In a quiet revolution, one company stands up to the mega-giant. We discuss their decision, their vision, and their nomadic lifestyle in the wilds of the world.
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I saw the following note on Facebook, and I waited.
I waited for the media stir, for the public applause. I waited for the backlash of defense from parents whose early memories included Shamu and a trip to the iconic SeaWorld of old.
Nothing happened. Google searches for “Outdoorplay” and “SeaWorld order cancelled” yielded not a whisper.
The letter, posted to Stevie Trujillo’s Facebook wall on June 3, 2014, looked like this:
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Dear Sea World,
Thank you very much for the attractive order you placed with Outdoorplay. Unfortunately, we had to cancel your order. Although I would love to take your money, our company does not support the ethics of your current business model. There are more important things than profit. We hope that you reconsider your company vision, free the animals you have in captivity, and reinvent yourself as a true conservation organization.
Sincerely – TREE, Outdoorplay.com CEO
#Blackfish #TheCove #walkthetalk #seasheperd
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Considering the exposure CVS generated with its decision to stop selling tobacco products by October 1, 2014, or the publicity blitz of the “This is Wholesome” ad and subsequent video response put out by Honey Maid (I even wrote a commentary on that one for GMP) I thought surely that social media, if not mainstream media, would be abuzz with hashtags and official statements. But no. Nothing. Nada.
If They Did It For the PR They’ve Really Screwed This One Up
Unable to find any information through the usually forthcoming Google search, I visited the only link I found for Outdoorplay, their main website. There I found a retail site featuring everything I could need or want (and a great number of things I would not know what to do with, but was immediately curious about) to experience the great outdoors.
I also found a phone number. On a mission now, I dialed and, not finding a “Tree” on the company directory the automatic system recited for me, I took a chance and selected the number for customer service. A perfectly delightful lady who gave her name as “Erin” told me that Tree and Stevie worked remotely, and could only be reached via email, but if I cared to contact them she could give me an email that would reach them.
The email went on to say that he and Stevie lived and ran the company remotely from South America, so any interview would need to be via Skype or email.
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I cared. But I rather doubted they’d do more than give me an official statement and send me on my way.
To my surprise my email congratulating them on their somewhat startling business decision and asking for assistance in writing a story, got a prompt and positive response; “Thank you for reaching out. We would be thrilled to participate on any level. Just let us know what you need.”
The email went on to say that he and Stevie lived and ran the company remotely from South America, so any interview would need to be via Skype or email.
While we were figuring out the best time to meet up via internet/phone, I followed up on a hunch from one of our Senior Editors. Surely Ric O’Barry, the world renowned dolphin trainer (he trained the five dolphins who played Flipper) turned dolphin advocate (over the past 40 years he has actively freed and rehabilitated dolphins while becoming the leading voice in the fight to end dolphin hunts and captures) would have been alerted to this decision.
A quick Facebook message to Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project page and I had a response. They hadn’t heard of Outdoorplay’s decision, but they had an official statement:
“We applaud Outdoorplay’s decision and their company joins the ranks of other companies & celebrities that don’t support Sea World’s out dated business model.”
SeaWorld’s Business Model – “Outdated, Unsustainable, and Unethical”
An “outdated and unsustainable business model” was exactly what Tree (official name, John) Trujillo cited when I asked him to put into words his reasons for cancelling the order from SeaWorld.
He and his wife and partner, Stevie, are quick to point out that they did not single SeaWorld out, SeaWorld came to them. And Outdoorplay made a business decision based on personal and corporate principles. The bottom line comes down to this:
“SeaWorld is a corporation that puts corporate profits ahead of ethical issues.”
“So where,” I asked the husband and wife team, “should profit be in a company’s priorities?”
“We’re a for-profit too, and a for-profit has to make a profit. But if you have to violate your ethics – that’s the tipping point.”
While they didn’t single SeaWorld out from the other corporations they see putting profit before ethics, the nature of SeaWorld’s model and extent of their reach made the decision to not claim them as a customer an easy one for Outdoorplay to make.
