Protect Our Winters is a passionate crew of diehards, professional athletes and outdoor industry brands mobilizing the outdoor sports community to lead the charge towards positive climate action. The outdoor recreation industry is a lot more powerful than we may think. And we’re just waking up to the fact that we can use our industry’s huge economic influence for good. In this episode ice climbing, marathon running, skiing, bad ass, Lindsay Bourgoine, talks about how she came to dedicate her life’s work to climate change, how she got involved in politics, and why policy is such a critical component in moving the needle and further reducing our greenhouse gas emissions as a nation.

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Philippe Cousteau's family legacy is legendary. His grandfather was iconic oceanographer Jacque Cousteau. His father was marine biologist Philippe Cousteau Senior, and Jacque Cousteau’s younger son. But Philipe’s upbringing and the driving force behind why he chose to follow in his father and grandfather’s footsteps might be different than what you would expect. Philippe has made a point of fearlessly throwing himself into unchartered territory, both literally and figuratively. And it’s his willingness to say YES and then figure it out along the way (despite his fears), that has lead to such a full and adventure filled life of innovation, education and inspiration.

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If you know nothing about wine, you should listen to this podcast.  If you're a wine aficionado, you should listen to this podcast!  Jean-Marie Fourrier was born into a winemaking legacy, but would have preferred to become a pilot.  Now he is one of the most celebrated and sought after winemakers on the planet.  And he lets us in on the philosophy behind that success in this episode.  Be prepared to be transported to another land and inspired to find ways in your own life where you can add more pleasure and also live a bit more like our ancestors once did.  

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Earth Day is April 22nd.  In honor of this special day, we're taking the entire month to highlight individuals who work with Mother Nature on the daily.  Also find out why living your best life, and creating your own extraordinary, is good for our planet too!

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Jeremy Bloom is the only athlete in history to ever ski in the Winter Olympics and also be drafted into the National Football League.  This conversation is about an hour, but it easily could have been 10, if we really got into all of the things that Jeremy’s accomplished in his life so far.  Seriously if you read his Wikipedia page it sounds like the “Most Interesting Man in the World” commercial.  He’s a CEO, an author, founded his own non-profit, he got a black belt when he was 12….I don’t think there’s anything Jeremy can’t do.  But another incredible quality that he possesses, besides never sitting around and letting life happen to him, is his contentment around the fact that every role he has or ever will play will eventually come to an end, change or evolve at some point.  And he says that he actually loves reinventing himself and starting at the bottom of the mountain again and again. 

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Brett Dennen’s journey to becoming a rock star began with a dream to become one of those super cool, long haired, summer camp counselors that wears hiking boots and plays old guitars by the campfire.  Now he’s a famous singer, song writer that tours around the world.  But he does it pretty differently than most.  At the beginning of his career, he realized that it was pretty easy to get stuck in a pattern of playing at the same venues in the same city’s over and over again.  He realized there’s so much more out there than just the established way, and the reality is that “established way” doesn’t really always work for everyone anyway.  So, he decided to expand his thinking and then his actions to do things differently and play in different capacities.  From small dive bars on the East coast to mountain resorts on the West, he decided he wanted to travel to his audience instead of having them come to him.  And while he was mixing things up, why not add in his passions for skiing and surfing too?  And then wrap it all up by using his platform to raise awareness around preserving and protecting these environments he loves.  And talk about climate change and give everyone a real and tangible call to action to get involved!  This is Brett Dennen’s story and it’s all about how he’s learned to dance to the beat of his own drum.

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What happens after the Olympics have come and gone?  For some athletes, they’ll take the next 4 years to prepare for another chance.  For others, this was their last opportunity to compete on the world’s largest stage and they may spend the next four years trying to figure out what’s next.  Transition is a phase of life that we will all go through, many times, and yet it’s almost something we’re ashamed to talk about and experience in our society. Transition and the discovery that our identities are so much more than just our professions and the accomplishments we achieve, is a major theme Olympic Bronze medalist swimmer, Caroline Burckle, and Gretchen discuss in this podcast.  As impressive as Caroline’s accolades are, equally impressive is her fearless approach to sharing the vulnerable aspects of her success.  Gretchen and Caroline also touch on  things like being addicted to pain, the art of learning how to turn it OFF, depression, and a major take away that they couldn’t help but continue to come back to was this concept of integrating these seemingly opposing qualities that we all have within us......the bad ass that knows we can accomplish our dreams and goals and then the part of us that has a really big heart and feels guilty for having those desires, because we also just want to make sure that everyone else is happy......Caroline says you don’t get very far by only wanting to be one or the other.......

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Arielle Gold has just come off a silver medal at the Winter X Games in Aspen, CO where she had the run of her life and just narrowly missed the gold by only 1 point.  Now she’s competing at her 2nd Winter Olympics.  In this episode, we dig into an experience that many of us have or will face at some point in our lives, how fear has the ability to bury our passions without us even knowing it.  And we get to a point where we start to question if we should still be going after our dreams.  The good news is Arielle has reconnected with her fire and reclaimed positive momentum in a major way.  And now we get to learn the tools and techniques she used to come out on the other side.  Have a listen and then cheer Arielle on as she competes in the Olympic halfpipe finals on February 12th at 6pm MT.

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