Rachel Gross on How the Outdoor Industry Sold Nature to America

In 2022 and 2023, an estimated 50 million Americans went camping. Many others participated in outdoor recreation activities ranging from mountain-climbing to sailing. According to the U.S. Department of Congress, in 2022, the outdoor recreation economy was worth $563.7 billion or 2.2 percent of GDP. In this episode, historian Rachel Gross takes us on an adventure through the outdoor industry's rise, from Teddy Roosevelt's famous buckskin jacket to the ascendance of companies like Eddie Bauer and L.L. Bean, to the use of synthetic materials like GoreTex, and much much more. Along the way, we discuss an important question: Why is it that so many people's first stop on the way to the woods is an outdoor store?

You can listen to Rachel Gross on How the Outdoor Industry Sold Nature to America online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Rachel Gross on How the Outdoor Industry Sold Nature to America is an episode from Who Makes Cents?: A History of Capitalism Podcast by Jessica Levy.

This episode is 41:54 long.

This episode was published on Sep 2, 2024.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Who Makes Cents?: A History of Capitalism Podcast when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.