Bill McKibben — author, educator, environmentalist as stated on his personal website. He is one of us, too: an individual dedicated to the sport and culture of human-powered skiing. Back when he was 37, McKibben penned a great book titled “Long Distance: Testing the Limits of Body and Spirit in a Year of Living Strenuously“. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to train like an Olympian in the body of a burgeoning masters skier, it’s a great read. It’s also the real deal type of book from a writer who actually left a job at the New Yorker — not many people give up that gig — for the greener pastures and colder ski tracks of Vermont.
Bill McKibben: Climate activist, educator, and lover of all things xc skiing. (Photo: BillMcKibben.com)
Twenty years after he wrote that book, McKibben, who just turned 57, is a Middlebury College professor and perhaps the foremost political organizer when it comes to the issue of climate change. He helped start the climate justice organization 350.org.
The author of many books, McKibben released his first novel this fall titled “Radio Free Vermont“. Let’s just say it has all the hallmarks of a good tale with some cross-country skiing and biathlon thrown in for good measure.
Nordic Nation connected with McKibben back about a month ago on Dec. 4, 2017. It’s pretty much an all-inclusive interview: climate change, World Cup, Simi Hamilton as an undergrad skier, and some discussion of “Radio Free Vermont“.
Enjoy the interview before we get sucked into the Olympic vortex here on Nordic Nation.
Andy Newell (l) holds the Protect Our Winters banner as he joined 400,000 other protestors on the streets of New York City for the People’s Climate March on Sept. 21. (Photo: Protect Our Winters)
Four-hundred thousand demonstrators gathered on the streets of New York City for the People’s Climate March on Sunday, Sept. 21. Timed to occur just days before the United Nation’s climate summit, the event boasted high-profile attendees including former Vice President Al Gore, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jane Goodall, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who wished to demonstrate the world’s necessity to combat climate change.
Amongst the crowd was a lesser-known figure who has been diligently working in the environmental movement for several years — U.S. Ski Team member Andy Newell.
Newell wasn’t always an activist and says that he used to be indifferent to political action. However, as he began to witness environmental activists fighting to raise awareness about climate change, he realized that he had the power to make a difference.
Recognizing that the sport he loved was in jeopardy if major action didn’t take place, Newell began to get involved with environmental organizations like Bill McKibben’s 350.org.
As Newell worked with the movement, he saw a unique opening for him to create real change, and in 2013 he started Athletes for Action. Using his status as an Olympic athlete, he created the organization to ensure that he and other winter athletes’ voices were heard at the upcoming 2015 U.N. Framework Convention in Paris.
A group of activists with Protect Our Winters march in the 2014 People’s Climate March in New York City. Event organizers estimate that roughly 400,000 protestors attended the event. (Photo: Protect Our Winters)
Working together with McKibben, Newell drafted a letter for fellow athletes to sign that was addressed to world leaders, urging them to recognize climate change and take action.
“It sounds like a small step, but even getting governments to recognize the problem and take it seriously can be a big step,” Newell wrote in an email. “We are still working on that even here in the U.S.”
Athletes for Action received extensive attention during the Olympic year and as a result, Newell was asked to Washington D.C. to meet with Todd Stern, who is special envoy for climate change for the Obama administration and leads talks at the United Nations climate change conferences.
As Athletes for Action gained awareness, Newell partnered with an organization called Protect Our Winters, which was founded by snowboarder Jeremy Jones.
“Since they are an organization that has a pulse on the winter sports community they have been incredibly helpful in aiding me organize and get these projects off the ground,” Newell said.
He added that the partnership with Protect Our Winters has allowed him to continue to be involved with climate change activism, while being a full-time athlete.
As part of the the partnership, Newell marched alongside the Protect Our Winters contingency at the People’s Climate March.
Despite having completed the SMST2 100 k Ski-A-Thon only a day before, Newell boarded a train to New York at 6 a.m. and arrived at the largest-ever march on climate change. He said it was an experience he would never forget.
Andy Newell (l) participating in the People’s Climate March in New York City on Sunday Sept. 21. (Photo: Protect Our Winters)
“It was crazy to see the energy of that many people and also pretty interesting to see how many different organizations were involved in the march,” Newell wrote. “As a skier we can get caught up in the winter sports side of climate change, but there are so many other reasons to get involved and they were all represented on the streets of New York.”
After departing New York that evening, Newell said that the energy from the event further fueled his aspirations for his organization. In the next year he plans for Athletes for Action to make some noise around climate change while creating an environment where it’s easier for athletes to get involved.
