The Sustainable Angler

Can you recycle fly line? Historically, no, but now you can. Airflo and TerraCycle have partnered to provide fly line recycling boxes to fly shops across the US, keeping thousands of river miles of fly line out of landfills and the environment.

Fly line is built to survive water, UV, and abrasion, which is great for anglers, but a real problem at end-of-life. In this episode of The Sustainable Angler, I talk with Andy Dunn, Airflo’s Brand Manager, Gareth Jones, Airflo’s Managing Director, and Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of TerraCycle, about how this partnership came together and how it works in practice.

We cover:

• Why used fly line is such a stubborn waste problem
• How the program works, from drop-off at your local fly shop to recycling
• How Airflo is getting fly shops to host collection boxes
• Why materials once called “unrecyclable” keep getting recycled, and what TerraCycle has learned about the barriers
• Airflo and Mayfly Outdoors’ broader sustainability work, including being a certified B Corp, an aluminum recycling program, and a closed-loop anodization process
• What gives them hope, and one thing every angler can do starting this week

If you’re an angler with old line in a drawer, a shop owner who wants to host a recycling box, or a brand curious about what a partnership like this takes, this one’s for you.

Find a drop-off location or get your shop involved: AIRFLO ZERO WASTE BOX™

Learn more: Airflo | Mayfly Outdoors | TerraCycle

The Sustainable Angler is hosted by Rick Crawford of Emerger Strategies. Subscribe wherever you listen, and share this episode with your local fly shop.

www.EmergerStrategies.com

🎣 Like what you heard?

 Subscribe to The Sustainable Angler wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review to help us grow the conversation around sustainable business in the fishing and outdoor industries.

For more resources, or to learn how Emerger Strategies can help your brand turn sustainability into a competitive advantage by making it simple, strategic, and profitable, visit www.emergerstrategies.com.

Follow us on Instagram @emergerstrategies and @thesustainableangler and stay tuned for more insights from leaders at the intersection of conservation, business, and the outdoors.

What if the lure you tie on could catch fish and leave nothing harmful behind ? On this episode of The Sustainable Angler, host Rick Crawford, founder of Emerger Strategies, a sustainability consulting firm serving fishing and outdoor brands sits down with Jonas Urwyler, angler and co-founder of Capt. Greenfin, a Swiss company challenging the fishing industry to rethink lures, hooks, jigs, and more. Their mission is to develop baits that catch reliably while leaving no plastic or other pollutants in the water.

Jonas and I dig into their sustainability innovation journey, including:

• Developing plastic-free, biodegradable, protein-based lures made with natural, non-toxic ingredients like garlic and amino acids
• The successes and failures of testing ingredients for their lures
• Their lead-free weights and jigs
• Efforts to source more sustainable packaging, including Cradle to Cradle certified options
• What gives Jonas hope about the future of the fishing industry

This was a really fun interview. Jonas shares an honest look at what it takes to change an industry for good, and why anglers, brands, and retailers all have a role to play.

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to The Sustainable Angler, leave a review, and share it with a fishing buddy who cares about clean water.

Learn more about Capt. Greenfin: https://www.captngreenfin.com/en

Sponsors:

This episode is brought you by: Emerger Strategies, and A New Earth Project, the sustainability initiative of Atlantic Packaging.

🎣 Like what you heard?

 Subscribe to The Sustainable Angler wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review to help us grow the conversation around sustainable business in the fishing and outdoor industries.

For more resources, or to learn how Emerger Strategies can help your brand turn sustainability into a competitive advantage by making it simple, strategic, and profitable, visit www.emergerstrategies.com.

Follow us on Instagram @emergerstrategies and @thesustainableangler and stay tuned for more insights from leaders at the intersection of conservation, business, and the outdoors.

On this episode of The Sustainable Angler, host Rick Crawford, founder of Emerger Strategies, a sustainability consulting firm serving fishing and outdoor brands sits down with Lucas Bissett, fly fishing guide, conservationist, and Executive Director of the American Fly Fishing Trade Association (AFFTA), joins us to unpack how the organization is moving the fly fishing industry forward through community, advocacy, and education.

