Ep 17: Brad Brooks on Business, Hunting, & Conservation

07/07/21 • 54 min

Brad Brooks is the owner and General Manager of Argali Outdoors, a backcountry hunting gear, and equipment company. Brad is an adventurer, conservationist, and family man hailing from Boise, ID.

Topics Discussed:

How Brad stumbled into starting an outdoor equipment company
His background in environmental economics and working in public lands conservation
The first backpacking tent bought in high school
The inner draw to the outdoors
How being in wild country helps to recenter life
Brad's interest in business and entrepreneurship from an early age
The origination of Argali
Early days of technical clothing
Calculating risks
Storytelling about wild places through film
The importance of timing in life and business
Family bonds in working together
The daily struggle of work-life balance
The importance of being a present father
Spending 75 nights in a tent per year
The biggest threats to conservation today
The effects of westward expansion
Brad's reflection on death while rock climbing
Getting lost while hunting at age 15
Product development and scratching an itch

Quote:

"The loss of the ability to get lost in wild country is a tragedy."
"Figure out something that interests you in your life and figure out how to make that your job."

Resources Mentioned:

The Adventure Made Podcast is sponsored by Rewild Gear. Essential gear built for the great outdoors, designed to fuel your next adventure. Come find your wild at RewildGear.com!

Brad Brooks is the owner and General Manager of Argali Outdoors, a backcountry hunting gear, and equipment company. Brad is an adventurer, conservationist, and family man hailing from Boise, ID.

Topics Discussed:

How Brad stumbled into starting an outdoor equipment company
His background in environmental economics and working in public lands conservation
The first backpacking tent bought in high school
The inner draw to the outdoors
How being in wild country helps to recenter life
Brad's interest in business and entrepreneurship from an early age
The origination of Argali
Early days of technical clothing
Calculating risks
Storytelling about wild places through film
The importance of timing in life and business
Family bonds in working together
The daily struggle of work-life balance
The importance of being a present father
Spending 75 nights in a tent per year
The biggest threats to conservation today
The effects of westward expansion
Brad's reflection on death while rock climbing
Getting lost while hunting at age 15
Product development and scratching an itch

Quote:

"The loss of the ability to get lost in wild country is a tragedy."
"Figure out something that interests you in your life and figure out how to make that your job."

Resources Mentioned:

The Adventure Made Podcast is sponsored by Rewild Gear. Essential gear built for the great outdoors, designed to fuel your next adventure. Come find your wild at RewildGear.com!

Previous Episode

Ep 16: John Roulac on Regenerative Agriculture

John Roulac is a hemp innovator, serial entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist, writer, and champion of regenerative agriculture.

As the founder of the organic brand Nutiva, he has sourced and formulated close to $1B in retail sales of organic superfoods in the past 20 years. John is also an executive producer of the regenerative agriculture film Kiss the Ground, which is narrated by Woody Harrelson. He is an investor, supporter, and advisor to various companies and organizations in the “better for you and planet” sector.

Over his career, John has founded six non-profit organizations, including Great Plains Regeneration and GMOInside. His passionate hemp advocacy brought him to sue the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. This long legal battle culminated in a historic 2004 federal court victory to keep hemp foods legal. He is a pioneer of the modern home-composting movement and has authored four books on hemp and composting.

Topics Discussed:

John's start in business and the environmental movement
The difference between environmentalism and conservation
How learning from indigenous cultures can positively impact our environment
The importance of being open to learning and losing our ego
How we're losing 1-2% of winged insects per year
Are cows bad for the environment
How "Nox" (Nitric Oxide) is the fastest growing greenhouse gas in the world today & 380 times more impactful than C02
The social and economic control by large organizations
Are meat and saturated fat to blame for health issues
John's experience as a Vegetarian
How humans are trying to connect and find their tribe
Why 50% of the Plankton in the ocean and 98% of Pacific Sardines have been lost
Positive environmental changes to make on a micro level
How 500,000 people focused on regenerative agriculture in the next fives years will change the country
John's biggest lesson from nature and the outdoors

Quote:

"The future of plant-based is animal-based"

Resources Mentioned:

Documentary: Kiss the Ground
Great Plains Regeneration
Nutiva
Fuller Field School
Audubon Society
Contour Lines Corp
Paradise Permaculture
Soil 4 Climate
Dr. Bronner's
12 Tides
Cooks Venture
Tanka Bar
Book: The War on Bugs
Book: Backyard Composting: Your Complete Guide to Recycling Yard Clippings
Book: The Art of War
Book: The Mists of Avalon
Book: The Way of Wyrd
Book: The Ecology of Commerce
Article: Making America's Rivers Blue Again
John's website

The Adventure Made Podcast is sponsored by Rewild Gear. Essential gear built for the great outdoors, designed to fuel your next adventure. Come find your wild at RewildGear.com!

Next Episode

Ep 18: Duke Phillips on Sustainable Ranching & Livestock

Duke Phillips is a third-generation rancher living in Wyoming. He is the CEO of Ranchlands, an agricultural-based business that operates large-scale cattle and bison ranches in the American West that are dedicated to conservation and sustainability. They partner with conservation-minded owners to implement ambitious and complementary programs, including hospitality, hunting and fishing, a leather shop, strategic advisory services, and ecotourism.

Duke's journey has led to creating a set of core beliefs that balance ranching, conservation, and economics. He leads the strategic vision and business development oversight of Ranchlands' ventures and managed properties.

Quotes:

"Regenerative agriculture should include humans too. You want to be having a good time, be happy with what you're doing, and have a healthy community and healthy family while you're doing it."
"Nature is powerful as hell."

Topics Discussed:

How Duke got started in ranching
The origins of Ranchlands
Business diversification and land conservation
Combatting draughts and building contingency plans
Yellow Stone the show
Misconceptions about ranchers
Understanding bison, the national mammal
The differences between managing Bison and Cattle
How education has become a core piece of the business
Duke's thoughts on what conservation needs today
How to live symbiotically with nature
The importance of questioning a company's motives before supporting them
The dichotomy of urban sprawl and what to do about it
How nature has impacted Duke
A Rancher's essential gear
Being alone and not having Amazon Prime
Brewing beer from home
The ecological benefit of rewilding & how it affects land
What it's like being a cowboy
The importance of keeping family as a priority

Resources Mentioned:

Ranchlands
Ranchlands Mercantile
The Nature Conservancy
Smith Sunglasses
Swarovski Optik
Filson
REI
Show: Yellowstone
Musician: Steve Earl
Book: Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair
Book: Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner
Book: The Teachings Of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge
Book: Dune
Book: Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World
Podcast: Mountain & Prairie

The Adventure Made Podcast is sponsored by Rewild Gear. Essential gear built for the great outdoors, designed to fuel your next adventure. Come find your wild at RewildGear.com!