“We as individuals can continue to recycle and conserve and work toward a more sustainable life, but the only way we can see big progress and change is if there is better legislation coming out of the U.S. and internationally to reign in big business and big oil,” he urged.
With his continued work with Athletes for Action and Protect Our Winters, Newell hopes to foster new growth of athlete participation.
“It’s funny because I used to be a person who could care less about politics and I feel like there are a lot of professional athletes out there who are in the same boat,” Newell said. “There are plenty of people out there who claim to be ‘green’ athletes but at the same time have no idea who represents them in congress or how most of these big environmental decision are made, which is something that needs to change.”
The International Climate Day of Action was held just over a week ago. CNN called it “The most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history.”
According to 350.org, “people in 181 countries came together for the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet’s history. At over 5200 events around the world, people gathered to call for strong action and bold leadership on the climate crisis. Over 19,000 photos have been submitted so far!”
The goal of the Day of Action was to raise awareness. Actions displayed the number 350 in a creative way, and photos were submitted to 350.org.
Climate change is a critical issue for cross-country skiers, for obvious reasons. Several major nordic-related actions were carried out on the 24th, including the 1st Annual 350.org/Steinbock Invitational rollerski race (you can read the report here).
CXC Team Vertical Limit skiers Garrott Kuzzy (also of the US Ski Team) and Brian Gregg hosted an action in Wisconsin, and Canadian Olympic Medalist Sara Renner hosted a large action in Canmore. Reports on both can be found below. FasterSkier asked readers to join an action, or if that was not possible, to create their own – even if it meant just integrating the number 350 into their daily workout, and snapping a photo. We encouraged people to submit photos to FasterSkier as well as 350.org. Hopefully the level of response from the Nordic community is not indicative of effort, and that people got out and made their voice heard, sending photos directly to 350.org. Other than the three major actions mentioned above, not one skier submitted a 350 Action photo to FasterSkier. Unimpressive, but nor surprising.
CXC/Birkie 350 Action & Ski Clinic in Seeley, Wisconsin
Brian Gregg and I hosted a 350 Action in Seeley, Wisconsin this morning. We were shooting for 350 total Birkies skied amongst all participants. Our final total was 253 Birkies for the 25 skiers that attended–not a bad average and I certainly didn’t help our numbers. The fresh snow we got this morning was a great sign too! At the clinic, we educated everyone about the 350 movement (Bill McKibben is the man.) and introduced a variety of dryland drills to prepare for skiing on snow this winter.
CXC/Birkie 350 Action
350 Action, Canmore
Over 200 people attended this event run by Sara Renner and Thomas Grandi. All signed a banner to be
sent to the prime minister as Canmore’s largest petition for climate action.
I was willing to put my money, or at least my action, where my mouth was. No time to join a bigger action, or organize one, but I did my best to be involved.
“On 24 October,people in181 countriescame together for themost widespread day of environmental action in the planet’s history.At over5200 eventsaround the world, people gathered to call for strong action and bold leadership on the climate crisis” (www.350.org).
Skiers, parents, coaches, and spectators gathered at Soldier Hollow on Saturday for the 1st Annual 350.org/Steinbock Invitational, a rollerksi race and 350.org event. On a beautiful day that featured some sun, some clouds, a touch of rain, and the great fall colors of the Heber Valley, over 40 racers challenged themselves on the ‘SoHo’ rollerski track.
Athletes from the US Biathlon team, Maine Winter Sports Center, the University of Utah, the US nordic-combined team, The Utah Nordic Alliance, National Guard Biathlon, the University of Wyoming, and many more participated on the day.
Athletes skied on many different types of rollerskis, so direct comparison of race times is difficult. However, this day was much more about participation than it was about performance. “Everybody here felt part of something bigger,” said Steinbock Racing director Zack Simons.
Race announcers Pete Vordenburg and Eli Brown kept the crowd entertained with music, unique insights, race updates, 350.org news, and live interviews (via phone) with skiers around the country. Highlights included a couple interviews with Andrew Gardner, a 350.org volunteer, who was in Times Square and provided updates on actions that were taking place in other parts of the world.
With spectators, professional timing via Summit Timing, a great prize table, and the big SoHo scoreboard providing real-time results, this day provided a great preparation event as we head towards winter.
Many thanks to Solder Hollow for hosting the event. Thanks also to race sponsors Toko, Wild Rose Sports, Swix, Knead-a-Massage, and Rossignol.
