Rick Crawford
Back in 2009, when I was working in a t-shirt shop in Steamboat, CO trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life in the midst of the Great Recession, I came across a book in the Bud Werner Memorial Library called Getting Green Done by Auden Schendler and it had a significant impact on me. I had just finished Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard and was looking to learn more about sustainable business and that’s when I came across Getting Green Done. At that point I quickly realized that helping organizations become more sustainable was what I wanted to pursue as a career because it would enable me to make a living protecting the environment and make a positive impact. Fast forward to 2020 and I recently had the opportunity to interview one of my hero’s (insert sustainability nerd joke here), Aspen Skiing Company’s Senior VP of Sustainability, and author of Getting Green Done, Auden Schendler.
In this episode, Auden and I discuss a brief history of his sustainable business career path and answer questions like, if you were going to do something about climate change, “what would really move the needle?” We get philosophical about fishing being part of many anglers identity; how climate change is impacting fisheries around the world; the zero-cost action any business can take today to solve the climate crisis (the answer might surprise you); and what you can do as an individual to act on climate. Below are some links to some of the items and topics we discussed:
- Check out some of Aspen Skiing Co.’s Sustainability Initiatives.
- Rocky Mountain Institute: Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI)’s mission is to transform global energy use to create a clean, prosperous, and secure low-carbon future.
- Protect Our Winters: POW helps passionate outdoor people protect the places and lifestyles they love from climate change.
- 350.org: an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
- Getting Green Done by Auden Schendler
Special thanks to our sponsors, OluKai and Turneffe Flats for sponsoring this episode of The Sustainable Angler podcast, which is available on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to podcasts. We also recently created a YouTube channel, so don’t forget to subscribe there! If you like what you are hearing, it would help us out a lot if you gave us a follow, rating or review and/or subscribed and shared our episodes through social media so that we can continue to educate and create more awareness about environmental threats to our fisheries while also sharing success stories that inspire action!