Aiming to Keep Winters Cool, "Protect Our Winters" Was on Fire

Their mission may be to keep winter cool, but the Protect Our Winters organization hit the Hill for their lobby event on fire. The winter sports activist group arrived in Washington, D.C. for their lobby visit last Wednesday night ready to tackle Congress and share their message that something must be done to make climate change a reality for everyone. Founded by pro-snowboarder, Jeremy Jones, and headed by Olympian and X-Games medalist, Gretchen Bleiler, Protect Our Winters (POW) brings a voice to the 21 million skiers and snowboarders who are passionate about the winter season and have witnessed firsthand how climate change has affected their ability to participate in their sport.

The film event and Q&A on Wednesday night, co-hosted by Rep. Jared Polis (CO), Sen. Mark Udall (CO), and Sen. Michael Bennet (CO), allowed Jones, Bleiler, extreme skier Chris Davenport and Auden Schendler, Vice President of Sustainability at the Aspen Ski Corporation, to share their mission, motivations, personal stories and plan to a captivated audience. A video was shown of all four panelists in their element and shared the reasons why POW was important to them.

Jones put it best: “People who have been skiing the same slopes for 30 plus years can no longer visit their favorite places due to the fact that there is simply no more snow left on those mountains.” That fact is what inspired Jones to start POW and bridge the gap between the lack of action being taken to address the changing climate and the power behind the winter sports community.

Thursday brought a day full of meetings and a press conference for the POW members. Jones, Bleiler, Davenport and Schendler toured the Hill with Antonia Herzog, organizer of the lobby day and NRDC Assistant Climate Center Director. During the press conference, each of the members spoke up on what their objectives are and what they hoped to accomplish while visiting D.C.

“Republicans have wrongly labeled EPA safeguards as ‘job destroying’ when in fact making sure the agency has the power it needs to curtail carbon pollution can actually save jobs,” Herzog said during her introduction.  “We know climate change is happening and Congress needs to remember that billions of dollars and more than 600,000 jobs depend on snow to be there every year.” 

Bleiler added, “Our message to Congress is that we want them to address climate change NOW. Protecting EPA’s authority over greenhouse gas regulation is the only way this can be done and we fully support that.” “We represent the 21 million skiers and snowboarders as well as the $66 billion industry that comes with winter sports. That’s huge.”

In their letter released to Congress Thursday morning, POW notes:

“Economies from Maine to California, including resorts, hotels, restaurants, shops and thousands of other small businesses all rely on winter sports to maintain their vibrancy and welfare.

In the Rocky Mountain region alone, snow sports recreation contributes $11 billion to their local economy, which includes $2 billion in federal and state tax revenue. Without a stable climate, the economies of mountain communities everywhere and our valued lifestyle will be gone, not just for us, but for our children. Winter, as we know it, is on borrowed time.”

Davenport spoke of the effect climate change could have on those jobs as well.

“We’re here to speak up for the industry that supports not only jobs, but also fun,” Davenport said. “Climate change could devastate the winter sports industry and all of the jobs that go along with it. There is no perfect time to lobby against this but this is an extraordinarily relevant topic to this group and we have to keep hammering away on this and most importantly, not give up.”

Schendler, who works for Aspen’s largest winter sports corporation, also acknowledged the impacts of a potential drop in the winter sports industry on jobs and the economy.

“We represent a huge number of profitable businesses. It’s not only the shops themselves that sell the gear and give the lessons. It’s also the events. When Gretchen [Bleiler] is on the X-Games every winter, that’s $150 million people who are tuning in to watch. This is part of the message that we want to tell Congress today.”

After the press conference, the team and Herzog set off for a day filled with meetings with nine different Representatives and Senators to make their message heard: we need to support EPA and its ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in order to minimize the effects of climate change and allow our winters to continue.

When asked her opinion of the day’s work, Herzog felt it was a success.

“Having these incredible athletes calling on Congress to deal with global warming now brings a whole new voice and perspective to the fight. They are personally experiencing climate change impacts. We need to be listening to them,” she said.