REI wants 100m to find nature ‘in five minutes or less’
US-based outdoor retailers’ cooperative REI has taken steps to remedy what it considers to be a dearth of infrastructure suited to widespread outdoor exercise and activity.
The multi-year initiative, called Outside in 5, aims to support local, community-led projects and inspire national legislation, with the ultimate objective of “getting 100 million people outside in five minutes or less, no matter where they live”.
In this vein, REI will contribute $5 from every new membership sign-up towards its own action fund. These monies will subsequently flow into related programmes, it said.
The co-op also expects to onboard 250-plus local non-profits to its REI Cooperative Action Fund to take Outside in 5 forward in the autumn.
“This problem didn’t just happen,” explained chief executive, Eric Artz. “It is the result of decades of planning decisions that oftentimes served to further isolate and marginalise underrepresented communities,” he added, describing Outside in 5 as “a long-term commitment” on REI’s part.
Accordingly, the launch centred on Anacostia Park, a historically Black neighbourhood in Washington, DC, whose access to nature was severely restricted in the wake of Interstate 295.
