đź’ David De Rothschild for ODDA Magazine
This article first appeared in the ODDA Magazine 19th Issue “You, Me, and Everyone We Know”.
DAVID DE ROTHSCHILD
Nature has always been David de Rothschild’s happy place. Ever since he was a child the outside world called to him, and in the end he made helping Mother Nature his life’s calling. For decades de Rothschild has traveled the globe as an adventurer and environmentalist. Today he consults with many luxury brands on how to make their business more sustainable. That is what led him to be an ambassador for Gucci’s “Off The Grid” sustainable capsule collection as well as the impetus behind something he likes to call “Cause Corp,” a new environment-centric approach to commerce.
JESSICA MICHAULT. Going all the way back, what was your first connection to nature or your fascination with the outside world and the environment?
DAVID DE ROTHSCHILD. I think the first real memories were growing up on the farm outside of London. I just always felt way more comfortable outside than inside. It has always been my natural place of comfort. I would be running around as a kid, going around and exploring, coming in covered in grass stains and cuts, bringing in sticks that were imaginary things like wands or an intergalactic gun that could shoot invaders. I was very close with my brother so we would go off to make camps and throw stones at each other. We did all things that young boys do, given the opportunity in a privileged upbringing to have that space and freedom to go and do that. That stays in your spirit. It is not something I take for granted because the natural world is becoming increasingly more difficult or more divided. We talk about the divisions in society. We talk about access to resources, education, health, and jobs. It is interesting to me that one of the things that are really devoid of that conversation is the access to nature. It is such a divided reality.
J.M. Do you think sustainability will go on the back burner as luxury brands try and recoup the losses caused by the pandemic, or do you think it is going to be even more of a driving force moving forward?
D.R. I do not think it is necessarily one or the other. Nature sent us to our rooms to reflect. If this is not a telltale sign of how we have mistreated the natural environment or pushed ourselves to the brink of the resilience of nature, I don’t know what is. If you read the reports, they have said for years that there will categorically be a rise of pandemics and viruses due to an infringement on the natural world. From monocropping to removing biodiversity, it is happening verbatim. What is sad is that clearly the overwhelming narrative is the economy, jobs, and self-interest. In some way, what makes us different from other species is our power to predict the future. Our prefrontal cortex gives us the power of foresight because it is always going to be driven by profit and the shareholders. If you have a publicly listed company with influence inside the company that is trying to maximize profits at all costs, then there is an antagonistic and prediction, which is apparently different from all other animals. They are not thinking ahead as we do. We have this power of foresight and we’ve predicted a lot of the things that have happened but the irony is that we have not enacted upon any of them. We have been sent to our rooms and we see this reflection of ourselves. What has been really disheartening to me is how quickly this has all turned into a conspiracy theory. This is not just a virus in isolation. This is our relation- ship with diversity, humans, global security, education, and health; it is very complex. What we do is we default to something that is linear and simple. That is why in some ways, nature and its complexity intimidates us. It is very hard to get someone’s attention for that long and really dive into how to unravel this weathered life. What happens is we get overwhelmed and we retreat. Self-interest comes back in and nothing is more self-interesting than survival. As much as there is empathy towards the natural world, the environmental conversation does get pushed down. I think environmentalism is going to get pushed, which is where corporations step in. This is where corporations have to look at the longer-term game.
J.M. You have talked about in the past something called “Cause Corp.” Can you unpack that for me?
D.R. I started The Lost Explorer [company] originally as an experiment to look at the relationship between commerce and conservation if they could co-exist. I knew the normal steps of a sustainable brand, but I started to re-evaluate the economics of what really is the intention of a company. Then it is going to be very hard to perceive how they could be a holistically sustainable enterprise relationship. The biggest step is realizing when enough is enough. When can a company be rewarded not just for how big it is or how much profit it can make, but by how much impact it can have and how much positivity it can put back into the world? The construct of a company used to come from the idea of a community. What role does the company play now? How can we use the model of economics and a corporation to change the methodologies of not just putting money back into the shareholders but putting money back into society? For example, if Patagonia is all about the planet, let’s say their bag division makes 30 million dollars a year. You could donate all of those funds to become a “Cause Corporation” where 100 percent of the proceeds go back into protecting parks. They get a huge tax write-off so they are happy about that. They are using the same tools as a corporation in regards to saving money. At the same time, they are still selling bags and doing everything they want to do, but every time you buy a bag, 100 percent of the proceeds after expenses goes back to nature. So now every year, you are creating $30 million dollars for the park services. We are trying to figure out a way to help people transition and how to set up the right methodology.
J.M. During this pandemic, it seems that the mindset is changing in terms of consumption; buy less, buy better, and support organizations or smaller brands. What do you think about this?
D.R. I hope this is true. Maybe brands start to say that if you cannot afford this jacket we will give you 50 percent off if you volunteer. So the way brands interact with consumers could change in the future. There doesn’t always need to be a monetary exchange to have things. Hopefully we will see a lot of really positive things come out of this. We will see a lot of innovation and people changing the way they view the world.