We talk about AFFTA Confluence, the industry's upcoming gathering in Salt Lake City, and how events like it build connection across the trade. Lucas breaks down AFFTA's advocacy work on pressing issues like tariffs, and the range of education AFFTA offers through in-person events, webinars, and more.

We also dig into Save Public Lands, a new sign-on letter aiming to collect one million signatures by September 26 with a clear message to politicians, billionaires, and corporations: hands off our public lands. Finally, we discuss how climate change is reshaping the fly fishing industry and how the AFFTA Sustainability Toolkit gives businesses practical tools to measure and improve their sustainability performance.

Adocacy: Sign the Save Public Lands Letter

Education: Register for the AFFTA x 1% for the Planet webinar

Community: Register for AFFTA Confluence

Whether you're an angler, a guide, or run a fly fishing business, this episode connects the dots between advocacy, education, and sustainability in the sport we love.

🎣 Like what you heard?

 Subscribe to The Sustainable Angler wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review to help us grow the conversation around sustainable business in the fishing and outdoor industries.

For more resources, or to learn how Emerger Strategies can help your brand turn sustainability into a competitive advantage by making it simple, strategic, and profitable, visit www.emergerstrategies.com.

Follow us on Instagram @emergerstrategies and @thesustainableangler and stay tuned for more insights from leaders at the intersection of conservation, business, and the outdoors.

Can a fly shop actually make sustainability pay for itself? On this episode of The Sustainable Angler, host Rick Crawford founder of Emerger Strategies, a sustainability consulting firm serving fishing and outdoor brands sits down with Chris Keeley, angler, conservationist, and owner of Angler's All fly shop in Colorado, to find out.

Chris shares how Angler's All is turning environmental responsibility into a genuine business advantage — cutting energy, water, and waste costs through solar panels, EV charging stations, composting, and native landscaping. He also breaks down how the shop curates its brand lineup around companies that put their money where their mouth is, prioritizing B Corps and 1% for the Planet members on the shelf.

Beyond the bottom line, Chris opens up about why conservation and giving back are core to how Angler's All operates, and closes with practical, actionable advice for any shop owner ready to start their own sustainability journey — no matter the budget or size.

Whether you run a fly shop, work in the outdoor industry, or just want to see conservation-minded business done right, this conversation is packed with real-world takeaways.

Sponsors:

This episode is brought you by: Emerger Strategies, and A New Earth Project, the sustainability initiative of Atlantic Packaging.

🎣 Like what you heard?

 Subscribe to The Sustainable Angler wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review to help us grow the conversation around sustainable business in the fishing and outdoor industries.

For more resources, or to learn how Emerger Strategies can help your brand turn sustainability into a competitive advantage by making it simple, strategic, and profitable, visit www.emergerstrategies.com.

Follow us on Instagram @emergerstrategies and @thesustainableangler and stay tuned for more insights from leaders at the intersection of conservation, business, and the outdoors.

What if fly fishing wasn't a sport, but a practice — a way of relating to place, community, and conservation? In this episode, host Rick Crawford — founder of Emerger Strategies, a sustainability consulting firm serving fishing and outdoor brands sits down with angler, writer, and conservationist Jesse Lance Robbins, author of The Best Fly Fishing Is Everywhere: Stories in Celebration of Why We Fish, to unpack how storytelling shapes fly fishing education and river advocacy.

Jesse takes us through his winding path in the fly fishing industry — working in a fly shop, guiding, fundraising for Trout Unlimited, and published book author — and how each vantage point reshaped his relationship to the water. We talk about his academic roots in environmental economics and mathematics, including his undergraduate thesis valuing a recreational fishery before and after a dam removal, and how that research foreshadowed a full-circle moment: dam removals on Washington's rivers and on the Kennebec in his home state of Maine.

We also get into a few misadventures from his new book — trout bumming in New Zealand, steelheading in the Pacific Northwest, and chasing tarpon in Florida — and how those stories, mentors, and near-failures fueled his transition from industry pro to nonprofit fisheries conservation work.

