Mario Molina is the Executive Director of Protect Our Winters (aka POW). POW was founded in the late 2000s by professional snowboarder Jeremy Jones. They've grown to 130,000 supporters that consist of passionate outdoor athletes motivated to protect the places they live and love from climate change. POW's goal is to give a voice to the outdoor sports community (or the Outdoor State, as they call it) and channel it into political will to help get energy transition and related climate change policies passed.

Mario has been working in climate for many years. Prior to POW, he was the international director of the Climate Reality Project, which was created by former Vice President Al Gore. Before that, Mario led strategy and programs as deputy director at the Alliance for Climate Education.

Politics generally follows culture, not the other way around. In other words, political movements grow from cultural movements. By harnessing people's love of outdoor recreation and helping them share stories of how they directly observe the world changing around them, POW is helping to channel the cultural agenda around climate change. And by giving their supporters tangible things to do, policies for which to advocate and candidates to support, they're seeking to influence actual outcomes that can make a difference. You'll want to listen to this one in its entirety as Mario has a bit of a surprising announcement at the end. Enjoy the show!

In this episode, we cover: 

• [2:38] An overview of Protect Our Winters (POW) and its origins 
• [5:36] Athlete stories that highlight the impact of climate change 
• [8:22] POW's theory of change and applications to the 'Outdoor State'
• [14:44] Examples of athlete engagement in policy
• [17:39] How POW determines which projects to support
• [21:44] The org's 501(c)(4) arm that allows POW to endorse or campaign for certain candidates
• [23:50] Challenges POW faced in getting brand partnerships
• [26:21] What has proven effective in bridging cultural awareness with political action, and where tension still lies
• [30:06] Mario's background and accomplishments
• [36:42] Where POW needs help and how listeners can get involved

Get connected: 

• Mario Molina LinkedIn
• Protect Our Winters X / LinkedIn / Instagram
• Cody Simms X / LinkedIn
• MCJ Podcast / Collective / Instagram

*You can also reach us via email at [email protected], where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded on Aug 2, 2023 (Published on Sept 5, 2023)

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant