Squaw Valley from Squaw Creek Golf Course
The Squaw Valley Institute is sponsoring an event: “Getting Green Done in Lake Tahoe November 9, 2014 with Auden Schendler.”
Auden Schendler is the V.P. of Sustainability for Aspen Snowmass and Author of “Getting Green Done.” Snowmass is a part of the Aspen/Snowmass ski resort complex located in Snowmass Village near the town of Aspen, Colorado. It is owned and operated by the Aspen Skiing Company.
Lake Tahoe is home to 18 ski resorts, including Squaw Valley. Squaw Valley was designated a California Historical Landmark in 1960 during the Olympic Games. Squaw Valley was purchased by KSL Capital Partners in November 2010.
The unfolding fight over the future development of Olympic Valley involves KSL Capital Partners and the local community represented by Incorporate Olympic Valley 501 c 3 NGO, which has just received its non-profit status from the IRS. The local community is assisted by such pro-environment local organizations as Sierra Watch.
Squaw Valley | Alpine Meadows website says that the company “recognizes that it is the company’s duty, as a four-season mountain resort, to preserve the alpine environment’s fragile beauty. “Squaw Valley | Alpine Meadows and the entire team are committed to being responsible environmental stewards as the mountain and our environment are absolutely central to the Squaw | Alpine experience,” said President and CEO Andy Wirth.
In light of the ongoing controversy over KSL Capital Partners’ proposal to build hundreds of bedrooms and an indoor water park in Squaw Valley, the Squaw Valley Institute’s event with Auden Schendler promises to be both interesting and educational.
In one of its recent online posts, Sierra Watch described the tension between development and environmental protection over plans to develop Squaw Valley.
“Of course they have every right to try to maximize their real estate investment and seek whatever entitlements they think they can get.
Just as we have every right – even a responsibility – to stand together for ‘all those fun things’ we do in our mountains, to stand together for the mountains themselves.”
It is a key issue which Auden Schendler may discuss on November 9th. It would be interesting to know his take on the Squaw Valley development plans controversy if he chooses to discuss it.
Guest panelists include Chris Steinkamp, Executive Director of Protect Our Winters and Jamie Simon, Corporate Eco Accountability (Red Bull and Oakley).
Amazon Biography of Auden Schendler
Auden Schendler is vice president of Sustainability at Aspen Skiing Company. He worked previously in corporate sustainability at Rocky Mountain Institute. Auden has been a trailer insulator, burger flipper, ambulance medic, Outward Bound instructor, high school math and English teacher, freelance writer, and Forest Service goose nest island builder. An avid outdoorsman, Auden has climbed Denali, North America’s highest peak, and kayaked the Grand Canyon in winter. His writing has been published in Harvard Business Review, the L.A. Times, Slate, Scientific American Earth 3.0, and Salon.com and other media, and his work has been covered in Outside, Fast Company, Travel and Leisure and Businessweek. In 2006, Auden was named a global warming innovator by Time magazine. His book, “Getting Green Done: Hard Truths from the Front Lines of the Sustainability Revolution,” was called “An antidote to greenwash” by NASA climatologist James Hansen.
According to Publishers Weekly review of his book, as posted on Amazon.com,
“Schendler says that companies must make profit-driven decisions that complement their business models in order to carry out meaningful and lasting environmental change. By challenging status quo thinking about sustainability and taking the point of view of the business executive and the worker in the field, Schendler offers a perspective that is refreshingly realistic and pragmatic.”
November 9, 2014 with Auden Schendler
AT OLYMPIC VALLEY LODGE, DOORS AT 5PM AND EVENT AT 6PM.
ADULTS $20, STUDENTS $10, SVI MEMBERS FREE
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