# Yvon Chouinard – The Perpetual Pursuit of Simplicity

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/mountain-prairie-with-ed-roberson-323217/yvon-chouinard-the-perpetual-pursuit-of-simplicity
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/mountain-prairie-with-ed-roberson-323217/yvon-chouinard-the-perpetual-pursuit-of-simplicity.md
Podcast: [Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson](https://stenobird.com/podcast/mountain-prairie-with-ed-roberson-323217)
Published: 2025-10-15T21:48:00+00:00
Episode link: https://mountainandprairie.libsyn.com/yvon-chouinard-the-perpetual-pursuit-of-simplicity
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/mountainandprairie/Yvon--Chouinard.mp3?dest-id=1600085
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Duration seconds: 3444

## Resource

Yvon Chouinard needs no introduction. The founder of Patagonia, pioneer of clean climbing, co-founder of 1% for the Planet, and lifelong advocate for simplicity and wildness, he's one of the world's most influential environmental leaders. Now in his mid-80s, Yvon continues to live, work, and fish by the same principles that have guided him since his dirtbag climbing days: live simply, take responsibility for your impact, and keep finding meaning through deep, direct engagement with nature. His newest book, "Pheasant Tail Simplicity: Recipes and Techniques for Successful Fly Fishing," distills those philosophies into one of his lifelong passions—fly fishing. Co-authored with his longtime fishing buddies Craig Mathews and Mauro Mazzo, Pheasant Tail Simplicity begins as a guide to tying and fishing with only pheasant-tail flies, and becomes a case study in creativity, restraint, and how simplifying our pursuits can reconnect us to what really matters. You don't have to be a hardcore angler to glean important lessons from the book—its insights can be applied to almost any part of life. In this conversation, Yvon and I start out talking about fly fishing, of course—but we quickly veer into broader terrain: how constraints can become a path to freedom, how business can be a demonstration of ethics, and how pessimism can serve as a productive form of realism. He shares a ton of amazing stories—learning to fish with a tenkara master in Italy, teaching Crow Reservation children to fly fish, founding 1% for the Planet, why rebellious personalities make the best entrepreneurs, his love of regenerative agriculture, and why he still believes that action—no matter how small—is the cure for depression. It's a wide-ranging, funny, and wise discussion with someone who's spent a lifetim…

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