Snowboarders are going green

Snowboarders are Going Green

By Kathryn Nelson

Photo by Eric Bergeri

Snowboarding revolutionary Jeremy Jones is transforming the way snowboards are made by pushing greener, more environmentally friendly products through education and company policy changes.

His organization, Protect Our Winters (POW) focuses on reversing the global warming crisis by uniting the winter sports community toward a common goal – living greener.

Jones created the organization after hiking up a grassy ski hill in British Columbia during the dead of winter. His guide, a local skier, explained how snow levels had continually deteriorated over 30 years, leading to lush green instead of white snow.

So what would happen in another 30 years? Jones asked.

As the CEO and Executive Director of POW, Jones, 32, works to educate and fund sustainable projects with the help of a number of noteworthy sponsors including Burton, Vans and Rossignol.

“I felt I could use my relationships I had created to motivate other riders, companies and resorts get involved,” he said.

One of POW’s initiatives is reducing the carbon footprint associated with the production of skis and snowboarders. That means asking companies to assess their current carbon footprint and pressing them to offer more environmentally friendly products on their lines.

That’s why last November FreshPow! - a graphics company specializing in designs for extreme sports products - unveiled their POW inspired design. The $64.99 design, featuring a series of footprints trudging through the snow, helps fund future POW projects.
POW Snowboards

Jones also advocates for snowboarders to make small changes, such as bringing your own canvas or paper bags to the grocery store, planting a tree or using email rather then traditional mail.

“I’ve learned that making small changes in each of our daily habits can make a huge difference to fight the global warming battle—it’s time to get this information out there and get our collective efforts reversing the damage,” Jones said.

POW directs 100% of its donations to educational initiatives focusing on solving global warming. Since 2007, POW has installed rooftop solar panels and educational kiosks in classrooms, helped create climate change awareness curriculum and invested in re-planting forests in the South American rainforest.

“While we alone can’t solve climate change, the winter sports community as a whole has a responsibility to save the lifestyle we rely on. We owe it to the youth to do what we can to leave this planet better then we found it,” Jones said.