A few days ago, the news emerged that a handful of iconic athletes were going to testify before the Senate on the importance of the fight against climate change. The hearing, called The Fight to Save Winter: Pro Athletes for Climate Action, included Jeremey Jones, Tommy Caldwell, Caroline Gleich, and many more. The athletes who showed up make their living in the outdoors, so they’ve got a unique outlook on just how important it is. Aside from the obvious benefits of creating a cleaner world, the outdoor sports industry is a big one—by some estimates, around $734 billion big.
The committee they spoke to included U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai’i), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), and Tina Smith (D-Minn.). The hearing was created to get a deeper understanding into “how climate change impacts popular winter sports and outdoor recreation, in turn threatening jobs and harming the tourism industry.”
Jones, who started Protect Our Winters back in 2007, has been particularly outspoken about the need to make sweeping changes to how our society works. “Living your life in the mountains doesn’t afford you the opportunity to deny climate change,” he said. “Its impacts are front and center, every day. It was the incessant image of mountain environments changing, glaciers receding, snowpack declining, and seasons shortening that led me to start the climate advocacy non-profit Protect Our Winters in 2007. Though I’m comfortable dropping into a 60-degree slope, starting POW scared me. I had no formal experience in starting a non-profit. But I was wholeheartedly convinced that the snowsports industry needed a unified front to fight climate change, and I was willing to stick my neck out in pursuit of turning passionate outdoor people into effective climate advocates. Besides, who better to take on this fight but a community who thrives in accomplishing the impossible?”
Caroline Gleich, who was part of an impassioned talk on the importance of inclusiveness in sports at The Inertia’s inaugural EVOLVE event, spoke to legislators about the need to listen to science instead of opinion. She, like Jones, has years of first-hand experience watching how much things are changing in the mountains. “I am present today to give you such a report and share that unfortunately, conditions are changing for the worse,” she said. “Climate change is making both climbing and ski mountaineering more dangerous. I’m asking you to consider this field report as guides do–with the utmost scrutiny to select the best path forward. Fortunately, you have many options to take action to mitigate the worsening conditions.”
Then it was Tommy Caldwell’s turn. Caldwell, of course, was the focus of the film The Dawn Wall, an incredible documentary about love, heartbreak, friendship, and perseverance on a mind-boggling level. He took the opportunity to tell a personal story that highlights one of the earth’s most beautiful places, Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the danger it’s in. “While packrafting beneath an eagle’s flight and hiking alongside families of caribou,” he said, “I was constantly reminded of how this place is what the world could look like without industrialization. I believe we need to keep a few places set aside to be that reminder. I believe there are places too wild for fossil fuel extraction. Opening the refuge to oil and gas development would not only irreversibly destroy the largest national wildlife refuge in the country and deeply impact the outdoor enthusiasts who seek adventure and solitude there, but it would also add significantly to the climate crisis at a time in which it is imperative to curb our emissions and adopt clean energy. I believe the refuge should not be drilled and should be permanently protected not only for the protection of wild America but for indigenous rights and future generations.”
Only time will tell if some of the loudest voices in the outdoor sports world will have an impact on real climate action, but the whole hearing (above) is well worth the watch.
