I’m Rintaro, and I completely forgot to buy tickets for—and even the date of—the recent Japan tour of the San Francisco metal band Botanist. It was at Club Zion in Kamimaezu, too! It was so close!
Botanist isn't a shampoo brand, but rather a band in the mysterious genre known as "Green Metal" (post-black metal in terms of sound), which embraces nature worship. To put it simply, they make music about their love for nature and plants. Their lyrics aren't exactly "let's all protect the environment," but they do sing about the beauty and strength of nature.
I grew up in the countryside, surrounded by beautiful nature—catching stag beetles in the woods and chasing fish in the rivers during summer, and going skiing in winter.
While we all pray that such nature will remain forever, aren't we, in reality, just lamenting environmental destruction? Am I actually doing anything myself, even something small, to address it? I was asking myself that while pedaling my bike on the way home yesterday.
The reason for this is that something Kyle from OUTER SHELL ADVENTURE posted on Instagram a little while ago felt very important for our future and for the Earth's natural environment, and it made me rethink why we carry OUTER SHELL in the first place.
And I also wanted to introduce it by tying it into the metal music I love (though it doesn't really tie in that much).
With that said, the following is a quote from Kyle’s post, and I would love for you to give it a read.
"How do you sell or buy the sky?"
Whenever I hear terms like "carbon credits" or "net-zero" being discussed at COP26, I am reminded of this quote from the indigenous people. Capitalist solutions to environmental issues are built on faulty values. It is the poor who suffer the effects of climate change, and this crisis only deepens the wealth gap. This is an emergency, and we need to stop pollution at its source rather than greenwashing practices that aren't right.
We are members of 1% for the Planet and have been certified as *Climate Neutral since 2020, but I want to preface this by acknowledging that this is not a holistic approach. Unfortunately, many of our materials are plastic or petroleum-based because they perform the best and are the longest-lasting. So, while I believe these programs are useful, our work doesn't end there. Our approach is to create gear that is as durable as possible to counter throwaway culture. Every product comes with a lifetime warranty policy because it is designed to be repairable. It starts with REPAIR, then Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. I hope that when you hold our bags, this doctrine is conveyed.
*Climate Neutral – A non-profit organization that invites companies to publicly measure, reduce, and offset their carbon emissions to promote the transition to a low-carbon society. Companies such as KLEAN KANTEEN and PDW (Portland Design Works) are also certified.
Starting with REPAIR…
While using synthetic fibers, Outer Shell produces bike gear that performs optimally and lasts a long time, with a lifetime warranty policy to combat throwaway culture. Just a few months ago, a Half Framebag that a customer had been using and broke came back after being repaired. This is Kyle’s way of facing the environment, and it's what we resonate with.
There’s no need to discuss global warming or the currently trending SDGs at length here, but I believe that the stance of facing what we can do "now," just as Kyle does, is what’s important.
For our descendants to be able to grow up in as good a natural environment and rich culture as possible, it is essential that we, who are living now, accumulate small acts of awareness and action. Those small individual steps are what will surely change the Earth we live on into something better.
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