Know Why You Make the Choices You Make
“It’s not just SeaWorld, but they have so much power and cut such a wide path. And this is the world our daughter is going to grow up in.”
Their daughter, Soleil, will turn two in October, and Tree and Stevie intend to raise her as a “citizen of the world.”
“We cannot win this battle to save species and environments without forging an emotional bond between ourselves and nature—for we will not fight to save what we do not love.”
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Stevie’s first birthday present to her daughter is a post titled, We Did It For the Wild, and it says a lot about why this nomadic couple has elected to live and run their business from a van (yes, they live in a van) and why they feel at peace with turning down an order from SeaWorld.
They don’t feel right disclosing the size of that order, and I don’t press the point. But Tree tells me that, while it wasn’t big enough to retire on, it was sizable. Their decision, he asserts, would have been the same regardless of the size of the order.
As Stevie says in her letter to their little bundle of love and hope, “We cannot win this battle to save species and environments without forging an emotional bond between ourselves and nature—for we will not fight to save what we do not love.”
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So they’ve vowed to bring the love of the wild to as many people as possible, and to not be a party to anything they believe is destroying the wild that they love so well.
Living in a van, they say, makes it easier to refuse an order from SeaWorld.
They’ve “replaced material things with natural things,” and, according to their personal blog site, as of this instant, they’ve been on the road now for four years, eight months, 20 days, and 53 minutes.
They park their van in one location for anywhere from two weeks to two months, and their ultimate goal is to work their way all the way around the world.
As Stevie says in a follow up note to me, “We’ve learned through experience that making sacrifices to live authentically is worth it. By choosing our minimalist, nomadic lifestyle, we give up a lot of comfort and convenience (not to mention the specifics like my entire income and part of Tree’s salary) that is expected in the States, but, at the same time, by living outside the cycle of debt and consumption as much as we can, we are able to live our dream, which is to travel the world, spend as much time together as a family, make friends, and connect with other cultures and wild places. So when we were faced with denying the SeaWorld order and surely losing any hope of future orders, we were already inured to the short-term sacrifice, but we knew that what would come in its stead would be gratifying in a way that can’t be quantified monetarily. No one can deny that it feels good to live for what you believe in.”
Know the Price and the Compensation
Their loves and lifestyle carry a price tag beyond refusing business. Tree is quick to acknowledge that, although the business is doing stellar, he and Stevie are giving up a large paycheck in order to live the gypsy life.
He still works at least 40 hours a week on the business, but he pays highly qualified people to be onsite managing the operation. I tell him there are many kinds of compensation. Yes, he agrees, they’ve chosen freedom as their value, money comes after that.
And freedom of principles, allowing them to refuse business from a mega-giant like SeaWorld in exchange for peace of mind.
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Freedom. Freedom of expression, since, as Stevie says, traveling and learning the wild world is how they’ve chosen to express themselves. Freedom of lifestyle, of course. And freedom of principles, allowing them to refuse business from a mega-giant like SeaWorld in exchange for peace of mind.
As they’ve spent more time in wild places, experiencing the cultures of the world, their perspective has evolved, become more holistic. Not that their core philosophy has changed, but their choices reflect their experiences and new understandings.
Be Willing to Evolve as Your Exposure Changes Your Understanding
Raised by a “Berkeley Hippie” who was an avid environmentalist, Tree recalls the eighth-grade paper he wrote on dismantling nuclear weapons. He started Outdoorplay as a kayaking school when he was 20. “It was that or go to college,” he tells me. “And I didn’t want to go back to school.”
His first mission was just to expose other people to the wild outdoors. “Being in the wilderness changes you. It gave me the confidence to choose an alternative lifestyle, and I wanted to share that with other people.”
But he says that, had the SeaWorld order come in during his early days in business, he might have taken it out of ignorance, not understanding the impact that SeaWorld’s current business model has on the world. “Exposure changes our decisions,” he says. He hasn’t changed, but he makes decisions from what he now knows.
