A disturbing trend has defined the way we talk about winter over the past decade. No, it’s not selfie sticks or rising tickets prices that has the ski community worried, but rising temperatures. While the drought is mostly responsible for the meager snowpack we’ve seen on West Coast mountain ranges in recent years, there is no denying that the storms we have seen are warmer, often resulting in rain at lower elevations including the base areas of local hills.
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A Tahoe Skier’s Horoscope
“I’ve spent my life in the mountains and in doing so I’ve seen a change. By 2005, I became really concerned with the changes I was seeing,” said Jeremy Jones, professional big mountain snowboarder and founder of Protect Our Winters.
“We’re strength in numbers and we do have a voice at the White House because of the size of our group, but we need bigger numbers. We can’t operate with less than 1 percent of the industry on board. … We need to step up as an industry and become a unified front on climate change.”
–Jeremy Jones
As a professional snowboarder and a business owner, Jones is aware of his personal impact on the environment. Jones calls Lake Tahoe home, but his career takes him to the peaks of mountains around the globe to film with his brothers’ action sports media company, Teton Gravity Research. When he’s not claiming first descents down steep spines he operates Jones’ Snowboards in Truckee. But when he looked for an outlet to give back to something that focused on the changing world, he found that it didn’t exist.
“I didn’t like that answer, so basically I tried to ignore it, but I kept seeing more and more change happening,” said Jones.
He recounts a day spent visiting a small ski resort in Prince Rupert, Canada. It was mid-winter and there were no skiers in sight; the lifts weren’t turning, the hills were covered in grass.
“When I asked them why it isn’t open they said it just doesn’t snow at that elevation anymore. It was a real shock to see these guys who weren’t that old describe losing their resort to rising snow levels,” said Jones.
It was another year before Protect Our Winters began to take shape as an organization that would give a voice to the changing environment.
“I was really reluctant to start it. I’m not an environmentalist. I didn’t go to school for it. I have a carbon footprint, but I also knew I had connections in the industry with media companies and riders. I needed other people to rally around me and to get on board with the cause,” said Jones.
Protect Our Winters launched in 2007 with the mission of engaging the snowsports community to lead the fight against climate change through education, advocacy and community-based activism. The organization operates out of a small, Southern California-based office with a staff of four. The Rider’s Alliance includes more than 40 athletes who dedicate their time to POW’s initiatives and a newly formed Science Alliance includes a team of eight who provide the research behind every project.
“One of the things I’m most proud of is what Protect Our Winters has become. I’m just a cog in the wheel. There are so many amazing people involved that it’s taken on its own life form,” said Jones.
Creating the change
Protect Our Winters is focused on mobilizing the snowsports community to speak up against policies and projects that have a negative impact on the climate and the environment.
“I was naïve getting into the climate change, as you know it’s a really long and tough battle,” says Jones. He continues that it is encouraging to see the small victories.
Protect Our Winters joined communities across the Pacific Northwest to oppose exporting coal from the Powder River Basin to a rapidly expanding market in Asia through deep-water ports in Washington and Oregon. They helped produce the film “Momenta,” which documents the negative impacts of burning coal for energy and actively engaged the community to contact local representatives and lawmakers to ask for clean power alternatives. While the battle is still ongoing, their efforts have been successful in blocking the ports that would be used to ship the coal.
Protect Our Winters is a rallying cry for the winter sports community to show the economic impact of dirty energy and ask for change. Most recently, POW’s executive director, Chris Steinkamp, attended the announcement of the Clean Power Plan in the East Room of the White House. Developed under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Power Plan is focused on reducing air pollution emitted by power plants.
The organization’s work extends beyond the borders of the United States. Recently, they’ve created a plan for supporting Community Carbon Trees, a company that works to reforest clear-cut swaths of the Costa Rican forest with a variety of native, tropical plants.
Educating future generations
Protect Our Winters is also committed to educating the next generation on how it can positively impact climate change. The Hot Planet Cool Athletes program brings professional athletes to schools around the United States and Canada to share their experiences witnessing climate change firsthand while educating students with the latest climate change science. Any school may request a free assembly at hotplanetscoolathletes.com. Since 2011, the program has reached more than 30,000 students as 72 different schools.
Additionally, the program offers $10,000 a year in grants for schools to build green programs on campus. Past grant recipients have used the money to create composting and recycling programs and eliminate the use of plastic bags and Styrofoam in schools. One student group built stationary bikes from used bicycles that could be used to charge cell phones and laptops on campus.
Strength in numbers
The outdoor community is uniquely suited to drive a broad movement in climate action, but it takes a collective effort. However, less than 1 percent of the snowsports community, including athletes and outdoor companies, are involved with Protect Our Winters.
“We’re strength in numbers and we do have a voice at the White House because of the size of our group, but we need bigger numbers. We can’t operate with less than 1 percent of the industry on board. I’m grateful for the membership we have and the companies we work with, but we need to step up as an industry and become a unified front on climate change,” said Jones.
One of the easiest ways to get involved is to become educated on ways to decrease personal impact on the environment, Jones says. The Protect Our Winters Web site offers resources for those who want to get involved including how to contact local representatives and ways to reduce one’s personal impact on the environment.
“I feel like one of the problems in the environmental movement is that people have this belief that ‘I can’t care about the environment because I drive the wrong car,’ or ‘I really like to snowmobile,’ or ‘I eat steak,’ but in general I think it’s pretty ticky-tacky stuff and we can all work to improve our impact on the environment,” said Jones.
For more information on Protect Our Winters, visit protectourwinters.org.