In this episode:

• Storytelling as a tool for conservation advocacy
• How place-based relationships deepen motivation to protect rivers
• Jesse's path from guide and retailer to writer and nonprofit conservation leader
• Dam removal in Washington and the Kennebec River in Maine — a full-circle story
• Why fly fishing works better as a practice than a sport
• Environmental economics, thesis research, and valuing rivers before and after dam removal
• Misadventures from New Zealand, the Pacific Northwest, and Florida

Sponsors:

This episode is brought you by: A New Earth Project, the sustainability initiative of Atlantic Packaging, Emerger Strategies, and Ecolytics (don't forget to mention The Sustainable Angler for a discount off your first year's subscription!)

🎣 Like what you heard?

 Subscribe to The Sustainable Angler wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review to help us grow the conversation around sustainable business in the fishing and outdoor industries.

For more resources, or to learn how Emerger Strategies can help your brand turn sustainability into a competitive advantage by making it simple, strategic, and profitable, visit www.emergerstrategies.com.

Follow us on Instagram @emergerstrategies and @thesustainableangler and stay tuned for more insights from leaders at the intersection of conservation, business, and the outdoors.

Brent Kawamura's path to sustainability wasn't a straight line — it started with an Environmental Science degree, wound through LEED-certified building projects, and landed him in Product Sustainability at REI. Along the way, fishing has remained the thread that keeps it all grounded.

In this episode, host Rick Crawford — founder of Emerger Strategies, a sustainability consulting firm serving fishing and outdoor brands — sits down with Brent to pull back the curtain on REI's Product Impact Standards and explore why the retail giant is pushing its brand partners to cut their carbon footprint. They dig into how customer demand is reshaping the shelf — with shoppers increasingly seeking out products carrying The Climate Label, Fair Trade certification, and other preferred attributes — and what that shift means for brands trying to keep pace.

They also step away from sustainable business and onto the water, talking about the responsibility anglers carry to understand the history of the places we fish, and how the choices we make ripple out to affect those fisheries for the long haul.

If your brand is aiming to land a spot on REI's shelves, this episode is a must-listen — packed with insight into what REI is actually looking for from its partners.

In this episode:

• Brent Kawamura's journey from Environmental Science to LEED buildings to REI Product Sustainability
• REI Impact Report findings
• What REI's Product Impact Standards require from brand partners
• Why REI is pushing suppliers to reduce carbon footprint
• How consumer demand for The Climate Label, Fair Trade, and other preferred attributes is reshaping retail
• What brands need to know to get their products on REI's shelves
• An angler's responsibility to understand fishery history and protect the places we fish

Sponsors:

This episode is brought you by: A New Earth Project, the sustainability initiative of Atlantic Packaging, Emerger Strategies, and Ecolytics (don't forget to mention The Sustainable Angler for a discount off your first year's subscription!)

🎣 Like what you heard?

 Subscribe to The Sustainable Angler wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review to help us grow the conversation around sustainable business in the fishing and outdoor industries.

For more resources, or to learn how Emerger Strategies can help your brand turn sustainability into a competitive advantage by making it simple, strategic, and profitable, visit www.emergerstrategies.com.

Follow us on Instagram @emergerstrategies and @thesustainableangler and stay tuned for more insights from leaders at the intersection of conservation, business, and the outdoors.

In this episode, host and Emerger Strategies founder Rick Crawford sits down with Riverhorse Nakadate — angler, surfer, writer, musician, adventurer, and a friend.

In this conversation, Riverhorse states that "books are magic portals that can take us to far-away places" — and after reading his new book, Water Lines: A Life on Marshes, Rivers, Seas, and in the Rain, you'll understand why. He shares rowdy, hilarious stories from a life spent wandering the salt marshes and coastlines of Texas, Colorado's alpine lakes, the Oregon and California shores, Minnesota's Boundary Waters, the Yucatán mangroves, the Arctic Circle, Africa, and Montana's spring creeks.

