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POW helps passionate outdoor people protect the places and lifestyles they love from climate change. We are a community of athletes, scientists, creatives, and business leaders advancing non-partisan policies that protect our world today and for future generations.
Protect your Powder Stash
Wherever you shred, extreme weather and warming winters are shortening your season.
Save your Local Crag
Fossil fuel development on our public lands means access to your favorite crags is dwindling.
Keep your Runner’s High
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Sign up today and join a community of passionate outdoor people in saving the places we love from climate change.
We Embrace
Imperfect Advocacy
Instead of chasing perfection, pursue progress. The outdoor community has the passion, the information and the resources to make a difference now.
Graham Zimmerman
As one of the world's most accomplished alpinists, Graham finds himself flying and driving to the remote corners of the globe. But that doesn't stop him from advocating for carbon pricing.
Stephanie Howe
She might run for work and earn her turns, but Stephanie Howe still has a carbon footprint. That doesn't stop her from being a climate advocate.
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ADVOCATE MOTIVATION STUDY
In 2019, we embarked on a national consumer research project to fully understand how to increase the number and intensity of climate advocates by thoroughly understanding the motivations of outdoor enthusiasts, and how they can be convinced to do something that we now know is very hard for them to do: fully engage as advocates for policy changes that will alleviate the worst effects of climate change.
Resources
Cost of Carbon Tool
We don’t believe that having a carbon footprint should ever preclude you from becoming a climate advocate.
Instead of chasing perfection, pursue progress by offsetting the carbon footprint of your adventures and learn the value of advocating for the outdoor places and experiences that you love.
Resources
2018 ECONOMIC REPORT
The impacts of climate change are hitting the U.S. winter sports tourism industry particularly hard.
This report examines the ways in which warming winters are impacting the economic contributions of winter snowsports tourism to U.S. national and state-level economies.
Campaign
Election Center
Protecting your playground starts with a pledge. We’ll hold you to it by giving you the tools and resources you need to vote with confidence this November.
News
Take Action On National Voter Registration Day
This Tuesday, September 22, is a huge day for the Outdoor State. Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day. What is that, you ask? National Voter Registration Day is a nonpartisan civic holiday that, in short,...
Summer 2020 Reveals the Impact of Climate Change on Outdoor Enthusiasts
Words: Donny O'Neill Summer is arguably the best time of the year to connect to the outdoor spaces we love—the weather is warm, the trails are clear of snow, and waterways are flowing once again. The months between...
Climate and Race: Protect Our Winter’s Next Steps
Protect Our Winters, its staff and our Board of Directors have been deeply troubled by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and so many others. We stand in solidarity with indigenous peoples,...
The POW Dispatch: Our take on climate news, January 22, 2021
WORDS: DONNY O'NEILL | HEADER IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES Welcome to The Dispatch, Protect Our Winters' weekly wrap-up of climate news, complete with our take on each topic and how that impacts our ongoing efforts to reduce...
Looking Ahead to 2021
WORDS: MARIO MOLINA | HEADER IMAGE: ADAM CLARK When I hear the whumpf sound of an unstable snowpack, my heart skips a beat. It’s an ominous reminder of the underlying instability and it immediately focuses my...
Flip over your couch cushions. Dig through your coat pockets. Check your ski pack. And keep that change from your morning coffee. Because this Giving Tuesday all we're asking for in ONE BUCK. 💵
By giving a buck, you’re showing you truly give a f#%k about Protecting Our Winters. And this year, every gift up to $10,000 is being matched dollar-for-dollar. You give a buck, it becomes two. Give five bucks, it becomes ten. And so on and so on! We kick things off today so head to our #linkinbio to give your buck now!
📸: @acpictures
Here's to all those getting out there this weekend! Don't forget the golden rule of this season:
Shred it, don't spread it. 😷
Mask up, be safe and send it!
📸: @andrew_miller of @josh_dirksen
Climate change doesn't recognize holiday weekends, which is why we're coming to you today with another edition of the POW Dispatch!
From John Kerry being named the official Climate Czar to GM flipping to California's side in a pollution fight with the President, a lot happened in the news this past week (including a major victory regarding the Pebble Mine in Alaska).
We've rounded it all up and are giving you the POW perspective, head to our #linkinbio now for more.
