DeepSummary
This podcast episode features an interview with Auden Schindler, the senior vice president of sustainability at Aspen Skiing Company. Schindler discusses Aspen's guiding principles of sustainability, humanity, and treating others as they'd like to be treated, which have enabled the company to pursue initiatives beyond just operating a ski resort.
Schindler explains that conventional corporate sustainability efforts, while good, are not enough to solve climate change. Instead, Aspen has taken an unconventional approach by wielding its power and influence to drive systemic change and policy action on climate. This includes lobbying, boycotts, and mobilizing the outdoor industry and its customers as a voting bloc.
Schindler emphasizes the importance of civic engagement and participation in democracy to address not just climate change but also other societal issues. He argues that revolutionary, radical participation in governance is necessary, and that solving climate change presents an opportunity for humanity to save civilization and biodiversity.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Aspen Skiing Company takes an unconventional approach to sustainability by wielding its influence to drive systemic change and climate policy action, rather than just focusing on reducing its own carbon footprint.
- Civic engagement and participation in democracy are crucial for addressing not just climate change but also other societal issues such as voter suppression, money in politics, gerrymandering, and the failure of the electoral college.
- The outdoor industry and its customers represent a powerful, untapped force that could be mobilized as a voting bloc to influence climate policy, similar to the NRA's influence on gun policy.
- Solving climate change presents an opportunity for humanity to save not just civilization but also biodiversity, and it is a meaningful challenge worth pursuing despite its difficulty.
- Aspen was founded with a vision of being a place of transformation and spreading ideas, rather than just a resort for the wealthy, which informs the company's approach to sustainability.
- Conventional corporate sustainability efforts, while good, are not enough to solve climate change, and more systemic change is needed.
- Revolutionary, radical participation in governance is necessary to address climate change and other societal issues.
- Schindler emphasizes the importance of civic engagement and acting as a citizen through voting, participating in local government, and engaging with nonprofits and schools.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “Now, Rei, the retailer, has 17 million members. Patagonia has all these customers. They're trail runners, they're climbers. The outdoor community is bigger than the gun lobby. It's richer, it's crazier. It's younger, it's more aggressive. So why hasn't it wielded power?“ by Auden Schindler
- “So the vision of Aspen was never a playground for the rich. The vision was always that it would be a place of transformation where maybe powerful people took on new ideas and went out to improve the world.“ by Auden Schindler
- “And the thing you do importantly is act as a citizen, meaning participate in America. The primary reason that we have failed on climate change, that we spend way too much money on the military, that we've massively underfunded education, that we don't take care of the poor, that we have terrible health care costs and challenges in the country, that we have terrible mental health treatment and that we've got overcrowding and over imprisonment is that Americans don't vote and they don't participate in democracy.“ by Auden Schindler
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Episode Information
Climate Changers
Ryan Flahive
11/19/19