Open Container: Outdoor culture as a free flowing conversation
Open Container is the outdoor podcast trekking deeper into outdoor culture than the headlines. We talk about creativity, adventure, conservation, politics, and the people who make the outdoor space so vibrant.
Renowned outdoor journalist Doug Schnitzspahn steers the Open Container conversations with people who look to nature to find inspiration and solutions.
Learn how the outdoors teaches us, changes us, heals us, and how we will build a better world from simply going outside. While indoor conversations are dominated by climate change, politics and cultural upheaval, outdoor conversations provide the answers.
Because the outdoors is not a niche. It's way bigger than that.
So please join us each episode as we grab the open container and find out what outdoor conversations are inside.
Let’s get some.
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 53 minutes
- Episodes
- 37
- Years Active
- 2025
Highlighting Humanity In Ukraine
In this episode of Open Container, host Doug Schnitzspahn is joined by Jordan Campbell who is a journalist, photographer, mountaineer, and award-winning documentary filmmaker, to discuss his latest p…
What We Lose If We Drill In Alaska
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is once again under threat. Politicians and oil companies see short-term gain; conservationists, Indigenous peoples, and outdoor advocates see the loss of o…
Spare These Stones: Climbing Culture In The South
The American South is often overlooked in outdoor conversations but it holds some of the richest stories in climbing, culture, and community.
Today Doug Schnitzspahn opens the container with photograp…
The Outdoors Is Not Separate From Us
Today we open the container with Gear Abby herself, outdoor journalist and author, Shawnté Salabert.
Doug begins the episode looking at the interconnectedness of humanity and nature noting that the o…
Arkansas' Outdoor Playbook: If You Build It, They Will Come
Today we open the container with Arkansas' first Director of Office of Outdoor Recreation, Katherine Andrews.
Doug begins the show highlighting the transformative potential of outdoor recreation in re…
People Do What’s Easy, Obvious, and Convenient
Today we open the container with environmental journalist, Sophie Benson.
Doug begins the show discussing the need for sustainability; both due to consumer behavior and in order to achieve environment…
Whatever Time We Have Left, Let's Do Good With It
Today we open the container with Robert Hanna.
Doug begins today's episode with an exploration of the profound cultural shift from outright denial to a pervasive apathy regarding environmental issues.…
What's The Best Dumbest Thing You've Done In The Outdoors?
Today Doug opens the container with Greg Williams.
Doug begins the show by embracing dirtbag status. If you work in the outdoor industry, you are indeed a dirtbag. Because you have merged your passion…
Forming Our Values Through Our Experiences
Today Doug opens the container with Ian Yolles.
Doug begins the show by invoking the spirit of Henry David Thoreau whose philosophical tenets epitomized the need for individuals to reclaim their conne…
You Never Lose: You're Either Winning Or You're Learning
Today Doug opens the container with retailers Nick & Chikki Shajwani.
Doug begins this episode by recounting the life of his family who immigrated to the United States from Germany and discovered the …
Roads, Beavers, And Why Humanity Has To Save Itself
Today Doug opens the container with author and beaver enthusiast Ben Goldfarb.
Doug begins the episode discussing our obsession with roads. While there is a lot to love about the highways that take us…
Not One Acre!
Today Doug opens the container with Jessica Turner, president of the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable.
Doug begins the show by recounting the personal impact the recent legislative attempt to sell off po…
Without Joy, What's The Purpose?
Today Doug opens the container with Teresa Baker.
Doug begins the show by weighing in on the timely and urgent need to protect our public lands, which are currently facing a historical and unpreceden…
The Outdoor Industry: From Wild To Wealth
Today Doug opens the container with outdoor industry insider, Eoin Comerford.
Doug begins the show by reflecting on the evolution of the outdoor recreation industry and humanity's changing relationshi…
Voices for the Voiceless: The Role of Environmentalists Today
Today Doug opens the container with outdoor industry media veteran, Drew Simmons.
Doug opens the show lamenting the fact that despite the challenges our natural world faces, environmentalist has becom…
River Time: Reclaiming Your Place In The World
Today Doug opens the container with author and river guide Bridget Crocker.
Doug opens the show describing the magic of river time. The feeling when one goes on a river trip and the confines of our mo…
Myths Of The American West
Today Doug opens the container with author Betsy Gaines Quammen.
Doug begins the episode reflecting on his first experience moving to the western US where the natural beauty of the outdoors was overwh…
The Desert Will Crack You Open: Finding The Lost Voice
Today Doug opens the container with Greta Morgan.
The open of today's episode focuses on the final days of Doug's father and how in his grief it was nature that spoke to and comforted him.
Doug is then…
The Crucible Where We’re Tested
Today Doug opens the container with David Mykel.
In his open, Doug talks about fear. The way it arrives, has a tendency to stick around and how a clear head can go a long way in scary situations.
Doug …
Walking The Path: What Adventure And Cancer Can Teach Us
Today Doug opens the container with adventurer Eric Larsen.
Doug begins the show by sharing how his life was shaped by his cancer diagnosis in the fall of 2024. A diagnosis that has not only reshape…