About Present

Our mission is to Spread Earth Love. 

Present promotes positivity, equality, authenticity, sustainability, getting outdoors, living consciously and supporting small business. Every minute, emotion or dollar we spend is a vote for a certain future; let's spend wisely.

Our Guidelines

1) Show Up.

2) Pay Attention.

3) Be Honest.

4) Don’t be attached to the result.

[Thanks to pastor Ed Bacon, from All Saints Church.]

Make Change: One Adventure at a Time

Our goal is ultimately to inspire more earth love in order to fuel 30x30. As a direct contribution, we will donate 30% of all proceeds to partner non-profit organizations.

Some of our initial contributions will include: 

• Tomorrow's Air
• Cleaning carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
• Peninsula Open Space Trust
• Protecting open spaces in Santa Cruz county and neighboring areas for the benefit of all
• Save the Redwoods League
• Protecting and restoring California redwoods and connecting people to these epic forests
• Boulder Creek Fire Department
• Amah Mutsun tribal band
• ACLU
• Fostering a more inclusive union

Roots of change run deep. Similar to a redwood ecosystem, all environmental efforts are complexly intertwined with human rights. In order to allocate energy towards our earth crisis, we first need to align as a species on equitable social structures, that allow every human an opportunity to thrive, with equal access to all resources, including open spaces.

As a local retailer, we have an opportunity to help remove barriers and become boundary spanners. Getting outdoors can be intimidating; we aim to make your local wild more welcoming. We aim to promote our community and provide sustainable adventure guidance. Donations and business development over time will continue to reflect this goal and our mission and values.

Additionally many of our suppliers are also agents for change, including: 

• Keep Nature Wild
• Removes 2 pounds of trash from the wild for every product sold 
• Parks Project
• Each collection is made with purpose, helping fund a project in our parks
• Good + Well Supply Co
• Proceeds support the National Park Foundation
• Culture Flock
• Supports equality for everyone, protecting our planet, and being kind
• Sun Roots Jewelry
• Donates 10% of profits to charity
• United By Blue (coming soon!)
• Removes 1 pound of trash from oceans or waterways for every product sold
• Etsy 
• Offsets all carbon emissions

Many of our suppliers are small local, women and/or black-owned businesses. These attributes are highlighted on product pages. If you know of any great brands we should work with, please reach out. 

 Together as a tribe, we can be a beacon of hope.

 

Why Now?

One decade ago, I was scouring limited environmental research for my thesis in college on Our Earth Endangered, Three Case Studies: the Amazon Rainforest, the Greenland Ice Shelf and the Great Barrier Reef, at a time when “climate change” and “global warming” were still debates, often in air quotes when voiced. Unfortunately today the environmental challenges we face are an irrefutable fact and our planet’s state is more bleak than the worst predications in my uni analysis; as one of my heroes, Ansel Adams noted (almost a century ago): “we must realize - and with desperate conviction - that it is truly later than we think.” Now is the time to come together, lift vulnerable voices up, vote for the earth and create a positive future.

I decided to establish Present now, during the unrest of our nation and the world, because we can’t wait. I’m just getting started, but I aim to create a welcome, positive, inspiring space for all humans in our area (locals and visitors alike), promoting a love for our earth and one another.

I created Present because I believe that if we can re-assign value as a society, we can make positive change. I believe in living in the present and in building a brighter future together. I believe that being in wild places is one of the best ways to tune inwards and to align with universal consciousness. So today I’m channeling all these values, hopes, beliefs and experiences into a vision that I hope will help make change.