Complete results, photos, and videos of the race can be found at www.steinbockracing.com. More information on 350.org, including thousands of pictures from events around the world, can be found at www.350.org.
October 24th is the International Climate Day of Action, organized by 350.org, “an international campaign,” according to the 350.org website, “dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis–the solutions that science and justice demand.”
There are many actions being organized all over the world, including a number of cross-country ski specific ones in North America, including the Steinbock Racing rollerski race in Park City, and Sara Renner’s bike ride in Canmore.
But if if you can’t be a part of a larger action, create your own. There are detailed instructions on how to to do this on the 350.org website, including organizing guides and promotional material. But you don’t have to go big – you can also turn your team practice, or solo workout into an action. All you have to do is incorporate the number 350 in a creative way and take a photo. After the 24th you can submit photos on the 350.org website.
Additionally, send your photos to FasterSkier and we will publish them all on the website. So turn your workout into a statement – even if it is just yourself. If every skier does this the collective voice will have just as much impact as some of the larger actions – think of it as a virtual skiing action.
We will pick a couple submissions at random and to send some sort of prize. But this isn’t about getting free stuff. It is about making your voice heard.
Here’s the disclaimer: I’ve spent a lot of time working with athletes on this cause and I’m biased. But I also feel strongly about skiing. There’s a passionate connection for these things that I’m barring right here so keep that in mind. Ok. Forget your political inclinations be they liberal or conservative. Stop thinking that this is a divisive, non-resolvable issue. If you are reading this you are a skier, plain and simple. You likely care about other people, spotted owls, the hole in the ozone layer and declining literacy rates, but the truth is you care more about a well placed double pole interval, whether or not the grooming is tight or which klister binder has the strongest durability. (C’mon. That’s an easy one.) Ignoring the climate crisis, however, won’t help you. Changing your light bulbs won’t do it. Simply put, no amount of personal sacrifice, however significant, will have the same impact on climate change as grassroots activism. Furthermore, you can’t sit this one out like you can Darfur, Nuclear proliferation or the final trappings of the Balloon boy hoax. Climate change will steal your favorite thing in the night. Everyday, we grow closer to a warmer planet and a life where plastic skiing and ski tunnels are the only remnants of a culture that sustains us. I’ve told my friends this before and watched them roll eyes or shift uncomfortably. It’s exhausting to give a crap.
This week the 350.org day of action is going to happen. There are a wide number of skiers getting into it, some of them spurned on by saving their sport, some with loftier aspirations. The new American professional cross country ski team, Steinbock Racing is hosting a rollerski race at the SoHo track with a 350 theme. Sara Renner and her husband Thomas Grandi are riding bikes with folks near Canmore, the Craftsbury crew has been amassing rowers in the name of 350 and across the pond, the Norwegian superstars Team Xtra Personell have been actively supporting the program through media work.
Will it help? Yes.
October 24 will put the focus where it needs to be: on the science and the citizens, not the special interests and the backroom deals. On that day, people will send in thousands of images of citizens gathering at important places around the world: from the melting glaciers of Mt. Everest to the sinking beaches of the Maldives, displaying the number 350 in a creative way. 350.org will be getting those pictures and putting them on the big screens in Times Square and projecting them at the UN headquarters. They’ll also be getting them into newspapers large and small on October 25th, the same newspapers that politicians all over the world use as a barometer for public opinion. Your voice will be added to the collective and build.
More importantly, your voice, your pictures, your actions with be used them in the weeks before the huge UN Climate meeting in Copenhagen to remind our leaders that they need to take physical reality and into account when they’re making decisions about our collective future. 350 is a clear and specific goal (unlike vague demands to “stop global warming”) that helps move the negotiations in the direction science and justice demand.
That’s that. There is a chance that the industrialized countries will reach an agreement in December that would put us on a path to protecting skiing in the future, but this is more likely a beginning of a longer trip that will take diligent people that are used to working hard and persevering. Remind you of anyone?
This is a skier’s cause. If you’re training on the 24th bring a banner -take a photo and bring it in. Tie in your team. Please be seen and heard on the 24th of October.
Team Xtra Personnell
Andrew Gardner is the Head Coach of the Middlebury College Ski team and the Athlete Organizer for 350.org
PARK CITY, UT – On Saturday, October 24th, Steinbock Racing will host the 350.org/Steinbock Invitational, a rollerski race at Soldier Hollow, in Midway, UT.
