If you’re a snowboarder, skier or live in an area that once experienced all four seasons, you’ll notice something is amiss. The snowfall you loved as a child is suspiciously missing from a good part of the winter, and the thriving mountain resorts you frequented from December to March are closed for part of their most lucrative season due to a lack of snow. In 2007, pro snowboarder Jeremy Jones realized something needed to change and founded Protect Our Winters, a nonprofit battling climate change via advocacy, activism and education.
The organization has created a coalition of over 80 professional athletes, including skiers, snowboarders, climbers and mountaineers, who have all witnessed climate change firsthand and won’t stand for it. Protect Our Winters arms them with the latest scientific research and provides a platform to speak out by organizing trips to Washington, D.C. to meet with lawmakers, as well as scheduling appearances around the country at town hall meetings and marches.
Members of the POW Riders Alliance use their passion for the outdoors as leverage and their influence as role models to make this complex issue relatable. By sharing their stories describing how global warming is affecting them directly, they’re educating the next generation of over 60,000 students at school assemblies across America to understand why it’s important to care about this crisis.
Recognizing that some people just don’t know where to begin in joining the fight, Protect Our Winters created The Climate Activist’s Roadmap on their website, offering a simple guide to contributing to change, from getting in touch with your local politicians to easy steps to reduce your own carbon footprint. We’re living in terrifying times due to the current administration’s climate change denial, so it’s up to all of us to get organized and fight this good fight together. Visit protectourwinters.org to educate yourself, engage your friends, family and community, and advocate together for the health of our planet.
“I’ve seen the impacts of climate change firsthand, and I knew that something needed to be done. Even though I didn’t know exactly how to take on this issue, I had a voice in the winter sports community and felt we needed to do something to fight the effects of climate change. In 2007, I founded Protect Our Winters (POW) to engage and mobilize outdoor enthusiasts to lead the fight.” – Jeremy Jones
At Outdoor Retailer Summer Market 2017, the RANGE team was so inspired by Protect Our Winters’ efforts that we sold RANGE water bottles with proceeds benefitting the organization’s mission. We’ll be donating $500 to ensure Protect Our Winters can continue engaging communities and fighting climate change.
This article was originally published in RANGE Magazine Issue Seven.
Images courtesy of Protect Our Winters.
xx Alex