Stevie tells a different story, with a similar lesson. Growing up in Los Angles, and later living with Tree in Venice, California, she thought of herself as “environmentally conscious.” They recycled, they conserved. “But, we were largely unaware of how our lifestyle contributed to a systemic problem.”
Removing themselves from that lifestyle, while still running a highly successful online retail operation, happened gradually. Tree says the fact that it is possible at all is due to having many top employees who have been with Outdoorplay for more than a decade, allowing him to “sit behind the scenes directing traffic.”
Surround Yourself With People Who Align With Your Principles
Tree did discuss his intention to cancel the SeaWorld order with a trusted senior manager and with their newest employee, Erin. But he says the entire company was in alignment with the decision.
Asked about personal or business mentors, both Tree and Stevie get a little wistful. Nope, no mentors, but they have a big time hero in Certified B (Benefit) Corporation, Patagonia. “They’re counter-intuitive,” Tree says. Doing things that no board of directors would think would be a good idea, like putting up a page on “cyber Monday” that says, “If you don’t need it, don’t buy it.” The perfect example, he and Stevie agree, of a company making a healthy profit while not only upholding their ethics, but contributing to the greater good as well.
Throw a Pebble In the Pool Even If You Can’t See the Ripples
What impact, I ask, do they prophesy that their decision will have? Not much, they figure. Not in the public eye, and not long term.
But what if, I persist, the story did spread? What if it brought some awareness, or created opportunities for them and their company? Would they be averse to that happening?
Of course not, nor are they concerned about the people who would say they only did it for the PR. There will always be people who say that, just as in the examples of CVS and Honey Maid. But Tree and Stevie are also OK if no one ever hears about it. It is just one more way for them to respect their own well-being, and the well-being of the planet.
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We wrap our time together with a curve-ball question. Tree fields it with exceptional grace and insight.
“What if,” I ask, “SeaWorld called tomorrow and asked you to take the helm? What would your first decision be?”
Tree’s first response is that he can’t think of a job he’d want less. But he is silent for a moment, taking the question to heart. Finally he says, somewhat sadly,
“There is no way I can see to repair their non-sustainable business model. I believe I’d have to reinvent the company mission.”
Let Yourself Dream, You Never Know What the Future Holds
We begin to get excited visualizing a world where the resources SeaWorld wields are committed to becoming an “impactful conservation and scientific organization.” While it seems likely that the profit structure would also have to change, we agree that being profitable could be part of the model.
“Public perspective has changed. We just need to take the next indicated step.”
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Stevie has three areas of value already in mind that a reinvented SeaWorld could provide; psychological well-being, increased environmentalism awareness, and respect for other species. SeaWorld has already made some inroads, she says. They’ve introduced the denizens of the deep as intelligent creatures, capable of cooperating with humans, instead of frightening monsters of Moby Dick proportions. But she adds,
“Public perspective has changed. We just need to take the next indicated step.”
If anyone is going to reinvent SeaWorld’s mission, Tree and Stevie are exactly the type of people I would choose.
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Also by Dixie Gillaspie: My Thank You Letter to Mr. Will
You might also like:
Happy to Be Homeless – 3 Things We Learned From Living in a Van
by OutdoorPlay co-founder, Stevie Trujillo
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Title Photo: Flickr/Bruce Campbell Additional Photo: AP/Orlando Sentinel/Red Huber
im sure that outdoorplay.com sells only products that are manufactured at the most strictly environmentally friendly companies. Not just what they can buy low and sell high? Hmmm sounds like PR to me!!!
Wonderful to read about this company standing up to SeaWorld. I do want to make a point about the orcas and dolphins in captivity at SeaWorld; They can’t just be released into the wild, they are no longer wild animals, they’ll need rehabilitation. It’ll take lots of money and even more effort to help the whales.