While the 350.org/Steinbock Invitational will provide a great racing opportunity for rollerskiers of all abilities, it’s also one of over 3500 actions taking place in over 160 countries around the globe as a part of the 350.org International Day of Climate Action.
Founded by author and environmentalist Bill McKibben, 350.org is the first large-scale grassroots global campaign against climate change. The Actions on October 24th are coordinated by 350.org to urge world leaders to take fast and effective action on global warming. This is the first global campaign ever organized around a scientific data point: 350 parts per million CO2 is the safe upper limit for the atmosphere according to the latest scientific data. Currently, the level of CO2 in the atmosphere is about 390 ppm.
Steinbock Racing is North America’s newest professional cross-country race team. Its athletes, Chris Cook, Andrew Johnson, and Zack Simons, have over 12 years of national team experience, 3 Olympic Games, and a win in virtually every major race in the U.S.
"We’re excited," said Steinbock director Andrew Johnson. "To be involved in a climate change campaign of this size is really encouraging. As athletes, it’s often much too easy for us to focus solely on our personal pursuits, and to leave the real work of making change to others. But it’s important for us to realize that we all have a role; we all need to take responsibility if we want to avoid dramatic, adverse climate change in the future."
The race will be about 14 K for men, and a little over 10 K for women. Confirmed participants include the TUNA junior program, the University of Utah ski team, the US nordic-combined team, as well as national champions Liz Stephen, Andrew Johnson, and former Birkebeiner winner Zack Simons. However, ALL rollerskiers are welcome, and many local junior and master racers are expected to participate.
Photos from the race, as well as a large group photo following the race, will be sent to Times Square, New York City, to be displayed shortly after the race on giant video screens there.
For more information, and updates leading up to October 24th, go to www.steinbockracing.com, or contact Andrew Johnson at aj@steinbockracing.com
For more information on the global 350 campaign, including finding events near you, please visit www.350.org
CANMORE, Alta.—Olympic and World Cup medallists, Sara Renner and Thomas Grandi, are encouraging Canadians young and old to join them in a one-day journey to stem the climate crisis, October 24, 2009 in Canmore, Alta., as part of International Day of Climate Action.
With people around the world taking action in their respective communities, the Olympic couple are hoping to rally a group of 350 people concerned about the climate to participate in a symbolic expedition from the Civic Centre in Canmore, Alta. to the Quarry Lake. The “Canmore Climate Crusaders” are being encouraged to plan their departures from the Civic Centre according to their own walking, hiking, running, roller skiing or biking ability in order to arrive at the Quarry by 12 noon where they will all join together to make the numbers 350 for a group photo.
All photos of the day can be uploaded to 350.org, and will be displayed in New York City on the big screen in Times Square.
Participants are being encouraged to make and bring their own banners, paint their faces, wear Halloween costumes, decorate bikes or dogs, or just come as is. The person with the best decorated 350 banner will win a day of cross-country skiing or alpine skiing with Thomas and Sara.
Renner and Grandi began leading Canmore’s 350 movement in support of climate change last year with a 20-kilometre recreational bike ride with the community in an effort to get global action on what some have deemed to be the worst crisis humans have ever faced.
The number 350 is the most important number in the survival of the planet – 350 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide (CO2) is the safe line for the global climate. With the world mark currently at approximately 387 ppm, Renner and Grandi are encouraging Canadians to join them in inspiring political leaders to act and remember this critically important number.
Being Olympic winter athletes, Renner and Grandi have a strong connection with the environment, their impact and the effects of climate change. The Alberta-based couple are also encouraging Canadians who are not available to participate in the Canmore experience to start their own 350 action events in their community.
For more information on 350, please visit www.350.org on the Internet. For updates and information on the Canmore event go to http://350canmoreclimatecrusaders.blogspot.com.
