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Every Environmental Professional can tell some version of this story. It’s a microcosm of environmental protection history and the current Executive Branch’s take on a healthy environment. I can tell you several examples from my own career. The specifics aren’t necessary to understand the point. So let me tell you an environmental tale as old as time. Continue reading
The energy environment is hard to miss in western Colorado.
Energy, climate, sustainability. I’m an environmental professional who doesn’t work in the any of these fields. I feel a bit left out that I don’t work in the “sexy” areas of the environmental field. These are the big picture environmental issues that make headlines, can influence politics, and flood my Twitter feed.
Professionals in the energy field are solving important world problems, both in renewables (solar, wind, etc.) and fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, coal). New climate science is breaking daily and each study seems to be a step in the right direction. Sustainability was a buzzword 15 years ago. Now it’s a critical part of any business, filled with activism, advancing technologies, and solutions. Continue reading
The Chen Cup GS race start gate
The Chen Cup is a ski race networking event for environmental professionals at Eldora Mountain Resort in Nederland, CO. How cool is that? It combines a nordic race and a GS downhill race for teams of environmental consulting firms to compete for a chance to win the Chen Cup. It has been held annually since the mid-1980’s, but I just found out about it this year and had to compete.
It’s the perfect event for environmental professionals in Colorado. Living the environmental professional lifestyle typically involves enjoying the outdoors. In Colorado in the winter that means skiing or snowboarding. I fall into that category and have experience skiing all over the mountain, except racing. From the people I met on the mountain that day, it was much of the same. This gave recreational skiing environmental professionals a chance to compete in a pro-style race competition and oh yeah, do some networking.
As networking event, it was unique. It wasn’t as easy to meet as many people as a meeting, conference, or social event, but it was much more fun. I met a hydrogeologist, mining engineers, lab technician, and several other consultants and they were all thrilled to be there. Most people weren’t in it to win the race, just to ski some real race gates, meet other like-minded people, and have a good day on the mountain knowing you are surrounded by your professional community.
Since I was racing gates for the first time ever, I made sure my GoPro rolling to capture my runs. I didn’t win, but for a brief moment got to pretend I was Ted Ligety instead of Glen Plake. Check it out.