when it was okay to throw recyclables in with the trash?

Awareness | Education | Action. Miranda Massie understands that if you want anyone to take a stand, first you need to expose them to the problem in a visceral way. The Climate Museum brings together art and the environment in a way that’s never been seen before (it’s literally the first museum of its kind in the US) to raise awareness around the climate crisis and inspire action. Time to kickstart a climate of change.