Aspen Skiing Co. "aims to leverage" X Games Aspen's "lofty stature and visibility to spread its message that national policy change is needed on climate issues," according to Scott Condon of the ASPEN TIMES. SkiCo Senior VP/Sustainability & Community Engagement Auden Schendler said, "Our approach has been go for the influencers, to the extent you're able to. This is a time when there's a lot of influential people in town." Condon notes SkiCo is "hosting a presentation by climate activist Bill McKibben" tomorrow evening. Schendler and SkiCo have "adopted a position that working for national policy change -- everything from lobbying government officials to donating to political action committees dedicated to ousting climate deniers -- is the most important action to take." Schendler believes SkiCo "should be inspiring action during the X Games rather than, say, planting trees in the rainforest to offset the emissions produced by the Games." SkiCo "doesn't break out the specific carbon footprint for the event, but it calculates its annual carbon emissions," with the X Games "included in the calculation." ESPN "isn't taking direct action to reduce the X Games' carbon footprint, but the company is concerned about sustainability" (ASPEN TIMES, 1/24).
