Three months ago, the California-based Patagonia responded to the shrinking of what was then called Bears Ears National Monument with the headlineย โThe President Stole Your Landโ across an all-black homepage, reports Outside Online.
Yesterday, it added a new message to theirย homepage. As of Thursday afternoon, the black-and-white display, which disappeared for a time,ย now includes the phrase โAnd You Were Lied To.โ
Along with the updated website, theย brand published a blog post accusingย President Donald Trump and the Department of the Interior ofย lying to the American public about the role that coal,ย gas, oil, and uranium played in the downsizing of theย Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante national monuments.
โThe redrawing of boundaries was deliberate and directly influencedย by an industry that spends millions of dollars lobbying the government to get what it wants,โ the postย reads.
In December, after reductions were announced for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante, Patagonia published the first iteration of the all-black homepage. A few days later, the House Natural Resources Committee respondedย with a tweet mocking the original message, and thenย came an invitation from Utah Republican Representativeย Rob Bishop to Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard to testify before Congress on theย national-monuments restructuring. Chouinardย passed onย Bishop’s offer.
Patagonia also joinedย aย lawsuit filed by five Native American tribesย in Decemberย to block the President’s shrinking of the two national monuments.ย As that moves through court, Patagonia isย calling on itsย customers to get some skin in the game.
โIt is your voice and your vote that are the two most important tools we have to remind elected officials that Americansโeveryone from sportsmen and women to outdoor enthusiasts, to conservationists and the tribes who have known these lands longer than anyoneโwant public lands protected.โ