TREE, thank you for taking the time to reply. I appreciate and try to support every small business that I possibly can. I am in Orlando so I have some knowledge regarding Seaworld. Just so we all can be satisfied, is there any way to post the purchase order sent by Seaworld to your company? Perhaps you can post it on your Facebook page and put the link here for all to see. Thanks.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this article! I was attempting to verify the photo I saw as well and your article popped up. So happy that people like Tree and Stevie exist in not only the world, but the marketplace! I am sharing as much as I can!
It’s people who care who make everything possible. And having this kind of entrepreneurial story in the marketplace makes it clear just how much IS possible! Thanks Tatum!
Hi Dixie,
We’re just coming off of 5 straight days of driving across Brazil with limited internet access. Soleil has been bouncing off the walls of the van!
Anyway, just catching up online and seeing all the comments and reposts of your article. I’m glad people enjoyed it and I hope we’ve been able to raise a little more awareness. I’m not sure we’re going to be able to answer all the emails we received personally, but we’ll do our best.
Thank you again, and let’s stay in touch. 🙂
-TREE
Hello Tree, I’ve been giddy to see people acknowledging your commitment! Stevie managed to fire off a couple of kind updates while you were en route, so I knew you were enjoying your life, the road, and the wild. Including the “wild child” it seems. And your blog post yesterday had me shaking my head in amazement. But where you REALLY elevated my respect for you by many, many notches was your response to David above. Class and integrity. Yup, we like you two! And I’m looking forward to staying in touch. 😀
While the article sounds nice…its a bit “fishy”. I am not sure why Seaworld would place an order with a small mom and pop store in Oregon selling kayaks…. Since they were so helpful on the phone, perhaps they can say what and in what quantity was ordered. Also, I am sure they can produce the Seaworld purchase order. You can post that in your next blog. Without that information, this is just a made up story and advertisement for their kayak business without verification. Amazing how nobody has even bothered to see if that is true or asked for… Read more »
Hi David, If by “mom and pop store” you mean that we’re a family owned business, then you are correct, and we’re proud of it. Although we’re no Dick’s Sporting Goods chain, we are widely recognized as being one of the most core outdoor stores in the country, with one of the deepest selections of high quality products specifically for watersports. I’m sure it’s for this reason that Sea World intended to purchase watersports gear for their trainers from us, the experts in the space. But that’s just speculation. Maybe we just got lucky in the google search results. 🙂… Read more »
Thank you!
Kudos
Thank you for bringing this to light – I had no idea this occurred!
I don’t think anyone did. They hadn’t made it public except that one post on Stevie’s wall. Luckily people were sharing her post and Joanna saw it and asked if someone could look into it. I practically threw myself at them wanting to get this out there. LOL
Thank you TREE, Outdoorplay.com for being morally ethical corporation. I am deeply concerned by the slaughter of whales and dolphins by Japan and other nations, and thus feel called from the marrow of my soul to speak out against this disturbing evil. Whales and dolphins are wonders with consciousness, and rights that cannot be denied; therefore, they are not ours to eat or enslave. It is past time we redefined the boundaries of liberty and personal freedom to include these and other species. As a free man, I am not merely called on, but required, to protect and defend those… Read more »
I would be OK if Sea World continued to exhibit and use orcas for entertainment on one condition, and that is if the entire executive staff, CEO, COO, and Board of Directors of Sea World immediately give up their freedom and all ties with family and friends and submit themselves to being confined to a large communal concrete bunker decorated as a corporate office with a massive front window so that Sea World park guests can watch them in their natural element….for the rest of their unnatural lives, but only during park operating hours.
Richard Vaughn, I’m with you there! 🙂
Thank you for this amazing story Dixie! Not only was I thrilled to read this article, but it led me to several of Stevie’s blogs and I am forever changed and inspired. What incredible human beings they are!!! I wish I had the same courage to leave all material possessions behind and be a friend to the planet my children will inherit.
So glad you went on to read Stevie’s blog. She has a marvelous voice and storytelling ability. I hope I’ve encouraged her to turn it into a book we can all enjoy!