You'll hear about the five-year journey to getting Water Lines published with Patagonia Books, the Boundary Waters debacle, and how Mexican drug cartels forced local fishermen into illegal long-lining in Texas waters. You'll also discover how music, surfing, fly fishing, and writing help Riverhorse make sense of the world — all of it interconnected by water — and dig into the miracle of wilderness and life, and much more.

Hit play and get ready for a story that'll make you want to grab your rod, your journal, or both.

Hope you enjoy!

Sponsors:

This episode is brought you by: A New Earth Project, the sustainability initiative of Atlantic Packaging, Emerger Strategies, and Ecolytics (don't forget to mention The Sustainable Angler for a discount off your first year's subscription!)

🎣 Like what you heard?

 Subscribe to The Sustainable Angler wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review to help us grow the conversation around sustainable business in the fishing and outdoor industries.

For more resources, or to learn how Emerger Strategies can help your brand turn sustainability into a competitive advantage by making it simple, strategic, and profitable, visit www.emergerstrategies.com.

Follow us on Instagram @emergerstrategies and @thesustainableangler and stay tuned for more insights from leaders at the intersection of conservation, business, and the outdoors.

Kevin Myette has one of the most storied careers in outdoor industry sustainability — and he's not done yet. In this episode, host and Emerger Strategies founder Rick Crawford sits down with Kevin, who is a 40-year outdoor industry veteran to trace the arc of sustainability from a grassroots conversation at Outdoor Retailer in 2006 all the way to the global frameworks shaping how brands operate today through his work at Bluesign.

Kevin was part of the early effort at REI to get competing brands to collaborate on sustainability — a movement that grew into the Sustainability Working Group at the Outdoor Industry Association, then the ECO Index, then the Higg Index, and ultimately the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (now known as Cascale). He walks us through how that history unfolded and what it means for brands navigating sustainability today.

The conversation goes deep on supply chain transparency — specifically why Tier 2 suppliers (the mills and dye houses most brands have never visited) represent the single most impactful stage in a product's lifecycle. Kevin makes the case that if you don't know your supply chain, you don't know your impact.

He also drops a truth bomb that might surprise you: apparel made from recycled plastic bottles may actually be worse for the environment than it appears — and how "packaging is the gateway drug for sustainability.

At Bluesign, Kevin works to verify chemical and material integrity across value chains — ensuring that what goes into a product is safe, responsibly sourced, and certified Bluesign Approved. And throughout all of it, he makes a compelling argument that the outdoor industry has been using the wrong word all along: this isn't "sustainability." It's business excellence.

If you care about what's actually inside the products you make, sell, or buy — this episode is essential listening.

Topics covered:
Supply chain transparency · Bluesign certification · Tier 2 suppliers and dyeing processes · History of sustainability in the outdoor industry · Outdoor Retailer 2006 · Sustainable Apparel Coalition / Cascale · Higg Index · ECO Index · Recycled polyester greenwashing · Packaging as a sustainability entry point · Business excellence vs. sustainability branding

Sponsors:

This episode is brought you by: A New Earth Project, the sustainability initiative of Atlantic Packaging, Emerger Strategies, and Ecolytics (don't forget to mention The Sustainable Angler for a discount off your first year's subscription!)

🎣 Like what you heard?

 Subscribe to The Sustainable Angler wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review to help us grow the conversation around sustainable business in the fishing and outdoor industries.

For more resources, or to learn how Emerger Strategies can help your brand turn sustainability into a competitive advantage by making it simple, strategic, and profitable, visit www.emergerstrategies.com.

Follow us on Instagram @emergerstrategies and @thesustainableangler and stay tuned for more insights from leaders at the intersection of conservation, business, and the outdoors.

In this episode of The Sustainable Angler, Emerger Strategies founder and host Rick Crawford sits down with Ross Purnell, Editor in Chief of Fly Fisherman Magazine, for a wide-ranging conversation that covers the past, present, and future of one of fly fishing's most storied publications — and how conservation storytelling protects the wild places we love.

