The Ski Life

Earth Day Reflections

In an industry dependent on the well-being of Mother Earth, every day should be treated as Earth Day – taking care of and showing respect and appreciation for our little blue ball afloat in an infinite sea of ether. Jordan and I sat down in early January and carved out goals for 2016, for ourselves and our family, and also for Powder7. One thing we kept coming back to, and continue coming back to, is environmental responsibility.

He is my daily motivation for doing what I can – however small – to help out the biggest mother of all: Earth.

Becoming a steward of environmental sustainability is akin to having the desire to get into shape. If you focus on a big, very difficult goal, it’s going to be very difficult to get off the couch and out the door for your first ever run. If you break it into smaller pieces, fragmented goals, and what you can do each day to achieve them, you’ll find getting off the couch easier those first few days, weeks, and months of your journey. Just like it would be unreasonable to expect, overnight, to give up all junk food and start running 10 miles everyday, it’s also unreasonable to expect to change your habits that impact the environment all at once and completely.

For me, I know that I can’t realistically decrease my carbon footprint to zero, or even close to it, but I can (and have) selected a few small things, that are not only easy to do, but that I can be accountable for. And, we’ve begun doing the same here, at Powder7.

Some simple things I’ve done at home:

  • Use reusable grocery bags. This has become an obsession ever since I read about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, essentially a mass of plastic fragments the size of Texas, floating around in the Pacific Ocean.
  • Never buy or use bottled water and try to avoid all bottled drinks. Powder7 Camelbak Eddy bottle FTW!
  • Be cognizent of wasted electricity, specifically, leaving lights on if they’re not needed.
  • Switch to more environmentally-friendly diapers for my son.
  • Limit red meat to a once-a-week thing.

Some simple things we’ve done at Powder7:

  • We reuse boxes. Some of you might scratch your head when you receive a ski helmet inside a Blue Apron box, but reusing is the most efficient form of recycling.
IMG_2586
Small biz ain’t all glamorous. In fact, it mostly isn’t. Here’s our pile of boxes waiting to be loved (or at least reused) again. Also, our quite empty “landfill can.” #glamorshots
  • We reimplemented recycling. Embarassingly enough, when our building owner pulled our recycling bins a year ago, we didn’t do anything in response. Now, with the help of Alpine Waste & Recycling, we have our own big bin behind our building that we fill twice per week with recyclables.
  • Our new storefront (opening soon! Blog post coming with details over the weekend.) utilizes beetle kill pine as slatwall – instead of man-made faux “maple” slatwall commonly found in retail spaces. The beetle kill pine is sourced from Colorado and milled locally. If you’re unfamiliar with beetle kill, as I was until I moved to Colorado, here’s a Wikipedia article.
Those holes were bored by a real-live invasive species of beetle.
Those holes were bored by a real-live invasive species of beetle.
  • We have a pretty big warehouse, about 5,000 square feet and 18 feet high, that we don’t heat unless the interior temperature drops into the 50s. It took some convincing, but our warehouse staff is now fully on board with this.
  • Our entire demo ski business! We have a very efficient way of matching used skis with new owners.
Thousands of used skis congregate in Powder7 from the four corners of the globe, waiting to be dispatched into loving hands again.
Thousands of used skis congregate in the Powder7 warehouse from the four corners of the globe, waiting to be dispatched into loving hands again.

Just like getting in shape, working to reduce one’s environmental impact is an ongoing daily effort, with goals and strategies that change as time goes by. Down the road, I’d love to bike more and drive less, offset my carbon footprint each time I fly, and use renewable energy to power Powder7 , among many other things. And just like getting in shape, one’s job is never done and there’s always more you can do. While it’s glamorous to strive for the big things, you shouldn’t shy away from doing the little things that can become habit-forming (in a good way ;-)) and will later lead to big things.

I’d love to hear what you do to look after Mother Earth, on a small scale everyday. This is where I feel the most change can be made. Feel free to comment below or hit us up on Twitter @powder7com. Happy Earth Day, all!

 

 

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