I think you underestimate the numbers here Andrew, as there are more than a few, and with any kind of movement involving living creature there is bound to be a few irrational extremists. The extremists are the ones who make the headlines and are sensationalized in the media. As for the rest of us animal advocates, we vote with our wallet and try to get the word out via social media and word of mouth. Even if a portion of the events were exaggerated or doctored there is still plenty if evidence that what Sea World us doing is morally… Read more »
It is a simple issue really; are animals here for our amusement and entertainment? I don’t believe they are and never liked the zoo and the circus where animals are exploited and tortured by being taken out of their natural environment and made to exist and perform for our “amusement”. A related issue is eating animals, which people have a right to, but do not have the right to torture animals before and when killing them, think of veal (made to live in boxes from birth to slaughter for tender meat) and dogs (tortured in China beaten alive to tenderize… Read more »
Not everybody has the same opinion as the few who posted here. I’ve saw all the movies and websites listed here, and on all the big anti-cetaceans & whaling websites. None have changed my mind. There are a lot of doctored photos, the play up the accounts of “abuse” that they get, looking through the comments on a few websites, and there are a lot of either uneducated, illiterate, or people who just plain don’t care enough about the cause to even take the time to get their point across clearly. It comes across very much like the conspiracy theories… Read more »
You fool. It’s just firstly plain and simple. These animals exist in a place that is like a prison.
These creatures migrate naturally and Intinctivly. They do no such things in this holding bays. I think firstly this isn’t just. I’m also not someone away with the faries cause I believe this. Where are you to think it’s appropriate?
Andrew – yet you sat there and read the article AND posted. You are the minority. My mother always told me “there are ONLY two types of people in this world, those who care, and those who don’t” and we know where you sit. Finally, we are NOT all extremists.
I wish more people were like Stevie and Tree. Great post. Thanks for spreading the word!!
http://www.SeaWorldExposed.com
Three cheers, hats off, a big shout out and Thankyou very much, Tree and Outdoor Play. <3
I just went to Outdoorplay’s website and signed up for their email notifications. It’s the least I can do to say thanks! I’ll certainly keep them in mind when considering such Outdoor equipment. Thanks for all the info!
The ONLY Noble way for SeaWorld, etc., to Save Face in their race to the bottom, is for them to IMMEDIATELY STOP ALL of their “Shows”, Announce that They ARE CLOSING Their captive Marine Mammal facilities, and then Release their Captives, and then Start a Wild Marine Mammal Tour Guide service to Take people out to see Wild Sea Mammals living Free in the Wild! [They’d better do so CAREFULLY so that they DO NOT Interfere unnecessarily with the Wild Animals Natural Life cycle, and behavior patterns. Such a move is the ONLY WAY OUT! (IMHO)
That’s one model that would certainly serve all of better than their current one, and would be sustainable if done properly. Thanks!
“The whole world is up in arms about Sea World and other aquaprisons. It’s time that Australians opened their eyes and became educated to the cruelty of trapping and keeping captive dolphins”. June Bird Killington – Founder of SEAWORLD SHUT DOWN on Facebook. AUSSIE DOLPHINS STOLEN FROM THE OCEAN, FORCED TO PERFORM ‘The First & Only Campaign Against Sea World in Australia’ Could you please help me to speak up for the captive performing dolphins at Sea World on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. We love them rescuing cetaceans but we loathe them keeping dolphins as prisoners in their aquaprison.… Read more »
Well done, Dixie. A lot of people are hearing about Tree and Stevie’s wonderful decision. Way to chase down the details and put it out there.
Thank you Mark, but I didn’t have to do a lot of chasing. I spent a bit of time verifying, but the real time was in trying to do them justice. Amazing hearts AND minds!
SeaWorld is really is outdated and unethical. Never will I support that kind of stuff again. Eyes opened!
Thank you Richard! I love Tree and Stevie’s view of what it COULD be. THAT I would support.