Guest: Ryan Laemel, COO of Protect Our Winters
Based: Boulder and Basalt, CO
Online: protectourwinters.org • @ProtectOurWinters_ on YouTube • @protectourwinters
What they drink: Cortado or pourover, often from Colombia
Listen/Watch on: Spotify • YouTube
I don’t think of myself as an Outdoor Recreation’er. I think of myself as a snowboarder, hiker, camper, biker, and (retired) ballplayer. My outdoor identity is as fractured as the outdoor community-at-large. The fracture isn’t intentional or infused with malice. If anything, it is pride at being part of a group of passionate participants.
Each of those indie communities has power as voters and consumers. Protect Our Winters is attempting to draw all the different outdoor recreation participants under one umbrella to maximize their voice, impact, and voting power. They don’t want to speak from the mountaintop as a snowboarding organization. They want the message of urgency in relation to climate change to thunder outward as a collective voice.
We are all trying to leverage our motivation to perform climate actions–big and small–but we often run into systemic challenges beyond the capabilities of individual action. POW is the non-profit working to be the voice of our collective efforts at local and national levels.
Ryan Laemel is the COO of Protect Our Winters. He’s also a skier, ice climber, husband, and coffee drinker. In our latest episode, he shares the POW vision for the future, where they believe climate change is still a solvable problem. Our chat and joining TEAM POW have inspired me to think bigger about who I am as someone exploring the outdoors.
CLIMATE VS. WEATHER
According to NOAA, weather is the current state of the atmosphere “with respect to variables such as temperature, moisture, wind speed and direction, and barometric pressure.”
At its simplest, climate is the expected frequency of those weather events and encompasses weather over different periods of time. It is all-weather, including expected weather patterns, how they interact, and the mechanisms of the Earth and the sun.
Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get.”
Mark Twain
The The Hypocrite addresses the concept of Imperfect Advocacy. In the pod, Ryan and I chatted briefly about the concept of climate guilt. Should I be an advocate if I’m not preventing my impact 100% of the time? Absolutely.
Created by Professional skier and POW Athlete Alliance member Amie Engerbretson, The Hypocrite challenges the notion that athletes are hypocrites because they burn fossil foils by driving snowmobiles, skiing via helicopters, and chasing fresh snow around the world – all while advocating for the climate. This film showcases the realization that individual actions are not the core issue and that significant systemic shifts are needed to shape a different future. By dismantling the culture of individual blame that leads to guilt, the documentary encourages unity and collaboration among individuals who share a common passion for the outdoors and for the protection of their playgrounds.
• ProtectOurWinters.Org
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE POD
I first discovered POW after drinking their DEEP coffee collab with DOMA Coffee in Post Falls, ID.
Many people participate in outdoor recreation. POW tries to connect the stakeholders to create a louder, more powerful voice.
Jeremy Jones founded POW in 2007 when he realized we were losing the battle against climate change despite overwhelming scientific evidence of a significant climate shift.
Part of the POW platform is collaborating with stakeholders to share inspiring stories about the outdoors and why we should protect it. They also work to educate and train people on the basics of climate science and climate solutions, advance policy work, and campaign on behalf of climate action during elections.
Finding the right moment to act is essential. POW focuses on significant climate and environmental issues, including big-picture issues that impact everyone across political divides. They also work to prevent nimbyism regarding clean energy programs.
Do those “Take Action” emails actually work? Yes. Elected officials, generally, want to be reelected. They achieve that by representing the ideals of their constituents. If they don’t hear from you, they can’t represent and reflect your desires when developing policy. And if they don’t, we need to vote to hold them accountable at the ballot box.
We’ve been sold a bill of goods that the individual consumer is responsible for most of climate change. In reality, the biggest impact is made by a very small number of large companies. Without change on a bigger scale, we’ll be tethered to those companies regarding where this effort goes.
Climate change doesn’t care about borders. It can be paralyzing to look out at the world and take in the impact around us. The POW Climate Advocates Guidebook offers empowering actions we can all pursue.
Here is a direct link to that article on how your choice of banking can impact climate action: https://protectourwinters.org/climate-finance. Years ago, we began saving and investing using the Betterment platform because it was one of the first online platforms to offer climate impact funds specifically. However, this article reminded me that it is an ongoing process, and I must keep holding the stakeholders in my life responsible.
Ryan and the POW team recognize the need to be more consistent in building their community. They are pursuing a new effort to offer monthly programming through community hubs. I encourage you to join TEAM POW and read newsletters for updates on their growth.
POW belives that this is still a solvable problem. This isn’t an energy emergency. It is a climate emergency. Ultimately, we need an organized group of people to speak up to advocate for change. The outdoor rec community could be that community.
PODCASTHON:
We’re participating, or at least trying to participate in Podcasthon, a global charity awareness podcasting event. More than 1,500 podcasters dedicated episodes to charities they support. We chose POW and the Rainforest Alliance.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
March 2025 Mixtape: Spring Hasn't Sprung
Check out the new (sometimes old) music we're listening to with our cups of coffee in March 2025.
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