Alison's Straw Bale House
by Michelle Theall
An interview with skiing and bike-racing star, Alison Gannett, on her quest to save the planet.
Alison Gannett has thunder thighs. Twenty years ago a statement like that would have ripped her apart. But now, at 43, Alison credits the mean-spirited, childhood taunts about her body with helping her become who she is today: a world-class athlete and fearless warrior who fights to implement solutions to climate change. So perhaps in an odd way, we should thank the middle-school students in Peterborough, New Hampshire, for creating a person who won’t back down from a challenge—even one of global proportions.
You had some rough teen years. How did that inform the person you’ve become?
Being teased as a teenager, I felt I wasn’t good at anything. In high school I got into this hot tub, and all the kids pretended that a tidal wave had come. I was overweight and the fat, geeky, smart kid. But I think having a rough childhood makes you fight for things. I’m a stronger person now, coming from that background.
With all you’ve accomplished, I’m guessing nobody’s laughing now.
In 1991, when I started my global-warming consulting business, people laughed at me again. They’d say, ‘You can’t build a straw bale house or do solar collection or set a foundation that way.’ What I learned is that you can’t preach; you have to show. By 1997 I built my own straw bale house in Crested Butte, Colorado, and it became the first one of its kind in a National Historic District. My SUV gets 100 miles per gallon and is the first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle in the world to be 100 percent powered by the sun from the solar electric on my straw bale house.
Now I’m working on setting up the battery pack in the SUV so that it powers not only the vehicle but also the house—vehicle to grid. Power can flow into the grid when the grid needs power and into the car when it needs it. The future is the Smart Grid, where power transmission lines are interactive. I’ll be able to control my house in Crested Butte from here in Boulder.
You talk a lot about reducing your carbon footprint. What is it right now?
It was at 15 tons when I started measuring it. That was with the straw bale house and working from home and having solar panels. I thought I was pretty darned green. I’ve cut it down to 8 tons. I stopped heli-skiing. The flying carbon footprint is enormous. To save our water, our snow, our singletrack, and all the ecosystems we love, we need to be at 2 tons per person.
Are you going to get to 2?
I’d need to have a cow, stop traveling altogether, and cut down my own trees. I think you have to try because you have to show people what’s possible. I’m growing my own food and harvesting my own trees for building a cabin. I’ve bought books on root cellaring, backyard barn animals, and canning. I’m not Susie Homemaker, so it’s tough. I’m learning to bake my own bread.
Do you grow your own wheat?
[Laughs] No, but think of all the wonderful things we’ve lost knowledge for.
What drives you to fight for this cause?
There’s an old Saudi Arabian saying: My grandfather rode a camel. I drove a car. My son flies a jet. His son will ride a camel. We have a responsibility as the dominant species on the planet.
You’ve married your ski career to your environmental one. What have you seen in your travels?
For 10 years I’ve been taking expeditions to different countries, and a pattern started emerging. The glaciers are melting. Snow on glaciers provides almost half of the world’s drinking water. The people I met are worried. In the third world, they depend on the environment for their food. They’ve started changing when they plant and harvest. Also, in Asia they are really close to the ocean and looking at sea level rises of at least 1 meter in our lifetime. We’re looking at millions of climate-change refugees moving inward from the seas. Where are they going to go?
What predictions do you have for the ski industry?
This goes beyond recreation, but last year the first ski area in the world went belly-up—Abondance in France. They got just 22 centimeters of snow. Even banks have recognized the trend. Several major financial institutions won’t lend money to ski areas below 5,000 feet because it’s not a good investment. Almost all the climate-change models show that Aspen will most likely have the climate of Los Alamos by 2050. Only the highest-altitude ski resorts will stay in business.
But we had good snow last year…
Yes, but global warming doesn’t mean lack of snow. It’s global weirding—too much snow, not enough snow, no consistency. Ski areas need 80 good days of snow, and they make most of their money between day 80 and day 100.
I started the S.O.S. Foundation [www.sosfound.org] to educate the outdoor industry and enthusiasts about the ways we can save our snow and water to support the sports we love. Some folks might say that’s not very altruistic, but we’re using sports as a vehicle to get a segment of people interested. Not everyone wants to be proactive to save the black-footed ferret.
Is climate change a manmade occurrence?
You have the sun, heat from the sun, and reflectivity. Greenhouse gases are natural. They’ve been going up and down for centuries because the Earth, every couple thousand years, gets closer to the sun and changes our climate. Since man came on the stage, greenhouse gas concentration has risen 100 parts per million. The planet doesn’t care if the increase is manmade or natural; if it’s rising, we have a problem. Scientists are in complete agreement. The oil companies like to hire people who are not exactly scientists to support their cause and shed doubt on the problem, just like the tobacco industry did. But the debate is over. Let’s move on to solutions. Even if you’re still a skeptic, would you like to save money? Be more solvent as a business? Save on your energy bills at home? No one ever says no to those things. It’s a win-win.
So, how does one individual make a difference, and what’s the cost of converting to being green?
In 2006 I trademarked C.R.O.P. so that there would be an easy framework for people, schools, even countries, to remember the items and the order necessary to start global cooling. C = calculate your carbon footprint [go to www.carbonfootprint.com]. R = reduce your carbon footprint. O = offset your footprint. P = produce your own power. Without using C.R.O.P., politicians, businesses, and individuals were just throwing darts at being green, picking and choosing green ideas to implement randomly. C.R.O.P. is a real business plan for being green.
In terms of cost, the first 30 percent reduction of your carbon footprint will be low cost or no cost. The first thing I identified in my carbon footprint was flying. I started combining presentations so I’d take only one flight instead of several. It’s been a carbon-saving decision but also a money-saving one for me. Insulate your house and you reduce your utility bills. Take the tax benefits, rebates, subsidies, and refunds I’ve listed on my website. Long term, you save money and the planet.
What’s next for you?
My big push right now is self-supported mountain biking, where I carry my own gear. I’ve got a really cool tent called the Nemo GoGo that’s like a bivy and a GoLite quilt and which only weighs 1 pound. I have no panniers or racks. All my stuff is under 10 pounds. It’s enabled me to become a bike commuter in an extreme way.
