The U.S. ski team will wear race suits with a political message when they compete at the world championships this month, according to a new report.
The American skiers will wear blue-and-white suits featuring images of ice chunks floating in the ocean — a design inspired by a satellite photo of icebergs breaking because of high temperatures, the Associated Press reported. The nonprofit organization Protect Our Winters (POW) helped design the uniforms, which the team will wear at the championships in Courchevel and Meribel, France, which kicked off Monday.
“By coming together, we can educate and mobilize our snowsports community to push for the clean energy technologies and policies that will most swiftly reduce emissions and protect the places we live and the lifestyles we love,” POW executive director Mario Molina said in a statement.
POW is a group of athletes, business leaders and scientists who aim to “give a national voice to the outdoor sports community, an industry that supports 7.6 million jobs and creates $887 billion in economic revenue,” according to the group’s website.
“While the fossil fuel lobby may outspend environmentalists 20-1 in D.C., we share a passion that crosses party lines — a unique perspective that de-politicizes climate discussion — and an industry with an economic impact that can’t be ignored,” the organization adds.
The group advocates in its 2024 strategic plan for federal and state climate policies to “reduce emissions, add renewable energy to the grid and create clean jobs for the workforce transition.”
The plan concludes in saying, “2020 will go down in history as a turning point. Political turmoil, the resurgence of overt racism, and COVID-19 coalesced into a perfect storm that left us all shaken. But some of the best things to come are already apparent. Others are less flashy but will have a significant impact on our emissions trajectory and our lifestyles in the decades to come.”
Sophie Goldschmidt, the president and CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, told the AP that while a race suit “is not solving climate change, it is a move to continue the conversation and show that U.S Ski & Snowboard and its athletes are committed to being a part of the future.”
American skier Travis Ganong told the outlet he is “worried about a future where there’s no more snow.”
“And without snow, there’s no more skiing. So this is very near and dear to me,” he said, adding that he has grown concerned with the environmental changes he has seen at several of the World Cup circuit’s venues.
A group of ski racers are sending a letter to the International Ski Federation (FIS) to urge the governing body to take a stronger position on sustainability and climate change, Ganong told the AP.
“They should be at the forefront of trying to adapt to this new world, and try to make it better, too,” he said.