Profile of a Practitioner: Aidan Fitzgerald (Project Durango)

 

Profile of a Practitioner: Aidan Fitzgerald (Project Durango) 

Aidan Fitzgerald is a University of Portland majoring in environmental and founded Project Durango. Project Durango is a contemporary environmental company dedicated to sustainability and helping individuals become greener. Their central platform is Instagram. In addition, Aidan’s multimedia journalism has helped grow his business. While earning a degree and running a business, Aidan is also a part of the Cross Country and Track team at the University of Portland. 

“I use the photos I take from my hometown in Durango because I live in a beautiful place, and they are what inspired me to create my business,” said Aidan Fitzgerald 

Fitzgerald began taking photos of his hometown when he was about six years old when he was learning how to ski. But from what turned into skiing photos as a kid began to love the environment. “My mom started a non-profit to build gardens around my hometown, which prompted me on a path to care about the environment.” Said Fitzgerald.  

Growing up in the rural town of Durango, Colorado, with a population of 18,588 residents, allowed Aidan and his friends to venture through various types of habitats at different elevations. His consistent interest in the outdoors and the mountains grew into a deep love of the environment which eventually led to his favorite place on earth, sparking an idea. “My favorite place to take photos and videos is the mountains because it is where I am from. It is difficult to capture the photo of the mountains to show how beautiful, pristine, and wild they are.” Said Fitzgerald. 

This idea led Aidan down a path to create Project Durango. With social media, Fitzgerald realized his love for the environment, and he needed to use social media to grow his movement. However, once Fitzgerald made Project Durango into a fully functioning business, he realized “it is difficult to run the entire media side of my business because it is hard to keep up with a company that focuses on action.” Said Fitzgerald.   

Nevertheless, Fitzgerald did not slow down with want he wanted to share with the world. “I did not expect my social media presence to gain enough traction to earn money from it, but it is a nice way to keep putting money back into the business,” said Fitzgerald. Also, “Engagement of the media is nice because you get a level of reassurance,” said Fitzgerald.

Founder of Project Durango, Aidan Fitzgerald, hopes to continue spreading useful information by “Using the powerpoints and photos, and videos created from me being pissed off that people did not see what was going on in the environment.” 

Aidan Fitzgerald's company is also selling merchandise where all of the profits are going to fire relief funds, and people can look up his company by searching projectdurango.com or @projectdurango.