Los Angeles, CA – Auden Schendler is the newest member of the Board of Directors of the environmental advocacy group Protect Our Winters (POW). Schendler is the Vice-President of Sustainability at the Aspen Skiing Company.nProtect Our Winters strives to activate the winter sports community in the fight against climate change.

Previously a research associate in corporate sustainability at Rocky Mountain Institute, Schendler has been a trailer insulator, burger flipper, ambulance medic, Outward Bound instructor, high school math and English teacher, freelance writer, and Forest Service goose nest island builder. An avid outdoorsman, Schendler has climbed Denali, North America’s highest peak in Alaska, and kayaked the Grand Canyon in winter. His writing has been published in Harvard Business Review, the L.A. Times, Scientific American and Salon.com, among other places, and his work has been covered in Businessweek, Fast Company, Travel and Leisure, Outside, and other media. Schendler was named a global warming innovator by TIME magazine in 2006 and in 2007 he testified to Congress on the impact of climate change on public lands. He lives in Basalt, Colo., with his wife Ellen and their children Willa and Elias.

“Protect Our Winters has momentum. It’s cool. And it’s exactly the right idea: we’re going to solve climate change by mobilizing huge amounts of people who care. And skiers and riders care,” said Schendler.

“We’re honored and and excited to have Auden be part of the Protect Our Winters leadership.
We need the best and the brightest on our team to help us engage the winter sports community against climate change and without question, Auden is that guy,” said Chris Steinkamp, Executive Director of POW.

POW’s goal of uniting the winter sports community against climate change is reflected in its board membership. Schendler joins: Matt McClain, Director of Marketing and Communications for the Surfrider Foundation; Strick Walker, former CMO at 1% For The Planet and currently the Business Development Lead at IDEO; and Christina Thomure, Director of Sustainable Operations at Grand Targhee Resort.

Since 2008, Protect our Winters has invested over $150,000 in over 25 community-based grassroots organizations, partnered with The Sierra Club to fight dirty coal and produced the short film “Generations”, in partnership with The North Face and Teton Gravity Research.