📸: @_greghill_ charges his electric car while prepping for a ski tour on Rogers Pass, Canada by @travisnrousseau
While many people spend the day after Thanksgiving chasing Black Friday deals, we want to take a moment to recognize #NativeAmericanHeritageDay and our Public Lands.
As members of the #OutdoorState, our public lands give us so much. Every time we step onto them to run, climb, ski, hike or ride - we are reminded that the land does not belong to us. It belonged once to the Native Americans residing there years ago, tribes that respected and cared for the land and recognized it’s utmost importance to our way of life. We continue to see that we have so much to learn from their ways, and that it is now everyone’s duties to protect this land no matter what.
So if you choose to #OptOutside today, remember to be safe, keep your distance, leave no trace and honor the land, so that we can continue enjoying it for generations to come.
📸: Alliance member @sacredstoke by @isaiahboyle on Diné/Ute/Pueblos Territory 📍
So ya, we're with you. Thanksgiving in 2020 pretty much sucks. But even with everything this year threw our way, here's a few things we here are POW are pretty grateful for:
▪️ Fresh air and dirt trails
▪️ The fresh 8+ in. of snow that fell in Colorado this week!
▪️ The #OutdoorState turning out for the largest election in modern history
▪️ A legitimate excuse to not have to talk with "that" uncle about politics this year
▪️ And dogs. Always dogs.
Happy Thanksgiving POW family!
📸: @dirtbagdarling
Curious of the impact the #OutdoorState made in the election? Well, we figured we’d share a few fun facts with ya that we’re pretty proud of!
🔸 We secured over 29,000 voter intentions from those of you who pledged and made a plan to vote. 👏🏽
🔸 49,186 people completed our Race To The Polls Challenge with @strava, covering 8.37 million miles! 🤯
🔸 14,000 of you signed up to attend our virtual events, in a pandemic and all! Thank you to our community for constantly turning up! 💻
All of these efforts lead to the biggest voter turnout in modern history. We’ll cheers to that! 🍻
📸: @acpictures
In the theme of giving thanks and Thanksgiving and all this week, we’d like to say thank you to the #OutdoorState for all the efforts you made this election season.
Because of you, climate change is now at the forefront of our incoming administration’s agenda (hello John Kerry 👋🏼). Because of those of you in places like Arizona, Colorado & Michigan, the Senate will have some new and familiar faces that are committed to seeing bold policy in action. Basically because of you, we’ll be celebrating this week on how far we’ve come, (even if it’s mostly virtual celebrations) and getting recharged for still how far we have to go!
📸: @acpictures
Given the nature of 2020, for many this ski season is going to look different. With less people headed to crowded resorts & more taking to the backcountry, we wanted to remind everyone to have fun, but be prepared and stay safe! Alliance member @myshellparker has more 👇🏼
Repost from @myshellparker
•
Things have changed. It was clear as day this past March that there was an increase of backcountry users, also clear to me that many were heading out for the first time, likely without the knowledge that I consider to be mandatory before clicking in at the trail head. In no way would I ever want to deter anyone from experiencing the true joy that exists in the mountains and moving through them with your own two feet, it’s pure magic. I do, however want to reiterate what my friend @yoderyoder just posted about - the backcountry/sidecountry (I personally shy away from using this term because when you leave a resort boundary you are officially in the backcountry)/mountains are dangerous.
-Get educated: take an avalanche course. Join us at @safeasclinics - Do your homework. This is imperative to your backcountry success and can help make every trip a round trip. There is a financial cost to this, however there are many opportunities to apply for a scholarship to attend these course for free. Check out SAFE AS scholarship program and apply.
-There are friends on a powder day! Don’t go alone. Go with friends who are experienced and have similar desires. This is a great opportunity to work on teamwork, communication, and avoid common heuristics that get people into trouble. Go check out the acronym F.A.C.E.T.S. and familiarize yourself with human factors that often lead to accidents.
-Practice companion rescue! I make the effort to do beacon drills at least once a month throughout the season. Know your gear and how to use it. Make sure it’s functioning properly. Beacon checks at the trail head every single time. If you don’t know how to use your gear, learn that before you head out into the mountains.
-Be respectful of those around you. Communicate with others about your team’s plans & don’t drop in on anyone. Leave no trace. And have fun!
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