Olympian Jessie Diggins visited Capitol Hill with her four medals in hand Wednesday to advocate for clean air, clean water and a healthy planet.
is part of “Protect Our Winters,” an athlete-driven environmental group that sent a coalition to Washington to meet with lawmakers Tuesday and Wednesday. The group is most concerned with how the Environmental Protection Agency has since President Donald Trump returned to office.
“I don’t want to stick my head in the sand and ignore the world burning,” Diggins said in an interview. “I feel like I have a responsibility to use my voice to advocate for change. And so that’s why it’s so important to me, because I want my great-grandkids to be able to build a snowman and try cross-country skiing someday, and be able go hiking and fishing and camping in the summer, and breathe clean air. I want that for them very badly.”
Diggins retired from professional ski racing this year after at the . during these Olympic Games about climate change and of the world’s glaciers. A warming world .
Diggins described bringing her medals to Washington as a “beautiful, full circle moment.” She said she'll consider it a success if she has productive conversations that help pave the way for bipartisan efforts to strengthen and bolster the EPA in the future. Republicans currently in control of Congress have generally supported the Trump EPA’s actions.
“We’re trying to advocate for solutions that are going to protect us long term, and training and racing through four Olympics, that was a very long-term thing, you know? It’s not quick, immediate gratification, you work and you work and you work,” Diggins said. “I think it’s a nice reminder of like, it’s OK that we are looking for solutions for the future.”
Democratic Rep. Paul Tonko, of New York, said it was an honor to meet with this group of “athletes, advocates and champions.”
“These efforts are more important than ever, with an administration and EPA that is wiping out environmental protections left and right,” he said in a statement. "I remain as committed as ever to being sound stewards of our environment and leaving behind a better planet for our next generation of torchbearers.”
Coalition includes athletes, scientists, storytellers
It's not the typical lobbying group. Professional ski mountaineer Brody Leven only owns a suit to go to Washington with Protect Our Winters. But, he said, they are the ones who can hopefully bring people together around policy solutions to climate change.
“We’re good at looking at adversity in the face and still moving forward," he said. "And we’re good at knowing something is going to be hard and trying to do it anyways.”
They met with Democrats and Republicans. Olympians , , , and were involved, Protect Our Winters said.
Kauf, a three-time Olympic silver medalist, said she talked with lawmakers Wednesday about seeing the effects of climate change firsthand as she travels, and about how poor snow is impacting major races. She said protecting these lands and beautiful places is “something that can bring a lot of us together.”
During the Trump administration, the EPA has that underpinned the fight against climate change, on toxic wastewater from coal-fired power plants and announced other cuts to federal limits on air and water pollution as it promotes fossil fuels. to protect human health and the environment.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has said the department is “ and ushering in America’s Golden Age.” Doing so, he said, will save trillions of dollars in regulatory costs and hidden taxes, which in turn will make the cost of living more affordable and reignite domestic manufacturing.
Environmentalists say the EPA under Zeldin has abandoned its obligation to protect the public from dangerous greenhouse gas pollution at a time when climate change is creating greater risks of including stronger hurricanes, more dangerous floods and more intense wildfires. Legal challenges to a range of EPA rule changes have been , cities and public health and environmental groups.
Protect Our Winters looks beyond the Trump years
Ben Gubits, vice president of campaigns and advocacy for Protect Our Winters, said the group expects the federal government to protect the health of American citizens and the planet. POW has lobbied Congress for about a decade, including several visits in 2021 and 2022 when it advocated for passage of a landmark climate bill. the so-called Inflation Reduction Act in 2022.
“We are really thinking about a long-term and positive vision for the future, and how do we rebuild these critical institutions beyond the Trump years,” Gubits said.
Stuart Nissenbaum started working at the EPA early in Biden's term and left a year ago. He's part of the coalition, too. Nissenbaum said he thinks being in Washington with Olympians will help bring attention to their message. They are masters of their craft and they wore the U.S. flag while competing, which should resonate with members of Congress, he added.
Nissenbaum said he went to Washington to convey to legislators that clean air and clean water are bipartisan, and they should adopt policies grounded in science to protect the environment.
“Clean air and clean water isn’t something that we should take for granted,” he said. “It affects every single person.”
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