WHO:
– Sara Renner, Canadian Cross-Country Ski Team
– Canadians of all ages
WHEN:
– Saturday, October 24, 2009
– 9 a.m. Sara Renner Interviews – Canmore Civic Centre
– 10:15 Sara Renner Public Speech
– 10:30 Group journey from Civic Centre begins
– 12 noon Group Photo forming numbers 350 at The Quarry
WHERE:
– Canmore Civic Centre
– Quarry Lake – 12 noon Arrival and Group Photo
SPONSORS:
– Town of Canmore
– Canmore Community Cruisers
– The Paintbox Lodge
– Devonian Properties
– Gord Jewett Enterprise
We’re already 24 days into the Team 350 Challenge! So far 1314 participants have logged well over 136 million meters towards our goal. It’s a great start
Logging the Ks…
but we still have a long way to go to reach our goal of 350 million meters by October 24th, the International Day of Climate Action. In December world leaders will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark to create a treaty to cut carbon emissions but we can make a difference before that. Let’s complete this challenge and show the significance of 350 ppm, ensuring the new U.N. treaty will meet the severity of the climate crisis. Everyone has been out this fall putting in the meters whether it’s on skis or rollerskis, in a boat or on your Concept2 Indoor Rower or SkiErg, so now make it count by logging your meters towards the 350 Challenge. It’s never too late to join and put your training towards a great cause! And if you are already participating keep going and let’s make this goal a reality.
To join the challenge, first create a free Concept2 Online Logbook found at www.concept2.com/logbook. Then go to your Logbook homepage and click on the Team 350 button to let us know that you want to participate. Now all you have to do is ski or row, inside or outside, and log your meters in your Logbook! Any meters skied or rowed during the challenge period can be entered so look through your training log and log all your sessions from September 21st through today. AND spread the word about 350 so that more people will join and get the message- the more participants the better! Our collective progress toward the considerable goal of 350 million meters is tracked at www.concept2.com/350. Also check out the 350 campaign at www.350.org and find other actions near you. The Team 350 Challenge is being organized by Concept2 with assistance from the Craftsbury Green Racing Project.
The Team 350 Challenge is looking to collectively row and ski 350 million meters between September 21 and October 24 and we’d like your help to reach this goal. This challenge is part of a global grassroots movement to raise awareness for the significance of 350 parts per million; the sustainable CO2 threshold in our atmosphere. The current level is over 387 ppm and this number needs to fall for a safe climate future. The United Nations is working on a global climate treaty that will be released later this Fall. October 24th is the International Day of Climate Action, a significant day leading up to the release of this important treaty. It’s a day to show worldwide support for strong policy that will create the change needed to get back on track.
Join the challenge and help us reach our goal of 350 million meters in the 35 days leading up to October 24. Meters can be counted from skiing on snow, rollerskiing, skiing with the Concept2 SkiErg, rowing on water, and rowing with the Concept2 Indoor Rower. Log your meters in the Concept2 Online Logbook, located at www.concept2.com/logbook, where you can join the challenge and track our progress. Its free to use and the more participants the better! Visit the Team 350 Challenge page www.concept2.com/350 (this page will be available on Monday, September 21st when the challenge begins) to see a running tally of Team 350’s progress during the challenge, individual meter honor boards, photos, stories, and more information about this event. At the end of the challenge, all participants will be able to download a personalized certificate recognizing the number of meters contributed to the effort, will have access to commemorative t-shirts available for purchase with proceeds going to the 350 movement, and will be entered into a raffle with more prizes. Be a part of the Team 350 Challenge and ski or row to keep our winters white!
To participate, first create a free Concept2 Online Logbook found at www.concept2.com/logbook. Then on or after 9/21, go to your Logbook homepage and click on the Team 350 button to let us know that you want to participate. Now all you have to do is ski or row, inside or outside, and log your meters in your Logbook! AND spread the word about 350 so that more people will join and get the message! The more participants the better! Our collective progress toward the considerable goal of 350 million meters will be tracked at www.concept2.com/350. For more information on the 350 campaign visit www.350.org.
The Team 350 Challenge is being organized by Concept2 with assistance from the Craftsbury Green Racing Project.
When Sara Renner planned her comeback to World Cup racing, she left out a trip to New Zealand last summer, a typically annual pilgrimage for the Canadian silver medalist.Renner cited sustainability concerns as motivation in her decision to reduce travel, “We thought about the overall costs of going there.It played into the decision.”Elite athletes don’t usually consider their carbon footprint when planning training.Most of athletics is governed by a more is better mindset.Bling tends to trump social outreach.But green motivations spurned Renner and her husband, Alpine World Cup racer, Thomas Grandi to lessen their impact.It also spurned them to join a collection of athletes endorsing 350 (www.350.org).
Defined by one of its founders, Bill McKibben, a fanatical cross-country skier, “350 is the red line for human beings, the most important number on the planet. The most recent science tells us that unless we can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million, we will cause huge and irreversible damage to the earth.”
