Protect Our Winters UK are a passionate crew of international diehards, professional athletes, climate experts and industry brands leading the charge for all of us snow and outdoor enthusiasts that are faced with diminishing winters. Climate change isn’t a distance threat, it’s here and we are all seeing and feeling the effects daily.
Every one of us can do something to make positive climate action and POW are here to help you do so. We, at Surfdome, are incredibly proud to support them.
Who are Protect Our Winters (POW)?
In 2007, pro snowboarder and back-country royalty Jeremy Jones discovered that more and more of the resorts that he’d always counted on for good riding were closed due to lack of snow. He knew that something was clearly going on, and he felt the need to act. But he couldn’t find any organisations focused on mobilising the snowsports community towards positive climate action.
Here, Jeremey identified a clear gap between the impacts that climate change was already having on our mountains, and any organised action being taken to address it. Thus, Jeremy formed Protect Our Winters.
Founded as a Charity in 2017, Protect Our Winters UK is the UK branch of Jeremy’s original global Protect Our Winters movement. The team at POW UK, engages people and corporates through their wintersports livelihoods and passions, educates them on the risks of climate change, empowers them to take effective action and encourages and supports them to do so.
What do we do at Surfdome to combat climate change?
Being an action sports retailer, we’ve always been about taking big, bold… you guessed it ACTION! And when it comes to looking after our favourite places (which is pretty much the whole environment), we are no different. In 2018 we’ve stepped it up a notch and moved into a state of the art, highly sustainable new warehouse facility.
Our new warehouse, that the company moved into at the start of 2018, sits just outside the top 1% most sustainable buildings in the UK (using the BREEAM standard). It already boasts a wide range of environmental accolades, a list which the group is building on, mostly addressing C02 emissions:
- 124 acres of Peruvian rainforest saved by offsetting the embodied carbon emission incurred during construction.
- High-efficiency heat recovery system.
- Solar PV and thermal generating electricity and heat from the sun.
- Grey water systems making use of rain water.
- Areas to encourage the local ecology.
- 100% renewable electricity contract, only buying electricity powered by wind, sun and hydropower.
- 100% bio and frack free gas tariff that only buys gas from the breakdown of organic matter.
- High efficiency LED lighting with sensor controls to limit energy use.
- Full facilities to encourage staff to travel responsibly.
What can YOU do to combat climate change?
We are proud to support ‘Protect Our Winter UK’ (POW) communicating their message and action plan to our audience by empowering them to push for change and to protect what they love through highly practical and tangible actions that they can make in their own lives.
In just two clicks you can help to protect our winters:
Click 1: Join Protect Our Winters – HERE By joining POW, you will be joining the movement that is leading the charge towards positive climate action in the UK.
Click 2: Switch to a renewable energy supplier – HERE Join POW and Winter Alliance in their Big Clean Switch campaign to LOWER YOUR ENERGY BILLS and help tackle climate change in the process. There isn’t an easier way to switch out than with POW!
Green run – You:
- Switch to a renewable energy supplier with Winter Alliance
- If you are buying new equipment, check out our sustainably focused gear listing
- When shopping look for companies that have a lower carbon footprint, eat less meat especially beef and try and source locally produced food
- Use alternative transport – opt for the train, the bike or even skate
- Keep up to date on climate change, sign up for the POW newsletter and follow them on their social media channels.
Blue Run – Influence others:
- Engage and challenge your friends and family to follow your actions
- Spread the news on social media
- Hold a screening of a climate change video for friends and family
- Write to a local politician (with POW support on content)
Red Run – Influencing companies:
- Challenge your company to revert to clean green renewable energy
- Encourage colleagues to consider their work responsibilities impact on climate change, and change accordingly
- Consider how you or your colleagues and influence suppliers’ businesses to change
Black Run – Influencing money:
- What is your bank’s track record on sustainability? Not good … switch!
- Talk to your employer about the pension they have for you, establish if your money is being invested in carbon-intensive industries, more info here
