The Pristine Parks Story

During nearly two decades in the Research, Standards & Practices division at the National Geographic Society (and its media arm, National Geographic Partners), the leadership group at Pristine Parks helped formulate policy, direction and goals on some of the thorniest conservation questions facing the planet. We liaised with top scientists and researchers to help package those issues and solutions in ways the public not only understood, but embraced. And then we tracked the evolution of those results for years. Climate change, species extinction, plastics… our researchers have worked on it all. And in the fall of 2019, in order to operate in a more insurgently-directed advocacy role than a fiercely-impartial media-driven organization like NG could be, we took our efforts outside the yellow border and went independent. The result was Pristine Parks.

First on the agenda for our diverse data-driven group was always going to be single-use plastics - because it’s a HUGE problem with a nonetheless achievable-in-the-short-term solution. And for years, we’ve believed that US national parks are uniquely positioned to be influencers on this issue. In fact, national parks may be the key: guests come to National Parks predisposed to embrace nature, willing to endure a higher level of depredation than they would in their normal lives, and often leave as evangelists for the sanctity of our wild spaces - for what John Muir called, “going home“. If we’re right, weaning the public of single-use plastics in their wild “home” - the national parks - could be an incremental solution that leads to macromental change.

But let’s face it: national parks have no money - and in particular no money for broad campaigns requiring sustained effort outside the traditional duties of park personnel. Park Service folks do such an incredible job ensuring the pristine physical appearance of our national lands despite record visitorship - but the tight budgets handcuff time available for strategic thinking. That’s where Pristine Parks comes in: we do the deep research larger campaigns require, we do the packaging and the presentations, AND we’re big partners in raising the funds to bring these campaigns to fruition. Soup-to-nuts, we’re a turnkey solution for national parks wanting to think bigger and looking to become societal drivers on the key issue of single-use plastics.

Join us, work with us, invite us in to talk about how we can build on the tremendous foundation you - and those who came before you - have laid in your park. Let’s talk about how, together, we can aim higher in the service of a single-use plastic-free world and cleaner oceans. If you think there’s a chance your park could be a candidate for a campaign and an exemplar of the real, measurable, positive change possible outside park boundaries, we’re here to help.