Environmentally Friendly Every Day

As a climber for over 25 years, I feel like I have been environmentally friendly my whole life – or the majority of it anyway.

On a day to day basis, these are the top 10 things my family does to help the environment.

1) Ride. We only live a few miles from Estes Park, but in the summer, it’s actually easier to get around out little Mecca at the base of Rocky Mountain National Park by bike.

2) Reuse. In the humid-deficient state of Colorado, we drink a lot of water to just replenish what we dry sweat out. If I am at a climbing gym, or driving, and don’t have my own Marmot water bottle with me, I purchase bottled water. The bottles are rarely thrown out, but we refill and reuse them, or freeze them to use in coolers.

3) Toxin Free. Colorado is a desert climate, and we plant mostly drought tolerant plants and grasses around our home. Instead of killing weeds with toxins, we pull them. We also plant our own herbs, vegetables, strawberries and raspberries.

4) Unplug. Anything electronic that has an indicator light (whether it is in use or not) is pulling electricity. Colorado is known for its intense afternoon thunderstorms, so we unplug anything not in use. This saves the appliance, and saves energy.

5) Eat. My employer, ESPN/X Games, uses only green, corn based utensils and plates at our large events where thousands of staff are fed per day.

6) Thermostat. Our house is set on a thermostat to save energy. In the winter, it turns the heat down during the night and daytime hours when we are not home, and takes it to a comfortable 64-67 degrees during the peak times we are in the house.

7) True Air Conditioning. During the summer months, when the temperatures rise, we open the windows in the evening to let in the cool mountain air. In the morning, the house is cool and we close the windows, making it feel like air conditioning through the heat of the day.

8) Reprint. Working in the research department at X Games means reams of papers printed on a daily basis. At home, I reuse the back of any paper I put through my printer, and recycle after both sides are used. At X Games, we have posted all our material on an internal website for the past four years, eliminated the need for our extensive research manual.

9) BYOB: We bring our own cloth bags to the grocery store whenever possible.

10) Recycle. climbing rope, grocery bags, paper, magazines, plastic, metal, motor oil, computers.