The Hill News

As school starts and the evenings get a bit cooler, it’s a reminder that winter isn’t too far behind.  Since we were kids, this has signaled the transition to the most exciting season of the year.  As professional snowboarders, it means gearing up for a long event season, but it also means reengaging in the sport that is our identity and our passion. We’re not alone. More than 12 million winter sports enthusiasts will visit the mountains this season in the United States. They’re buying new gear and booking hotels and picking out places to
eat. These 59 million skier visits pump $6 billion dollars annually into the communities we call home.

As these skiers and snowboarders make their travel plans to hit the slopes, we have made our own plans to visit the nation’s capital this week to make sure we continue to have the season we love. We want to keep coming back to snow-covered mountains just as much as we want to see those employed in shops, rest! aurants, and other businesses that rely on our sport to keep their jobs.

We cannot shake this uneasy feeling that winter, as we know it, is on borrowed time. Even though the world's scientific community has spoken unequivocally on the realities and implications of climate change, America’s political leadership has failed us. The Environmental Protection Agency is under attack, with too many using the ill-informed excuse that environmental regulations kill jobs.  But we know that without broad policy action by the U.S. government, the joys of winter â€" and the jobs that go along with it â€" may become a thing of the past.

Read more...