Hello! Need some help from native speakers of English. I cannot understand the following sentence:

Question

One recent catalog featured a customer sporting an insulated Patagonia guide jacket as she rescued a calf born during a Colorado snow storm.

Is sporting here a verb? I don't understand the meaning of the sentence. Can somebody elaborate it?
Thank you

Answer 1

I have problems with the following sentence too:
Its corporate culture has its roots in the 1960s Californian counterculture of climbers and surfers with the ethic of radical environmentalism.

What exactly means counterculture? Is environmentalism the same as environment?

Answer 2

The word "sporting" is a participle, modifying "customer." A good synomym for "sporting" in this sentence would be "wearing."

Counterculture describes behavior that isn't part of the majority culture. In this sentence it means that these people were physically very active, enjoyed dangerous sports and were protective of the environment. Environmentalism is the belief that the environment must be preserved.

Answer 3

In the first sentence, "sporting" means wearing. She was wearing the jacket...

counterculture: http://www.answers.com/topic/counterculture

environmentalism: "work toward protecting the natural environment from destruction or pollution"
http://www.answers.com/environmentalism

Answer 4

Oh that helped a lot!! :))
One more question: What is going commission? Any synonyms?
"while the going commission for making a similar trade on the world wide web could be as low as 9 dollars"

Answer 5

Ah -- The "going commission" means the standard commission rate.