Beyond greenwashing
Activist Auden Schendler to discuss latest book, realistic solutions to climate crisis

If you’ve been looking for a fresh take on climate action, here’s a great opportunity. Writers on the Range, the nonprofit dedicated to uplifting local journalism in the West, is bringing Auden Schendler to Durango for an evening of ideas, insights and inspiration. Schendler will share his latest book, “Terrible Beauty: Reckoning with Climate Complicity and Rediscovering Our Soul,” at 6 p.m., Thurs., Nov. 14, at the Smiley Café.

Schendler’s not just any climate advocate – he’s been doing this work for more than 26 years, combining activism, hands-on projects and good old-fashioned determination to make change. As the Senior VP of Sustainability at Aspen One, the umbrella company formed last year to oversee Aspen Ski Co. and its retail and resort properties, he leads corporate-wide green initiatives. In his time at Aspen, he helped spearhead a $6 million methane-capture system at a dormant coal mine to power all the company’s resort and hotel operations. He also led the company in building the nation’s first LEED-certified resort building atop Aspen Mountain, the first solar array to power resort operations and a small hydropower plant. 

Outside his work at Aspen, Schendler served for a decade on the board of Protect Our Winters, aka POW, which works to mobilize the outdoor industry as a political force in climate change solutions. During his tenure, POW grew from a hundred thousand dollar budget to more than $4 million. He also served on Colorado's Air Quality Control Commission, where he has enacted climate legislation, including rules on methane, hydrofluorocarbons and clean cars, and from 2016-20, he was a Town Councilor in Basalt, where he lives with his wife and two children.

Schendler

In addition to all this, Schendler’s also a regular Colorado guy, enjoying skiing, mountain biking and kayaking and has worked various mountain hustles, from Outward Bound guide and ski instructor to ambulance medic and burger flipper.

Recognized as a "climate saver" by the EPA and a "climate innovator" by Time magazine, Schendler’s work for the planet has been covered in Businessweek, Men’s Journal and Outside. His first book, 2009’s “Getting Green Done,” was called “an antidote to greenwash” for its for “no-nonsense approach” by Columbia University climatologist James Hansen.

“Terrible Beauty,” Schendler’s second book, takes a fresh look at environmentalism, pulling inspiration from classics like Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” and Aldo Leopold’s “A Sand County Almanac” but with a personal twist. Schendler critiques the modern “green” movement for getting too caught up in surface-level solutions and makes a case for deeper, more genuine connection and action. It’s a book about the hard work of saving the planet, but it’s also about life, family and finding humor in it all.

Climate thinker Naomi Oreskes, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard, called it “uniquely compelling and weirdly fun.” Highly regarded environmentalist Bill McKibben, author of 1986’s seminal “The End of Nature,” wrote: “No one has more hard-earned credibility than Auden Schendler when it comes to taking on the charade that is often corporate sustainability."

But above all, according to former Patagonia CEO Casey Sheahan, “It’s a love letter to the world, an homage to beauty and a warning about what we stand to lose.”

The Auden Schendler event is free, but attendees are asked to RSVP by emailing david@writersontherange.org. ?