It’s damage that cross country skiers feel early and heavily.While a single weather event can’t be assigned to global climate change, science points to more extremes in the weather we’ll face and the trend in skiing is noticeable.There are more cancelled races, more races run on thin snow cover, and more freakish days of extreme cold or terrifically warm days.McKibben points out the connection to cross country skiing, “Cross country skiers are the ultimate canary in this coal mine.There’s nobody who’s passions are more at risk than cross country skiers.”
This vulnerability explains why some of the sport’s most elite skiers are lending their notoriety to 350.Jorgen Aukland, Anders Aukland and Jens Arne-Svartedal, the three members of the private Team Xtra Personell recently teamed up with 350.org.TheNorwegian champions have highlighted 350 practices on their popular television show, Ski Idol.When signing up to support 350.org, they pointed to their sport’s reliance on snow. “It is something we need to be a part of…”
But a part of what? What will 350 do?Cynics point to the overwhelming size of the problem.Skiers tend to brush it aside and focus on the business of the day be it a slightly warmer race, or another set of rollerski intervals.Yet goal of 350 is simple: Get the number 350 into the heads of as many people as possible.Push 350.Cheer 350.Ski 350.Here’s why: On December 9th, 2009 (350 days from today) World leaders will convene in Copenhagen, Denmark to create protocols that the world might follow.These meetings build off of the Kyoto protocols held in 1997. The goal is to move 350 into the consciousness of the world.That’s why athletes like Renner, Grandi, the Aukland brothers, and Svartedal have joined people like Bode Miller, cyclist Tom Danielson, and more to push 350.org.That’s why recently at an environmental summit in Poland, Al Gore endorse 350.org.That’s why his holiness the Dhali Lama has endorsed 350.org.If 350 ppm is adopted as the world standard, then policy, technology and our world’s interaction with the planet will be filtered through that standard, then skiing will have a chance to persist.
Before she came back to World Cup competition finishing 9th last week in Davos, Renner collected 350 cyclists for a training ride near Banff.The ride garnered national media attention and informed folks about 350.org.When faced with the goals of 350, Renner was undaunted,“It is simple and realistic.”
To view many of the athletes involved in 350, log onto www.350.org/athletes.Know an athlete that should lend their notoriety to 350.Email Ashley@350.org.Andrew Gardner is the Head Nordic Coach and Coordinator for Sustainability in Athletics for Middlebury College.
![](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2016/10/FS-Podcast-NORDIC_NATION-X-edit1-e1479492806711.jpg")
Bill McKibben — author, educator, environmentalist as stated on his personal website. He is one of us, too: an individual dedicated to the sport and culture of human-powered skiing. Back when he was 37, McKibben penned a great book titled “Long Distance: Testing the Limits of Body and Spirit in a Year of Living Strenuously“. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to train like an Olympian in the body of a burgeoning masters skier, it’s a great read. It’s also the real deal type of book from a writer who actually left a job at the New Yorker — not many people give up that gig — for the greener pastures and colder ski tracks of Vermont. ![](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2018/01/BillMcKibbenphotocreditSteveLiptay-e1515449235866.jpg")
![Andy Newell (l) holds the Protect Our Winters banner as he joined 400,000 others on the streets of New York City for the People's Climate March on Sept. 21. (Photo: Protect Our Winters)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/09/DSC04772.jpg")
![A group of activists with Protect Our Winters marches in the 2014 People's Climate March in New York City. (Photo: Protect Our Winters)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/09/DSC_0051.jpg")
![Andy Newell (l) participating in the People's Climate March in New York City on Sunday Sept. 21. (Photo: Protect Our Winters)](http://fasterskier.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/09/callan-andy.jpg")
![CXC/Birkie 350 Action](http://images.fasterskier.com/2009/11/seeley-wisconsin-350.jpg" "CXC/Birkie 350 Action")
![350 Action, Canmore - Getting ready...](http://images.fasterskier.com/2009/11/350-prep-canmore-pam-doyle.jpg" "350 Action, Canmore")
![350 Action, Canmore - 200 strong!](http://images.fasterskier.com/2009/11/canmore_350_people.jpg" "350 Action, Canmore")
![moo.](http://images.fasterskier.com/2009/11/350-fs.jpg" "350-fs")
![Team Xtra Personnel](http://images.fasterskier.com/2009/10/teamxtrano350.jpg" "Team Xtra Personnell")
![Logging the Ks...](http://images.fasterskier.com/2009/10/350.jpg" "Logging the Ks...")
