Gear libraries vs the cost of living crisis: getting people outdoors for less

On Monday, just in case there was anyone left in the UK still naively clinging to the idea that a modicum of emotional intelligence might be necessary to succeed in politics, the government wheeled out Safeguarding Minister Rachel Maclean to talk about the cost of living crisis.

“In the long term,” she said, “we need to have a plan to grow the economy” – a staggeringly novel concept that sent shockwaves through the financial firmament. But wait, Maclean also wanted to “make sure that people are able to protect themselves better, whether that is by taking on more hour s or by moving to a better-paid job.”

Yup, that’s right – if you’re already working a 50-hour week but can’t afford to feed your family due to skyrocketing inflation, the official government advice is to try working a 60-hour week. Still poor? Well, in that case you just need to find a job that pays better, don’t you? Then, presumably, some other poor sap can take on your former 60-hours-a-week slog and fail to feed their family with the meagre proceeds.

The great irony, of course, is that according to the government’s own website, the number one responsibility of the Minster for Safeguarding is “modern slavery”. To be fair, it doesn’t say whether the goal is to abolish it or entrench it. In retrospect, perhaps they should have specified.

Anyway, the point is this: the cost of living is already too high for many people, there is every indication that it’s about to get even higher, and the government’s response is, well... intellectually questionable, to put it kindly. Under these grim conditions, it’s inevitable that people will prioritise essentials like food and heating – the things that are necessary for life – but in order to do so they will almost certainly have to cut back on some of the things that make life worth living.

There’s plenty of evidence that this is already happening. Earlier this week, The Scotsman reported on how the cost of living crisis is causing a reduction in the number of children taking private music lessons, and on Tuesday a Uk-wide report called The Price to Play, commissioned by Utilita Energy, showed that 26 per cent of Scottish parents now believe they will be unable to afford football for their children (kits and subs) “in the very near future.” And if relatively lowcost activities like music and football are in the firing line, what hope is there for outdoor activities, where the financial barriers to entry are often much higher?

Against this depressing backdrop, it was at least somewhat cheering to learn of the latest initiative from the British Mountaineering Council (BMC): a move to set up a network of gear libraries – places where those who have just bought a new breathable waterproof jacket can donate their old one, and where those who can’t justify spending £150-plus on a shiny new bit of GORE-TEX can borrow a pre-loved garment instead.

The BMC is inviting volunteers interested in setting up one of these libraries to fill out a short online survey, which asks questions like “Do you have a location in mind to host a gear library in your local area?” and “What kind of gear would you be able to host in this space?”

To be clear, the concept of the gear library is by no means a new one: in 2019, Scottish outdoors brand Vango partnered with Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority to set up a library of camping gear that people could borrow, and such libraries are already commonplace in North America. The significance of the BMC announcement, though, has less to do with its novelty and more to do with the size of the organisation behind it. With over 75,000 members participating in walking, climbing and mountaineering, the BMC has the kind of critical mass necessary to change the weather. If it can create even a modest number of wellrun, well-organised gear libraries, word will spread fast among its membership and beyond, and there will be a viable model for others to copy if they wish.

There is, of course, an argument that an explosion in gear libraries up and down the UK could damage business for outdoor gear retailers: why would anyone ever buy new stuff again if they knew they could get it all for free? You can see how the concept might make both manufacturers and retailers uneasy, but another way of looking at this is that it could represent an opportunity for them to grow their potential market. After all, someone who borrows a tent from a gear library this summer, and whose kids fall in love with camping, might then be looking to buy a new one in the summer of 2023, perhaps at a time when the economy is in a slightly happier place.

Gear libraries also encourage greener thinking, promoting the idea of squeezing every last bit of life out of a product before finally recycling it or throwing it away. A climate-friendly scheme, then, that allows more people to access the outdoors at a time when they might otherwise be unable to afford it – what’s not to like?

Someone who borrows a tent this summer might be looking to buy a new one in 2023