POW was founded in 2007 by professional snowboarder, Jeremy Jones. He noticed it was getting harder to count on good and plentiful snow in places where it used to be a guarantee which made him realize that something bigger was happening and action needed to be taken. Through his research he couldn’t find any organizations that were focused on mobilizing the snowsports community on climate. Climate change was already having an impact on the places we love to recreate, but it was hard to find anyone addressing it. Jeremy dropped in, and Protect Our Winters was born. 

POW quickly brought on other concerned professional athletes, creatives, scientists and brand partners who were passionate about protecting their outdoor playgrounds. Since then, POW has grown from an idea to a worldwide network of more than 50 million passionate outdoor people who make up the Outdoor State.

POW gives the Outdoor State a voice and encourages anyone who recreates outdoors to use that voice to advocate on a local and federal level for climate action. POW’s members share a passion that crosses party lines, giving a unique perspective that de-politicizes climate discussions. POW uses relevance and authenticity through storytelling to talk with lawmakers and help enact change and move the needle toward a clean energy future.

POW’s current focus is Stoke The Vote, a campaign that encourages more people to hit the polls and vote in the midterm elections this November. Like any big objective we seek out in the mountains, we know that voting requires planning and can feel overwhelming. Our goal is to break down these barriers by making the voting process easy. We have a handy tool that allows people to pledge to vote, check their voter registration status, register to vote, and make a plan to vote. We take the guesswork out and provide all the important information so that people can head to the polls feeling confident. 

Looking into 2023, we’re getting ready to bolster our Team POW membership program for the new year. Team POW is a passionate community of outdoor enthusiasts who have committed to turning their passions into impact so that we can protect the places we live and lifestyles we love from climate change. 

We’re also in the middle of doing our strategic planning for 2023, which includes policy campaigns we’ll be supporting and other fun and exciting things, so stay tuned! You can sign up for our newsletter to be the first to know what’s coming down the pipeline.