We cover how AI and data centers are contributing to rising water temperatures, exacerbating climate change, and threatening fisheries across the country. Ross breaks down the Boundary Waters controversy, explains why more fly fishing brands are doing more for the resource, and discusses a powerful cultural shift: younger anglers who vote with their wallets by supporting brands that align with their values.

Ross also shares the story behind his new film The Shoals — a fishing journey to protect St. Brandon's Atoll — and makes the case for storytelling as a frontline conservation strategy. Plus: why the next generation gives him genuine hope, the story of almost making a film with President Jimmy Carter, and a direct call to get involved in advocacy before it's too late.

In this episode:

• A brief history of Fly Fisherman Magazine
• How AI is warming our rivers and threatening fisheries
• The Boundary Waters controversy, explained
• Fly fishing brands stepping up for conservation
• Gen Z and millennial anglers voting with their wallets
• The Shoals — protecting St. Brandon's Atoll through film
• Storytelling as a conservation tool
• Almost making a film with President Jimmy Carter
• Why advocacy and getting involved has never mattered more

Sponsors:

This episode is brought you by: A New Earth Project, the sustainability initiative of Atlantic Packaging, Emerger Strategies, and Ecolytics (don't forget to mention The Sustainable Angler for a discount off your first year's subscription!)

🎣 Like what you heard?

 Subscribe to The Sustainable Angler wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review to help us grow the conversation around sustainable business in the fishing and outdoor industries.

For more resources, or to learn how Emerger Strategies can help your brand turn sustainability into a competitive advantage by making it simple, strategic, and profitable, visit www.emergerstrategies.com.

Follow us on Instagram @emergerstrategies and @thesustainableangler and stay tuned for more insights from leaders at the intersection of conservation, business, and the outdoors.

America's public lands & waters are under attack — and what can you do about it.

In this episode of The Sustainable Angler, Emerger Strategies founder and host Rick Crawford sits down with Land Tawney, a 25-year conservation veteran and co-leader of American Hunters and Anglers, to break down the most pressing threats facing hunters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts today.

Land and Rick dive deep into the controversial decision by 50 Republican lawmakers — including South Carolina Senators Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott — to greenlight a foreign-owned copper-sulfide mine upstream of the Boundary Waters, America's most visited wilderness. "The three million-acre Superior National Forest, which includes the Boundary Waters, contains 20% of all the fresh water in the entire National Forest System at 193 million acres," according to Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters. With copper mines carrying a 100% failure rate for toxic leakage and extracted resources being sold to China, this decision raises serious questions about who our elected officials are truly serving.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why the Boundary Waters mining decision sets a dangerous precedent for the Grand Staircase National Monument
• What new oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge mean for wildlife and habitat
• How relocating U.S. Forest Service offices to Utah threatens conservation operations
• Why the dismantling of federal agencies like NOAA and the U.S. Forest Service puts wildfire response, weather forecasting, and habitat restoration at risk
• Concrete steps YOU can take to hold elected officials accountable and protect public lands

Whether you're a hunter, angler, or simply someone who values America's wild places, this episode is a must-listen. Your public lands need you now more than ever.

🎙️ Guest: Land Tawney, Co-Leader of American Hunters and Anglers | @AmericanHuntersAnglers 🔗 Take Action: Contact Your Senators. 🗳️ Vote for pro-public lands candidates this November in the midterms.

Sponsors:

This episode is brought you by: A New Earth Project, the sustainability initiative of Atlantic Packaging, Emerger Strategies, and Ecolytics (don't forget to mention The Sustainable Angler for a discount off your first year's subscription!)

🎣 Like what you heard?

 Subscribe to The Sustainable Angler wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review to help us grow the conversation around sustainable business in the fishing and outdoor industries.

For more resources, or to learn how Emerger Strategies can help your brand turn sustainability into a competitive advantage by making it simple, strategic, and profitable, visit www.emergerstrategies.com.

Follow us on Instagram @emergerstrategies and @thesustainableangler and stay tuned for more insights from leaders at the intersection of conservation, business, and the outdoors.