Protect Our Winters (POW) was founded in 2007 by professional snowboarder Jeremy Jones, in response to the changing snowpack he was seeing in mountain ranges around the world. POW’s mission is to help passionate outdoor people protect the places and experiences we love from climate change. Over the past 16 years, POW has grown into a respected, informed and effective organization capable of punching far above its weight in the climate movement. We are a community of athletes, scientists, creatives and businesses advancing non-partisan policies that protect our world today and for the future. Our programs are focused on recruiting, educating, inspiring and mobilizing POW Alliance members and the Outdoor State for action on our climate policy and advocacy campaigns.
2021 and 2022 have both seen major legislative climate wins that prove change is possible with the right combination of inspiration, education and activism. The landmark Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed in 2022 represents the biggest investment ever by the U.S. in clean energy, clean transportation and green technology. POW’s Alliance members, supporters and team have been advocating for these advancements for years. In 2022, our Alliance and partners brought POW’s mission and their own stories of imperfect advocacy to new audiences across the Outdoor State. Our goal is that our Alliances represent the full diversity of interests and perspectives across the Outdoor State, and we made a deliberate effort in 2022 to reach out to and connect with more athletes, brands and partner organizations. One of our primary areas of focus in 2022 was our Stoke the Vote campaign, to encourage voter turnout and civic engagement in the midterm elections. From July through November, POW and our Alliance members delivered a strategic get out the vote campaign via owned, paid and PR channels, and on the ground events in key geographies in our five target states: Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Nevada and Utah. This resulted in reaching over 2.3 million mid to low-propensity voters across these states via our digital paid media campaign, events and direct voter outreach efforts. More highlights from POW’s work in 2022 can be viewed here.
2023 marks the midway point of our current four-year strategic plan. Our strategic goal is to empower the Outdoor State to become the most impactful voice for climate in the United States. We have added new sport segments (POW Climb, POW Trail and POW Bike) within the past two years, and we have grown our Alliances (Athlete, Creative and Science) into a consortium of nearly 300 individuals ready to speak up for climate and share their message of imperfect advocacy across their networks. In 2023, we are mobilizing Alliance members and our community to galvanize the outdoor sports community towards broad social acceptance of clean energy development and pave the way for on-the-ground implementation of the IRA, including transformation of how America generates, transmits and consumes electricity. We are building new partnerships and strengthening bonds with existing collaborators in the outdoor industry and beyond. Already this year, we’ve held multiple Alliance summits to train our athletes, creatives, scientists, and brand leaders. We recently returned from our first trip to Washington, D.C. of the year, to meet with lawmakers and key federal agencies to advocate for improvements to energy transmission and permitting processes to meet our clean energy goals. Highlights from our progress in the first half of the year can be viewed here. Throughout the remainder of the year, we’ll continue to mobilize our Alliance and empower our community to turn their passion into action to solve the climate crisis.