J.M. Talk to us about your collaboration with Gucci. What made you decide you were going to put your face on the brand’s “Off The Grid”sustainable capsule collection that is part of the company’s Circular Lines production project?
D.R. I went to a talk last year at Gucci’s headquarters, I threw out this idea that if you are going to use animals in advertising, why not donate money back to the animal or cause. I threw this out at the end of this talk and the CEO of Gucci, Marco Bazzari, comes up to us and says “thank you, that is a great idea! I want to talk to you about doing all these things.” I sat down with him and he took me through the whole company; what their vision is for sustainability and what they are doing. I sat there and was like “wow.” For a massive company, I am truly impressed. Can they do more? Yes. Can I do more? Yes. We can all do more. As a company, when you start to look at the levers they are pulling, and the influence and depth they have, I realized it was really exciting. They are not only helping to pull those levers, but they are also not afraid to have conversations that might be uncomfortable for them. They know when they are making mistakes. They put their hands up and ask for help. How do you remove certain materiality across your supply chain? How do you change diversity across your group? How do you look at the future of what a company like yours could do and how it acts? A lot of companies say that “it is too far ahead” but I was so impressed with their commitment to say that they do not know, but they are going to start on that journey and it will take them somewhere. It sounds very simple but it does not happen. I have seen it in so many companies. It is way better than doing nothing. They have started to figure out the voices and programs. It is across everything, not just the environment. There is a momentum here about doing things right. They are not afraid of doing things wrong, to do things right. They were willing to listen. Listening is such a big skill, and when a corporation listens, acts upon that advice and starts to do things differently, it is truly inspiring. I feel like I have to keep pinching myself because the line of communication and the team is really short. That is so rare. If I want to send a message to the CMO about some ideas, it is never “we’ll get to that.” They actually do look into that. Maybe I am drinking the Gucci Kool-Aid but I love it.
J.M. When I had my first daughter, my whole worldview shifted. You just had your first child. When that happened, did you have any realizations, epiphanies or perhaps became even more dedicated to sustainability and environmental actions than before?
D.R. It adds a sense of urgency. It is probably the most stupendous thing you can do when you know what lies ahead, [have a child] but it is one of the most important motivators for me now. There is hopefully a world where she can see a Rhino in the wild, or a world where she does not have to wear a face mask everyday, not just because of the virus, but because the air is actually breathable. Humanity has the amazing potential to rally and do incredible things. We have this unrivaled curiosity that is limitless which can produce some of the most beautiful things. We are so incredible and that is just the frustration. If we could for one second think about how much money is spent on defense, 1.7 trillion is spent on war. Then you take the amount of money that subsidizes the fossil fuel industry, the very industry that is killing us and our ability to live on this planet. By the way, eight of the largest plastic companies are also owned by oil and gas companies, 20 percent of oil is going into plastic, it is more than transport. That is why we are not getting rid of plastic. It is connected to a very powerful industry. The IMF predicts that $3.4 trillion dollars every year is going in subsidies in the oil and gas industry. If we pause for one second on shooting bombs at each other and put that money along with the oil and gas money into transition away from those products, you are talking about nearly $5 trillion dollars a year. You could start to actually do some really meaningful work towards just eliminating the carbon footprint from aviation and transport. You could move it to completely green mobility.
J.M. For me hope lies in the idea that new technology and nature will have a symbiotic relationship. Maybe tech is the only way we can turn this all around if we only have 10 years left like some believe. What are your thoughts on that?
D.R. I think it is going to be tech but at the same time none of that technology will matter if we cannot legislate, activate, and eradicate old systems. We have got to get rid of them and say it is okay, do not penalize if a company does not make a huge return to the stock market because it is transitioning to something positive. Allow them to do that. Allow them to make those choices that will be better for the longer term and make it more sustainable. Allow that technology to be put into the marketplace because it works. But we have to stop subsidizing the competition to that technology that people can still use. As we seal these massive statements such as “by 2030, we will be carbon neutral.” That is 10 years. Does it really take 10 years to be carbon neutral? I mean, Gucci did it in a year. It is very easy to make statements but it is much harder to act upon those statements today. It is a bit like we were kids. You have all summer to do homework, but you do it the very last week before you get back to school and it is a nightmare, you leave it to the last minute. If there was a meteorite that was going to smack onto the planet on a certain date, we would all work around the clock to figure out how to stop it. It is hard to get people motivated by something that is so far away. We only work under pressure. I think that is going to be the tug and pull between the old world and the transition to the new world. But there is a group of very aware kids who are coming through, who are developing new projects and ideas. Things are changing and they will change quickly. But our planet is changing and it is changing much quicker than anyone ever predicted. So we have to meet at both ends to sort of activate things. I am trying to be truly optimistic but I get really sad because it is all there; every solution to the problems we face already exist.
Image from GQ.
