Ernie always swings for the fences. This has been his m.o. since he was a pup, and he shows no signs of throttling back and adopting a more measured, moderate approach. You’d think that at his age he’d be satisfied simply to make contact and get on base once in a while, but that’s not Ernie’s style. If he can’t knock it out of the park he’ll take a mighty cut and go down swinging, dammit.

If nothing else he’s proved true to the spirit of his namesake: Ernie Banks, the Cubs Hall-of-Famer who expressed his boundless joy for the game in his signature phrase “Let’s play two!”

"There needs to be a response that matches the size of the crisis," says Lisa Pike Sheehy, Patagonia's Vice President of Environmental Activism, expressing the Ventura, California company's frustration with the daunting and mounting challenges facing the conservation and environmental communities. For many in those communities—or simply for those that care about wild landscapes, clean air and clean water—it's been a tough year.